African Awards final stage draws near

The African Entrepreneurship Awards are in their final stage and 34 finalist from 16 countries have been invited to Morocco to present before the Presidential Jury from 9 to11 October, in Marrakech.
The winner of the N$1 million will be announced on 12 October.

Regto Ndemufayo David an entrepreneur from Namibia is one of the finalists. He saw the opportunity to solve the problem of traffic accident insurance coverage which is hard to come by for many under served Africans without a salary or bank account.
He created a business to assist Africans on the go. From informal business owners, students, pensioners, part-time and low income citizens and even tourists, David’s business model inspires confidence and security while travelling Africas often treacherous roads.
Go Safe Eenda Nawa is a 24 hour traffic accident insurance product that is processed through sms mobile technology and covers medical and funeral costs for approximately N$30.
With each sms, customers are insured in the event of a traffic accident. “You do not need to be an expert in something to start a business, you just need an idea then find other willing and able people to work with you,” said David.
David’s story started while working as an HR assistant in the Ministry of Justice, and he identified a need for low cost insurance amidst an alarmingly high traffic accident rate of which. Namibia ranks one of the highest in the world.
Sylvanie Beukes, entrepreneur, Principal Consultant at SB Consultants who is a mentor and judge at the awards said that the judging is very challenging task but what was exceptionally helpful was the mentoring system that used a combination of a well designed website interface and email correspondence that really made it possible to score and mentor entrepreneurs on an individual basis on specific interventions regarding their proposals.
Soraya Sebti representative of the Awards said that they are focusing on business ideas that will promote innovation in the fields of education and environment as well as the category they call uncharted, which has never been done before in Namibia or the region.
“Our objective is to better understand how these Awards can help Namibians start businesses that will create jobs, improve lives and inspire others in Namibia and across Africa,” added Sebti.