The African Youth Excellence Awards

April 21, 2015

The African Youth Excellence Awards

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The Focus of the African Youth Excellence Awards is to highlight the accomplishments of “pursuers” in the areas of art, education, information technology, entrepreneurship, innovation, and humanitarianism. The objectives are to identify, recognize, and award young Africans pursuing excellence, and to create a networking platform that promotes collaboration.

Who is a Pursuer?

AYE defines a Pursuer as a young person who is striving to gain or accomplish an extraordinary project aimed at highlighting Africa in a positive way. Simply put, a Pursuer is a future achiever.

Eligibility

To be eligible to apply, applicants must:

  • Be at least 18 years of age and not older than 35
  • Be of an African descent (Applicant was born in Africa or born in the US but parents are originally from Africa).
  • Be a resident in the United States (An exception will be provided for an applicant whose residential address is abroad, but is currently pursuing a project in Africa)
  • Show leadership, innovation, creativity, and/or entrepreneurship in their area of focus.
  • High School students must be 18 or turning 18.
  • High School applicants must be graduating students. AYE will verify the academic background of students who are nominated.

Application Deadline

May 15th, 2015

Procedure

  • The AYE Award program selects two nominees for each category, but only awards one pursuer per category with the exception of the High School category. This category will be awarded to two students.
  • All applicants will be informed of our decision (acceptance or rejection) via email within 3 weeks of application submission.
  • All selected nominees must submit at least one professional letter of recommendation, a professional headshot, and proof of their project (s) or current achievement(s) 2 weeks after acceptance letter.
  • All accepted nominees are pursuers and will have their stories on our website at least one month before the Awards ceremony.
  • A committee led by the AYE Board of Advisory will utilize the AYE Placement Grid system to select winners for the 2015 Awards. The committee members will be appointed by the AYE Board of Advisory. Names of committee members will be announced on the day of the Awards ceremony.
  • AYE Award winners will be revealed on the day of the Awards.
  • AYE Award winners will be inducted into the AYE fellowship program for a stipulated period of time.

Nominating a Pursuer

  • Specify the award for which the candidate is being nominated
  • Include background information and highlight previous awards received and accomplishments.
  • Explain in detail why the candidate deserves the award. Please give detailed examples of the activities, programs, etc. the candidate is involved in and provide specific information that supports why you are nominating this person.
  • Provide websites or insight on where our reviewers can gather more information on the candidate

Profile Story Requirements

  • Applicants must provide brief background information.
  • Applicants must delve into what makes them a pursuer.
  • Please provide a summary of a project you are working on.
  • Please highlight awards or recognitions you have received.
  • Applicants should provide some insights on their future aspirations.
  • Your profile story must be at least one page, but not more than two pages.

Photo Requirements (For Slected Nominees Only)

  • Nominees must submit an unpublished professional headshot.
  • A white/gray professional background.
  • Photograph must be up close and of high quality.
  • Photograph must be of high resolution and at least 2mb in size.

Other Relevant Information

  • Please submit all questions and concerns to pursuers@africanye.org.
  • Please be advised that not all submissions will be accepted. Applicants who do not qualify can reapply next year.
  • Please feel free to submit your profile if you do not find your category but feel that you are qualified.
  • All applications will be subjected to strict scrutiny without any form of bias.

AYE 2015 AWARD Categories

Young African in Arts

This is an award category that uniquely displays a segment of culture and is composed with many endeavours. He or she has either excelled in the area of literature, performing arts, creative writing or visual arts. This individual has established himself or herself to be uniquely different and creative through the concept of art, while displaying awareness for the African culture.

Young African in Public Service

A Young African in Public Service can be acknowledged as an Advocate or a Humanitarian for the African continent. This is an individual who has devoted himself or herself to publicly support a meaningful cause or policy that protects or improves the wellbeing of Africans. He or she is a recognizable source for the promotion of human welfare for Africa as a continent and has made it their mission to reform those that are less fortunate.

Young African in Information Technology

A Young African in IT is an individual who is specialized and has excelled in web application; primarily focusing in areas that include web design, programming, online marketing and application development. He or she has used their highly trained skill to perform within the African community and continuously strives for positive outcomes.

