The winners of this year’s African Entrepreneurship Award have just been announced at a ceremony in Casablanca, Morocco. 40 finalists from 19 African countries were brought together to reward the most impactful sustainable projects in the three categories of the programme: education, environment and unchartered fields. In all, 12 winners from nine African countries shared prize money of US$1 million, with three women entrepreneurs being recognised for their innovative and high impact businesses. A first prize of US$100,000 went to South Africa’s Louise Williamson, founder of Sustainability Professionals, which develops safe and efficient cook stoves for schools, directly improving the lives of thousands of women and children in rural schools and drastically reducing lung disease among women cooks. Innovation prizes of US$50,000 went to Morocco’s Meryam El Ouafi, founder of Green Engineering Mission, and the creator of moist tube irrigation technology which solves irrigation problems and eliminates water waste; and Rwanda’s Christelle Kwizera, founder of VOMA Groundwater Solar Kiosks, a business purifying water for rural communities using innovative water collection and alternative income models. Congratulations to each of these game-changing women entrepreneurs who are making a real difference to people’s lives in Africa.

Sign up today to receive the #1-rated newsletters for Africa's women entrepreneurs.