In 2011, African Leadership Academy and Mastercard Foundation partnered to create the Anzisha Prize. The mission was clear. Support young people to choose entrepreneurship through a fellowship, celebrate their stories and watch how they transform their communities through scaling job generative businesses. With over a decade of experience working with young people, we have seen the value of championing entrepreneurship as a viable career choice and encouraging young people to try their hand at entrepreneurship at an early age.  

Through our three-year fellowship program, young business owners have the opportunity to scale their businesses and gain business acumen through expert coaches. We seek to use our various prizes, programs, resources and the theory of change to catalyse not only the belief in very young entrepreneurs but the creation of an ecosystem (parents, educators, policymakers and investors) that supports entrepreneurship as a viable career choice. 

For free tools and resources for entrepreneur education and acceleration check out Anzisha.org. 

The Mastercard Foundation works with visionary organizations to enable young people in Africa and in Indigenous communities in Canada to access dignified and fulfilling work. It is one of the largest, private foundations in the world with a mission to advance learning and promote financial inclusion to create an inclusive and equitable world.

The Foundation was created by Mastercard in 2006 as an independent organization with its own Board of Directors and management.

For more information on the Foundation, please visit: www.mastercardfdn.org

African Leadership Academy (ALA) seeks to transform Africa by developing a powerful network of entrepreneurial leaders who will work together to achieve extraordinary social impact. Each year, ALA brings together the most promising young leaders from all 54 African nations for a pre-university program in South Africa with a focus on leadership, entrepreneurship and African studies. ALA continues to cultivate these leaders throughout their lives, in university and beyond, by providing on-going leadership and entrepreneurial training and connecting them to high-impact networks of people and capital that can catalyse large-scale change.

For more information, visit africanleadershipacademy.org