Young African Scholar

A Young African Scholar is an individual who has validated himself or herself to be a highly educated specialist by excelling in a particular area of study. A scholar should exhibit character traits of competitiveness, passion, persistence and authority. He or she must demonstrate him or herself to be an individual of great substance and has the ability to influence and educate the African community to obtain comprehension as well.

Young African Entrepreneur

A Young African Entrepreneur is someone who is courageous, consistent and committed; an individual who has pursued a business venture, overcome the many obstacles posed by the business world and has ultimately attained success. An entrepreneur will also exhibit excellent leadership qualities. This includes possessing and expressing the desire and will power to be an effective leader through endless education, training and experience to successfully guide and influence others. He or she must also have a successful business that can be correlated back to his or her African heritage and ultimately result in enhancing the lives of others.

Young African Leader

A Young African Leader must possess excellent leadership skills. He must have the ability to delegate, the commitment to lead and exhibit high moral standards at all times. He or she must be the founder/cofounder of an organization or hold an executive position at a non-profit organization. He or she has helped the organization identify paths to success and has been instrumental in its implementation. Persons who do not hold executive offices but are actively involved in the advancement of their respective communities shall be considered.

Young African High School Student

This award category focuses on two high school students who have created an exceedingly reputable presence in his or her high school as well as his or her community. These students must have exhibited overall excellence in the areas of leadership, academics and community service in and outside school grounds.

Apply here – http://awards.africanyouthexcellence.org/apply.php

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Ghana Hosts Young CEO’S Business Summit

April 16, 2015

Ghana Hosts Young CEO’S Business Summit

The Young CEOs Business Summit 2014 held in Dubai.

The Young CEOs Business Summit 2014 held in Dubai.

Africa has seen a number of innovative and creative young entrepreneurs and business leaders building global firms across the continent and beyond. To increase the pace of this course, The Young CEO’S Business Summit is poised to providing that platform for budding young business leaders to learn and grow their start-ups.

The Young CEO’S Business Summit is focused to tackling the issues confronting Start-ups in Africa. It will provide answers to the difficult start-up questions that Universities don’t answer. Young entrepreneurs will learn from Africans who have started a business in Africa and have succeeded. They will be telling stories of start-up mistakes and how to avoid them.  The Young CEOs Business Forum holding in Accra, Ghana is not another Start-up 101; it’s Advanced Start-up. The experienced speakers will tell you how to start a business; their personal stories will draw you in and their victories will inspire your start-up to be another African Success story.

The Young CEOs Business Summit 2014 held in Dubai.

The Young CEOs Business Summit 2014 held in Dubai.

The first Young CEOs Business Summit was held in Dubai,2014 and had in attendance CEOs spanning different sectors, Investment partners, Venture Capitalists, etc. This year it’s coming down to Africa, Accra Ghana, April 23rd-25th 2015 at the British Council, with Theme; Advancing Start-up business in Africa. Considering Africa’s business potential and the relevance of this theme one can only imagine the positive impact of such summit in the economy of Africa.

Some relevant topics to be discussed include:

  • Ways to Get Out of Start-up Mode and Grow Your Business
  • Keeping Your Start-up Business Growing On A Budget
  • Building A Strong Business Foundation with Less Frustration
  • Accessing Finance for Your Start-ups
  • Leveraging On Crowd Funding Opportunities for Your New Venture Using ICT
  • Resolving the Challenges of Sustaining Businesses in Africa

The summit is co-founded by Tonye Rex Idaminabo and David James Egwu

Register now to participate via www.ceobusinessforum.com. Follow updates on Twitter and Facebook or call +233577401237, +234803317827 and +2348034532300 for more information.

