Team Zimbabwe has emerged winner of the 2022 Junior Achievements Africa Company of the year Competition, organised to promote entrepreneurship skills and talent innate in school children across Africa.

Team Nigeria emerged second position and also bagged other awards at the finals. Eight African teams participated in the competition.

The competition, the 12th edition, which was held at Eko Hotel, Victoria Island, was tagged` `Fueling Change makers’’.

The competition, which was in partnership with First Bank of Nigeria (FBN), equipped Senior Secondary School level students with the entrepreneurial skills and mindset to solve problems in their communities by launching a business venture and unleashing their entrepreneurial spirit.

First Bank marketing executive Folake Ani-Mumuney said “the competition organised to foster the unity of the continent, has remained another viable opportunity to promote entrepreneurship skills, spirit and talent innate in school children.

“We commend Junior Achievement Africa on the COY initiative which serves as an avenue to expose participants to inter-cultural values and traditions that will foster the unity on the continent’’.

JA Africa’s Chief Executive Officer, Simi Nwogugu, said that the company’s focus was on equipping students to be solution providers who would bring about positive change within their communities while developing businesses that generated wealth.

She noted that equipping the students to be solution providers followed the increasingly complex set of global challenges facing young people around the world from unemployment to climate change and food shortage.

“Our students have demonstrated great resilience and innovation in grappling with these challenges and I am extremely proud of all of them, well-done champions of Africa for these innovative products.

“I am also deeply grateful to all our sponsors who stayed with us throughout the pandemic period and contributed greatly towards making this a live event again,” she added.

The countries that participated in the competition are: Kenya, Ghana, host Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

(NAN)