Astro wins continental award

Business Reporter
LOCAL e-commerce and mobile and electronics solutions provider Astro Mobile won the African Leadership Network (ALN)’s African Award for Entrepreneurship (AAE) on Thursday under the outstanding mature business award, which is mainly for the ICT sector.
Astro Mobile’s managing director Mr Munyaradzi Gwatidzo received the award on the behalf of the company.
The awards, which are dubbed the “Oscars of Entrepreneurship in Africa” and have been hosted by ALN since 2012, were announced at the annual gathering that was held in Marrakech, Morocco.
AAE was established in 2007 to “recognise business leaders who demonstrate innovation, profitability and business excellence while serving as role models to inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs”.
The local company managed to eclipse other emerging companies from Egypt and South Africa that were also nominated in the same category.
Most notably, Astro Mobile was pitted against Cairo-based TA Telecom, which provides mobile applications and information technology services to more than 10 million users in the Middle East and other African mobile markets; and mi-Fone, a South African company that provides low-cost mobile devices, including smartphones.
In a statement released before the ceremony, AAE noted that the entrepreneurs are mainly considered for the social impact of their businesses.
“This outstanding group of entrepreneurs was selected based on their demonstrated business excellence and social impact.
‘‘The eleven finalists went through a rigorous screening process focused on their business model, financial health, integrity of business practices, and contribution to socio-economic development.
“AAE was established to recognise business leaders who demonstrate business excellence while serving as role models to inspire Africa’s next generation of entrepreneurs. ALN creates and strengthens relationships between these leaders to encourage intra-African trade, investment, and collaboration,” read part of the statement.
Last year’s AAE winners included emerging African firms such as Choppies (Botswana), which continues to spread its wings in Southern Africa, Banapads (Uganda) and Ostec (Ghana).
ALN mainly creates and strengthens relationships between these leaders to encourage intra-African trade, investment and collaboration among them.
The panel of judges for the 2015 AAE included Mr Uyi Akpata, director PwC West Africa; Mr Osagie Imasogie, senior managing partner, Phoenix IP Ventures; Mr Ed Brakeman, managing director at Bain Capital LLC; Dana Reed, strategic consultant at Pan-Africa Investment Company; and Mr Jonathan Tawiah, chief executive officer of Ostec.