Nigeria and seven other African countries are competing for the continent’s biggest student enterprise prize as Junior Achievement Africa opens the 15th edition of its Company of the Year competition in Abuja.
The event, which runs from 3 to 5 December 2025, brings together top student-run firms for a chance to represent Africa at the global finals and secure cash awards, scholarships and long-term support for their ventures.
The student teams, drawn from Eswatini, Ghana, Mauritius, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Uganda and Zambia, are showcasing climate-focused innovations built around this year’s theme, Action for Climate Transformation.
The competition challenges the teenagers to design solutions across technology, renewable energy, the circular economy, financial technology and digital media.
JA Africa’s President and Chief Executive Officer, Simi Nwogugu, said the competition has become a launchpad for young Africans who are already developing real businesses from challenges in their communities.
She told journalists after the pre-event briefing on Wednesday in Abuja that the organisation believes young Africans “know the problems and the solutions; they just don’t have the resources,” adding that JA’s role is to provide the skills, training and access that allow them to build functional enterprises.
She explained that Junior Achievement Africa, which operates in 23 countries, reaches more than 1.5 million young people each year with programmes designed to build entrepreneurial thinking early.
“What we do is go into secondary schools and start putting that mindset in them that nobody is coming to save you,” she said. “How can you come up with the solutions? ”
She cited the example of students who tackled plastic pollution by turning waste plastics into construction materials, reducing building costs while running a profitable venture.
Nwogugu said JA’s impact is visible across government, business and technology ecosystems. She pointed to alumni such as Andela and Flutterwave co-founder Iyinoluwa Aboyeji and Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy Bosun Tijani as evidence of how early entrepreneurship exposure can shape national development.
“We have reached over five million young people from when we started counting, and probably about 10 million now,” she said.
The 2025 competition will produce Africa’s representative for the Ralph de la Vega Global Entrepreneurship Competition.
Winners will earn $3,000, $2,000 and $1,000 for first, second and third places, respectively, while the global prize stands at $15,000.
Nwogugu stressed that the value extends beyond the cash award, saying the participants gain scholarships, business support and access to a global alumni network they can rely on for life.
She confirmed that JA boards across its network have collectively mobilised about $1bn over the past four years to strengthen youth entrepreneurship initiatives.
She added that partnerships with ministries of education, youth and women’s affairs remain crucial for scaling the programme in public schools.
“Most of our schools are public schools because we believe these are the young people who need this education,” she said.
She also said the COY competition is designed to position youth entrepreneurship at the heart of Africa’s climate and development agenda.
“At JA Africa, we believe Africa’s greatest resource is the brilliance and creativity of its young people,” Nwogugu said. “Climate action is not just an environmental issue; it’s a development imperative. COY gives young people a platform to transform ideas into action, showing the world that Africa’s youth are not only the leaders of tomorrow but the changemakers of today.”
She added that the ingenuity of the students demonstrates that “when youth are empowered to lead, they don’t just adapt to the future, they create it. And in doing so, they light the path toward a greener, more resilient and prosperous Africa.”
JA Worldwide’s President and Chief Executive Officer, Asheesh Advani, described the Africa competition as a place where confidence and innovation intersect.
“COY in Africa has a unique energy; year after year, students present extraordinary ideas. To succeed as an entrepreneur, you must first believe in yourself. JA builds that self-efficacy, and awards help strengthen that belief,” he said.
Headline sponsors FedEx and PMIEF also underscored their expectations for the finalists.
“Creating amazing products is great, but scaling beyond your immediate environment is where true impact begins. FedEx makes these possibilities real,” FedEx Regional Sales Manager Ruth Kabogo said.
Deji Ishmael, a member of the board of trustees of the PMI Nigeria Chapter, added, “Project management brings out the discipline to solve problems, and that’s exactly what PMIEF’s support seeks to nurture.”
The competition will close with the JA Africa Stakeholder Convening on 5 December, where ministers, policymakers, business leaders and civil society groups will discuss how to embed entrepreneurship education into national systems and expand opportunities for young Africans.