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10 Top TedxAccra2015 Talks

April 13, 2015

10 Top TedxAccra2015 Talks

“The Next Chapter” was the theme for the biggest TEDxAccra event ever – #TedxAccra2015. The event brought together about 40 speakers and close to 1000 young and old people interested in creating change in Ghana and the African continent. The content of the talks were on point and centered on the need to focus on solutions than problems. We have put together the best 10 talks from TEDxAccra, this is not in any particular order and also purely based on our personal decisions and how these talks resonated with our goals and passion. This does not mean that, the other talks were irrelevant, in fact, every talk met each participant’s expectations for coming to the event. Great work to Emmanuel Leslie Addae and the team of volunteers for a great and successful event.

 

Farida speaking on stage.

Farida speaking on stage. Photo: TedxAccra

FARIDA NANA EFUA BEDWEI – @Fbedwei

Farida commenced her talk with this question – “Are you comfortable with our lives?” A question which got the audience thinking. We have a lot of problems in Ghana and Africa and we are the only ones (referring to Africans) who will be able to solve our own problems because we understand the challenges we face. She made a profound statement that – “We should stop complaining on social media about the problems and provide solutions to it.” Farida is a software engineer.

 

 

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John speaking on stage. Photo: TedxAccra

JOHN APEA

John’s talk focused on the need to redirect aid investment into media (film making) to provide solutions to behavioural change. “There is a need to re-focus investment in aid to film making for behavioural change” says John. John stated that “I believe that entertainment education is the missing piece in behavioural change”. The summary of his talk focused on the power of mass media to promote social change and development. John is a professional Actor and Entrepreneur.

 

 

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Kafui speaking on stage. Photo: TedxAccra

KAFUI DEY – @KafuiDey

Kafui stretched the minds of the audience to tell them how he uses the ordinary stories of people as the main hot topics for discussion during his work on radio. Kafui used the responses he got from his kids when he asked them “What do they dream of Ghana?” He pointed out that journalists can derive localised content from ordinary people. “The next chapter for me is to ask the right questions” says  Kafui Dey. Kafui is a Radio Presenter, Corporate MC and Author. Watch the video here – https://goo.gl/l1glpW

 

 

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Bernard speaking on stage. Photo: CitiFM.

BERNARD KOKU AVLE – @benkoku

Mr. Avle talked about the essence of impact investing thus the need for media companies or businesses to combine the need for profitability with social conscience. He also stressed the need for media companies to compete collaboratively in order to make impact and also to keep “radio” business in existence even in the age of internet connectivity. “The future of radio must evolve from competition to collaboration. Let’s lay aside all petty rivalry” says Bernard. He stated that “We must find a middle way between profitability and social conscience”. He discussed how his work at CitiFM has changed from asking questions and allowing people to answer to tracking changes of the stories he shares. The summary of his talk focused primarily on how strategic media alliances can change radio in Ghana. Bernard is the Director of News Programming at CitiFM. Watch the video here – https://goo.gl/YJ0UsP

 

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Yawa speaking on stage. Photo: TedxAccra

YAWA HANSEN-QUAO – @yawahq

Yawa’s talk focused on what we call “Women Activism”, however, she gave a different perspective about the need for women inclusion in national development. Yawa emphasised that, women should not focus on competing with men in order to achieve equality, but should focus on improving upon their skills and quality to work with men and contribute to the development of the nation. One of the profound statements I was able to write down during her talk is “Women should not be involved in Sexual Transmitted Leadership – the act of using your sexuality for favours” She pointed out that, “empowerment does not mean competing against men”, but to involve men in supporting women to drive the equality agenda. Yawa is a Women’s Right Activist.

 

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Photo: TedxAccra

RITA KUSI – @Miss_Kusi

Rita’s delivery was more of a motivational speech. She mentioned that there are brighter and better opportunities even in the midst of worse circumstances. She said “choose what you see and what to believe”. She reiterated that you don’t need to adapt to suit others because you don’t need anyone to validate who you are. She therefore encouraged that everyone strive to be the best. Rita is the CEO and founder of Kusi consulting.

