Chooya, a Nigerian e-commerce startup based in Aba, has awarded a $100,000 cash prize and an additional $850,000 in program support from the Entrepreneurship World Cup.
Since its inception, the Entrepreneurship World Cup has supported over 300,000 entrepreneurs in over 200 nations.
The program is made possible by three co-host organizations: Misk Global Forum, Global Entrepreneurship Network, and The Global Education and Leadership Foundation.
EWC provides winners with training, tools, connections, mentorship, and more, as well as a monetary prize of $1 million for global champions and a combined $75 million in-kind support for the top 100 global finalists.
Chooya, a Nigerian start-up based in Aba, has been named a finalist in the Misk Global Forum and Global Entrepreneurship Network’s EWC, which was chosen from 200,000 candidates (GEN).
Chooya was founded by Igwe Uguru in 2019 as a search engine for traditional African markets. The startup digitizes word-of-mouth marketing for African businesses and customers.
The startup won a $100,000 national prize as well as a $850,000 worldwide prize in the competition.
The startup plans to invest extensively in product development, marketing, and human resources in order to reach out to businesses (both local and online) that are having difficulty attracting new consumers and help them digitize word-of-mouth marketing to increase sales.
Uguru, the entrepreneur, claimed that he was inspired to automate word-of-mouth marketing after supporting his 72-year-old father at his local business.
He said that he observed his father’s business grow month after month through word-of-mouth marketing and supported him in enrolling all five of his children in high school without the need of any sponsored commercials or social media ads.
