Chinese Alibaba's Chairman Ma Yun speaks during the conference "The Rise of Africa's Digital Lions" in Johannesburg, South Africa, on Aug. 8, 2018. Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba's Chairman Ma Yun launched on Wednesday here the Netpreneur Prize to support exemplary African business leaders. The prize will award 10 million U.S. dollars to 100 African entrepreneurs over the next 10 years focused on grassroots innovation, economic empowerment of women and small business. (Xinhua/Chen Cheng)

NAIROBI, July 12 (Xinhua) -- More than 9,000 African entrepreneurs have applied for the Africa Netpreneur Prize Initiative (ANPI), founded by the Jack Ma Foundation, organizers said on Friday.

Sam Gichuru, CEO of Nailab which is the continental and eastern Africa partner of the ANPI told Xinhua in Nairobi that the review and judging process has began in order to select the most deserving entrepreneur to win the grants.

"We shall shortlist the applicants to get the ten finalists who will be selected to participate in a finale competition to pitch before Jack Ma in November," Gichuru said.

The finalists will have the chance to win the 103 million shillings (1 million U.S. dollars) prize award at the grand finale event in November 2019.

Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba Group, created the prize after he made his first trip to Africa in July 2017.

The prize competition for African entrepreneurs will host an annual pitch competition across Africa for the next ten years.

It was said that the ANPI offers 10 million U.S. dollars to African entrepreneurs over 10 years.

Gichuru observed that ANPI collected applications starting from March 27 up to the June 30.

He said that the business competition will also boost the entrepreneurship in Africa because the ten finalists will also receive advisory support and mentorship on how to expand their businesses.

According to the organizers of the competition, Jack Ma is committed to support African enterprises because of the critical role they play in job creation and poverty alleviation.

Gichuru said that competition is seeking for fund both traditional and technology driven business.

"We are keen to support business heroes who are doing amazing work to transform their communities," he added.