 

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Photo: TedxAccra

TERRY OPPONG – @GlobalMogulTO

Terry spoke on how Ghana and Africa can tap into the power of networking to grow the continent to become a rich continent. Terry said, “over $147m remittances are received from the diaspora to families and friends in Africa annually, however, African countries go to borrow same amount from international financial institutions with interest”. He pointed out that the government need to tap into the network of its own people to generate funds to build schools, hospitals and invest in young entrepreneurs. Terry is a Natural Connector as he describes himself. Watch the video here – https://goo.gl/FkQLTb

 

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Photo: TedxAccra

MANSA AYISI-OKYERE

She discussed the issue of Ghana’s youth unemployment rate which is about 33%; thus about 55% of the population are youthful out of which there are about 60% unemployed. She accentuated that entrepreneurship was the solution to this problem. However, she emphasized the need for Ghanaians to extend their perspective of entrepreneurship from micro companies to bigger companies. She entreated that entrepreneurial skills be introduced and taught at both senior high and tertiary levels of education to equip the youth in light of this. Mansa is the Executive Secretary for African Entrepreneurs Hub.

 

Photo: TedxAccra

Photo: TedxAccra

PEACE HYDE – @peacehyde

Ms Hyde discussed the problem many young people face with regards to choosing a career path. She talked about how one could be imprisoned by parents, friends and family to take on careers they are not interested. She classified anything or any activity one does/undertakes without his/her interest as a prison. She emphasized the need for education and also encouraged the youth to break off every imprisonment and set themselves free to do what they love doing. She concluded with a quote by Oscar Wilde “Be yourself. Everyone else is already taken. Peace is a media entrepreneur”.

 

KWEKU SEKYI-CANN

Kweku proposed that people differentiate their ideas from others so as to enable them gain competitive advantage. He also said “Know thyself, know thy customer and innovate”. Thus it’s important to understand your core business and your customers so you can come up with products and services that better meet their needs. He concluded that we make BOLD decisions. Kwaku is a Brand and Marketing Expert.

 

Compiled by:

Alice Anima Aboagye (Masters student at the University of Ghana, Legon) and Kofi Yeboah (Blogger).

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5 Successful African Entrepreneurs: 5 Failure Stories

February 25, 2014

5 Successful African Entrepreneurs: 5 Failure Stories

Every successful entrepreneur has experienced setbacks at some point in their business career. For most, it is an essential part of ‘growth’ in a competitive business environment. I sent an email to a handful of entrepreneurs, asking them to share their business failures, what they learned and how they built on them.

Here is what they wrote:

Charles Kofi FEKPE

Charles Kofi FEKPE

Charles Kofi Fekpe, Founder of CFekpe Consulting. UK/Ghana

My Biggest mistake since setting up CFekpe Consulting Limited was not to have been ready for ALL opportunities and to have underestimated them when they came. I had just registered my company then and had begin looking for assignments to take on. I met a friend who asked me to send him a proposal together for him to show his director of training the following day. I didn’t have one but also thought I wait till the following day. After all, he was my friend right? Well, Wrong. That was in 2004 and I missed what would have been my first biggest deal. I have learnt my lessons. (1) I have asked myself all the “WHAT IF” questions that could come up if an opportunity should arise today, and I have all the core answers. Success, I have found, is having the answers to questions that are not even yet asked. Its about getting there first and waiting for others arrive (2) I treat everyone as a full business client – opportunities I have learnt, don’t come in special clothing or packages. So, even when my 3-year Old daughter told me she’d like to talk business with me, I immediately arranged lunch with her. The only proposal she put on the table however was that she wanted a bicycle for her birthday.

 

Dr. Yemisi Akinbobola

Dr. Yemisi Akinbobola

Dr. Yemisi Akinbobola, Founder, IQ4News.

When I first launched IQ4News officially as a news website in 2011 [it has been a personal blog for four years prior], I was so excited to have received funding to follow my dreams.

I developed what must be the longest business plan ever – 87 pages – detailing my strategies.

For the first few months I focused on creating content for the website and emailing our media kit to every possible potential advertiser I could think of. No one replied, but traffic was good reaching 40,000 in the first 3 months. I kept at it, whilst doing other part-time work on the side – I had bills to pay. I made my first advertising sale 6 months later.

