Endeavor welcomes six new African entrepreneurs into fold

Six new entrepreneurs from three African countries have been selected to join Endeavor, a non-profit organisation that supports high-impact entrepreneurs around the world.

The six — who hail from Morocco, Nigeria and Tunisia — were among 40 entrepreneurs that the organisation selected at its 87th International Selection Panel (ISP) in Madrid, Spain, held between 24 and 26 April.

The selection follows a rigorous multi-step selection process that aims to identify high-impact entrepreneurs who demonstrate the potential to leverage the Endeavor’s resources and mentorship to create large-scale wealth and jobs. The entrepreneurs will also be expected to commit to reinvesting their time and money in their respective local entrepreneurship ecosystems to help others take off.

The six African entrepreneurs selected at Endeavor’s 87th International Selection Panel hail from Morocco, Nigeria and Tunisia

With the addition of the 40, who are in charge of 25 companies across 17 markets, Endeavor now supports 1880 entrepreneurs in 1179 companies across 34 markets around the world.

The six African entrepreneurs are:

Zineb Drissi-Kaitouni (DabaDoc, Morocco): Drissi-Kaitouni (pictured above) runs DabaDoc, an online appointment booking platform that helps patients find the doctor of their choice. The startup also assists doctors, clinics and hospitals manage electronic medical records of patients more efficiently through its DabaDoc Pro platform. DabaDoc has over two million users and 6000 doctors active on its platform. The startup is able to facilitate appointment bookings across Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia. Last year, the company released its DabaDoc Live telehealth platform which enables patients to consult doctors in real time using a smartphone application.

Olugbenga Agboola (Flutterwave, Nigeria): Online payment solutions startup Flutterwave helps banks and businesses provide seamless and secure payment experiences for their customers. Business intelligence platform Crunchbase estimates that the Flutterwave has raised a total of $20.4-million since it was founded in 2016.

Moses Babatope and Kene Okwuosa (The FilmHouse and FilmOne Group): FilmHouse is Nigeria’s largest chain of cinemas, screening Hollywood blockbusters alongside premium Nollywood films. FilmOne is the production and distribution arm of the company. It is the exclusive regional distributor for 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros and co-produces a number of premium Nollywood films. The group recently launched MyFilmHouse, a streaming video on demand platform that gives Nigerians access to foreign films, and foreigners access to Nollywood films.

Ramla Jarrar and Firas Jabloun (Mass Analytics, Tunisia): Mass Analytics offers marketing analytics and software solutions that show its users the shows customers the optimal way to spend their marketing budgets, achieve maximum return on investment (ROI) and predict future performance. The startup’s flagship product, “MassTer”, helps clients across 12 countries to increase marketing ROI by at least 15% while saving in excess of 50% of the delivery time on marketing effectiveness projects.

The six new Endeavor entrepreneurs stand to gain from introductions to local and international business mentors and volunteers from Fortune 500 consulting firms who will help them address key needs.

Endeavor’s next ISPs will be held in Tokyo, Japan (1 to 2 July), Quito, Ecuador (5 to 7 August), Atlanta, US (23 to 25 September), Istanbul, Turkey (21 to 23 October) and Riviera Maya, Mexico (11 to 13 December).

Read more: Endeavor selects eight African entrepreneurs to join organisation

Editor’s note (15 May 2019): Endeavor also selected five African entrepreneurs from Egypt and Nigeria at its 86th International Selection Panel in Cairo in March. They are: 

Ameer Sherif (Wuzzuf, Forasna, BasharSoft, Egypt): BasharSoft connects Egyptian job-seekers with career opportunities through two platforms, Wuzzuf and Forasna, which cater to both the white collar and blue collar labor markets. BasharSoft works with over 27 000 employers and over two million job seekers and has facilitated 250 000 job placements to date.

Marwan Kenawy, Momtaz Moussa and Ayman Essawy (Dsquares, Egypt):  Dsquares offers two end-to-end, white-label customer loyalty programmes that enable brands to reward customers through loyalty points and promotions.

Bukky George (HealthPlus, Nigeria): Between its HealthPlus chain of pharmacies and CasaBella beauty stores, the HealthPlus Group has almost 90 retail outlets across Nigeria, employs over 750 people and is the largest employer of pharmacists who dispense medicines, provide counselling and perform free health screenings. By protecting the strict integrity of its supply chain, and self-regulating by adopting world-class standards, HealthPlus provides consumers with safe, affordable and convenient access to medicines and related products. HealthPlus has become a household name and is transforming retail pharmacy in Nigeria with the launch of an e-commerce platform and the set-up of a pharma distribution centre.

Featured image: DabaDoc co-founder and CEO Zineb Drissi-Kaitouni (Daba Doc via Facebook)