FOYA exists to recognize and appreciate young founders contributing to the development of the African continent while creating sustainable jobs through entrepreneurship and inspiring others to start their own businesses.
The platform
The platform has developed into a convening agent for actors in the youthful entrepreneurship ecosystem attracting and granting access to relevant investors, not-for-profit leaders and government officials to address everyday challenges and devise impactful lasting solutions.
FOYA Awards is an annual awards ceremony launched in November 2016 in Nairobi, Kenya and NOW spreading all over Africa. It was conceived to serve the strategic objective to retain, reward and recognize high-quality SMEs.
FOYA exists to recognize and appreciate young founders developing our nations while creating jobs through entrepreneurship, and also motivate the ones who are yet to start their own businesses.
What makes FOYA unique?
What makes FOYA unique is the impact it has on young entrepreneurs. Rather than awarding successful seasoned entrepreneurs, we award the young founders running startups.
The economic success of nations worldwide is the result of encouraging and rewarding the entrepreneurial instinct.
Entrepreneurs create employment opportunities not only for themselves but for others as well. Entrepreneurial activities may influence a country's economic performance by bringing new products, methods, and production processes to the market and by boosting productivity and competition more broadly.
Milestones
After running in Kenya for four years in 2020 FOYA expanded into Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda. We did not stop there, FOYA in 2021 marked a milestone as we expanded the awards to include Nigeria, Ghana, Zambia and South Africa.
Goals
A successful outcome will include:
● Greater awareness of FOYA Awards in the African startup ecosystem
● Create beneficial relationships with key stakeholders either as sponsors or partners
● 90% Alumni (past winners and finalists) Awareness
● Implement a recognition and reward scheme beyond the current system
● Increase the visibility of deserving SMEs to attract more clients and investors
● Build a knowledge network of best practices, allowing businesses to benchmark and improve performance using peer groups in their sectors
● Recognize business realities, helping businesses improve year on year with a user-friendly platform that delivers results fast