While I won’t describe IQ4News 1.0 as an epic failure, because it wasn’t, I was nowhere near prepared to run a business as I felt I was, at the time – I was focused on being journalist and news editor that I forgot to be publisher. Looking back at Yemisi of 2011, I both smile and cringe – I still remember running after one of our coaches at the incubator to find out why he wasn’t as excited about the website design as I thought he would be; “how will you make money” he asked. The answer then was so simple “sell geo-targeted advertising” I said confidently. He smiled and walked away leaving me puzzled.

Three years on, as we are about to launch IQ4News 2.0, and I finally understand his smile – I found out the hard way that selling advertising is not a sustainable business model for a news website, and even if it had been, I had set strategies and targets that were unrealistic and that I did not follow. I just had a dream and ran after it full throttle, forgetting the developmental steps I had planned.

Eric Mutta, Photo: Sameer Kamalli

Eric Mutta, Photo: Sameer Kamalli

Eric Muta, Founder and CEO, Problem Solved Ltd. Tanzania

I had a full-time job as a software engineer and created a small computer program that helped speed up processing of forms related to importation of goods at the Dar-es-salaam port. Within one month of use at that company, revenues jumped up by $300,000 and I thought I could quit my job and sell the program to make the same amount of money for myself and be rich in no time! My mistake was not realising that the only reason the company could generate $300,000 in one month was because it already had a name, an office, hundreds of employees and thousands of customers. It had the fuel and my program was just a match that lit a big fire. With a new company that had no customers, no history and no employees, I struggled to get anyone to buy the program and 18 months later I ran out of money and was forced to get a job. Lesson learned: code is not a product, and a product is not a company. To get from code to product to company to profit, you need to have all the supporting infrastructure in terms of an office, employees and customers. That takes time to build and you need to have enough capital to survive until it is all in place.

 

Njeri Rionge

Njeri Rionge

Njeri Rionge, Co- founder of Wanachi Online, Kenya

To be successful as an entrepreneur you must have a clear vision, and driving forward to achieve that vision requires 100% of your involvement. As an entrepreneur, as a business owner, a business coach and mentor, at networking events and social events over the years I’ve often found myself talking to colleagues and peers about the benefits that might be achieved if successful entrepreneurs and business leaders could share their experiences with new and growing start-ups.

How positive it would be if upcoming business leaders could learn from our mistakes, and get practical advice from a wealth of accumulated knowledge aggregated under one roof. So why not put together an annual summit to make a positive contribution to the growth of Kenyan businesses, and bring together business leaders to talk about a range of subjects that would give practical help and advice to start-ups and SMEs wanting to scale up their businesses in Nairobi?

The Ignite Summit: Scaling Your Business Upwards was a good idea, and interest was (and remains) high both from delegates, speakers and potential sponsors, but the time required to organise an event of this scale as an addition to my ‘day job’ was something I greatly underestimated. I was not able to give it 100% of my involvement. What I learnt from staging the first Ignite Summit in 2012, was that all that research, preparation, enthusiasm and positivity will take you so far, but if you spread yourself too thin, you will eventually come unstuck.

 

Frank Boateng

Frank Boateng

Frank Boateng, Country Director  EQUIPXP, LC and Co- Founder of Darko Fresh. Ghana
There are hundreds of mistakes, but I believe that is the only way to gain hands on experience! I remember during our water project construction and planning we did not factor potential regulatory delay and boom! We had to go back to do additional testing, product name change and re-submission.

This caused us money, as we had to re-do all our branding efforts again and has to pay staff for three months before production started. Lessons are that entrepreneurs must be innovative and creative in thinking during project planning. They must not discount anything during project planning stage.

