Kelley African Business Challenge 2025 (up to $5,000 in prizes)

Deadline: November 20, 2025

Applications are open for the Kelley African Business Challenge 2025. The Kelley African Business Challenge is a platform designed to empower African entrepreneurs who are driving innovation, impact, and economic growth across the continent. The competition provides early-stage founders the opportunity to pitch their ventures, gain visibility, and compete for financial support to accelerate their business growth. Participants will also receive guidance from experienced professionals, fostering learning, confidence, and strategic development.

Open to registered startups operating in Africa for at least one year, the program seeks ventures with strong social-impact potential, scalable business models, and sustainable value creation. Finalists will showcase their ideas to a distinguished panel of judges and a global audience, with the chance to secure cash prizes and mentorship to elevate their entrepreneurial journey. This initiative champions African talent and aims to support founders building meaningful and lasting solutions for the continent.

Prizes

• 1st place: $2,500
• 2nd place: $1,500
• 3rd place: $1,000

Eligibility

• The competition is open to African entrepreneurs based in Africa. This must apply to at least one member of the management team, but other people may be members of the management team and participate in planning the venture. A participant may submit only one business pitch to the competition.
• The competition is open to African entrepreneurs who have created, managed, and currently own ventures based in Africa. In other words, African entrepreneurs must have played a key role in creating the venture, have key management roles and own significant equity.
• The competition is open to ventures with a viable business model that have been in operation for at least one year but less than five years at the time of application submission.
• The business pitch must represent the original work of the team members. The author(s) shall retain all rights to the business pitch regarding its use prior to and following the competition. The business pitch must not contain any fabricated information about (but is not limited to) the background, experience, or education of the management team, the stage of product development, product performance claims, or market survey results.

Evaluation Criteria

After reading the business pitch, the reader should be able to understand the business idea. The business pitch will be evaluated based on three main factors:

• Uniqueness of business idea
• Clarity of the business idea
• Viability of the business.

Application

Click here to apply

For more information, visit Kelley African Business Challenge.