Innovation Weekend Cocktail Reception And Entrepreneur Showcase (Photos)

wemi esho

September 29, 2014 1:38 PM

Laurent-Perrier hosted She Leads Africa’s Innovation Weekend, which included a Cocktail Reception and Entrepreneur Showcase

Laurent-Perrier hosted She Leads Africa’s Innovation Weekend, which included a Cocktail Reception and Entrepreneur Showcase.

Day 1 kicked off with cocktail reception on Friday 19 September 2014, which brought together CEOs, Investors, Entrepreneurs, and the 10 finalists for the She Leads Africa competition. Guests were able to mingle, connect and rub minds while they sipped on Laurent-Perrier Champagne. The ten finalists talked about their plans and ideas for their businesses with guests and potential investors.

Day 2 saw a panel of entrepreneurs talk about how they started their own business, the challenges they faced and the future of there businesses.

The Entrepreneur Showcase had the 10 finalists pitch their ideas to the audience of investors, guests and a panel of judges from different industries. The panel included Hakeem Belo Osagie (Chairman of Etisalat Nigeria), Ngozi Edozien(CEO of InVivo Partners), Audu Maikori (CEO of Chocolate City Group),Omoyemi Akerele (Founder of Style House Files) and Aliko Dangote (Chairman of Dangote Group) who went on to pledge support to She Leads Africa by providing a loan of up to NGN150 million at 5% interest rate through a facility managed by Bank of Industry.

4 winners emerged at the end of the pitch competition,.Oyindamola Honey Ogundeyi, CEO of Nigerian fashion e-commerce store,Fashpa.com took fourth place. while third place went to Taffi Woolward, Thandos, a Nigerian based footwear company. In second place was Nour Drissi of Loue 1 Voiture, an online car rental company based in Morocco. She also won an all-expense paid trip to China.

Cherae Robinson of Tastemakers Africa, a travel app that allows millennials abroad to shop for curated travel experiences in Africa.

In addition to the grand prize of $10,000, Cherae Robinson also won a host of other prizes that included co-working space, domain name registration, access to prominent venture capitalists and angel investors, free legal advice for up to a year, interviews with major media outlets and other fantastic prizes.

wemi esho