KAMPALA — Dr. Emma Naluyima, the propitiator of MST Junior School has been voted among the continent’s top three business heroes in the ABA People’s Choice Award.
Dr. Naluyima garnered 27,650 votes only behind Ethel Mupambwa from Zimbabwe with 148,627 votes, and Aboubakar Karim from Ivory Coast with 50,443 votes.
She also goes home with up to UGX3.7bn prize and mentorship and guidance in business from 2020 Africa’s Business Heroes (ABH) a flagship philanthropic program created by the Jack Ma Foundation’s Africa Netpreneur Prize Initiative (ANPI).
Dr. Naluyima was among ten outstanding entrepreneurs – half of whom were female – selected from over 22,000 applications across all 54 African nations, following several rounds of rigorous evaluation.
With an average age of 34 years, the top ten represented eight African countries: Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, Uganda, and Zimbabwe, and their businesses span key industries such as agriculture, fashion, education, healthcare, renewable energy, and financial services.
Dr. Naluyima was selected for the uniqueness of her school model and learning approach.
“It aims to equip the pupils with unique skills to solve agriculture issues such as food insecurity, waste mismanagement and malnutrition,” the organizers wrote in her bio.
The school was established by Dr. Naluyima, a vet, farmer and educator with a desire to train young people and change their lives through Modern and Purposeful Farming.
“Whoever voted for me, you also voted for Uganda. Allow me to say, we made it. Thank you so much for your support,” Dr. Naluyima said.
Bethlehem Tilahun Alemu, ABH judge and Founder of soleRebels, Garden of Coffee and Tefftastic said the 2020 Africa’s Business Heroes competition has been incredible.
“The quality of the entrepreneurs and their ideas has been exceptional and this is a testament to the talent that exists across the continent”.