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15 Steps To Moderating a Twitter Chat

June 26, 2013

15 Steps To Moderating a Twitter Chat

Tweet Chats (Twitter Chats) are real time/live conversations held on issues of interest. They are opportunities to engage and converse with other Twitter users on relatable topics. Of course, they are held on Twitter!  Here are 15 things to consider when moderating a Twitter Chat:

  1. Purpose of the chat: Ask yourself what you want to achieve with the chat and what you want participants to learn from the chat.
  2. Develop and create engaging questions or topic: The main topic for the chat/debate should sound interesting for people to join the chat. Ask “How” and “Why” questions and not “Can” questions. The former allows for more contribution from participants while the latter restricts people to either agree or disagree with the topic. In the case of Twitter debates, “Can” questions are employed, but are typically followed up with “Why” for further elaboration by participants.
  3. Read widely about the topic: As a moderator of the Twitter chat/debate, you should have a good grasp on the issues in order to guide the conversation. Read widely on the topic to be discussed, focusing especially on the questions that will steer the conversation. That said, you don’t have to be an expert on the topic – instead, include one or two experts on the panel and direct complex questions to them for further insight. Do not leave any major stone unturned. Some participants are experts in the topic so you need to prepare well.
  4. Create a simple, but catchy hashtag: A tweet is composed of 140 characters. A long hashtag will limit how much can be said per tweet. Make sure the hashtag reflects the topic and is easy to remember. Do not use a long hashtag, remember your participants have only 140 characters to use.  Create a hashtag that speaks about the topic and can easily attract the attention of non-participants
  5. Time zones: Choose your time very well. Pay attention to the time zone of your audience and availability of guests (if any). State the time clearly when promoting the chat.
  6. Promote the chat! Tweet at potential participants: Use the Twitter search feature to search for the hashtag and the topic you are about to discuss. Identify and send tweet invites to specific Twitter handles regarding the upcoming chat. Send out periodic reminders about the chat – a day or two before the chat – state the topic, hashtag, time and guests (if any). Reach out to organisations and networks with an interest in the topic and request that they share with their members. A day or two to the chat day Let people know and understand what it’s all about – Promote the chat days before and consistently remind people about it.

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During the Twitter Chat

  1. Start on time: Start at the stated time. Welcome all (don’t forget to mention them, that’s some rapport building), make room for selected participants to introduce themselves and introduce guests (if any) to the audience. Let your audience know if you are running late and use the opportunity to find out who is tuning in and where from.
  2. Ask the first question: Do not ask the main question now, tweet the sub-question as your first question. Example, if the main question is “How can we create jobs?” the first question should be “Why are there not enough jobs in the market?” The idea is to get people more engaged before the main topic so you can make good use of the time and discuss the topic broadly.
  3. Tweet at participants: When asking questions, mention participants’ Twitter handles. It makes them feel part of the conversation and not left out. See if everyone is tweeting and then tweet at the silent tweeps. Monitor both the event hashtag and the account you are tweeting from to ensure you don’t miss anyone.
  4. Don’t just ask questions, Interact!: Allow people to share their thoughts on each question you ask before tweeting the next question. Engage with the audience, join in the conversation. If you are tweeting from your personal account, share your own thoughts. If you are tweeting from an organizational/company account, tweet about overlaps or linkages from that perspective. Let the conversation flow, quote and retweet participants. You can allow people to comment for about 5-10mins before you ask the next question.
  5. Be in control: You are the moderator so be in charge of the conversation. Some participants are likely to divert the discussion. You will need to direct the conversation so such participants don’t distract others. You can do this by tweeting at specific handles and asking them if they agree with a particular tweet by another participant.
  6. Reiterate and Ask follow-up questions: Read the discussion and look out for some questions that can be generated from the tweets from participants. Where necessary, recap key points to ensure everyone is on the same page. It also helps in clarifying submissions.
  7. Retweet as much as possible: Use the search feature on Twitter or Twitter fall to track the participants using the hashtag so you can retweet them, which is a sign that you are reading their tweets. That said, don’t be repetitive with the retweets – be mindful of the 100 tweets per hour/1000 tweets per day limit. Twitter jail looms. Have a backup account for takeover if necessary.
  8. Manage time: As moderator, it is your duty to manage time and ensure that the key aim(s) of the chat are achieved in the allocated time. It’s easy to get carried away, especially with an interactive chat. Close on time and keep participants in high expectation for the next Twitter chat.
  9. Express gratitude to participants, guests and event organisers: Leave on a high note. Say thank you to all who made the chat possible and interesting!

Post Chat

Document the chat: You can use storify to document the chat or submit it to Global Voices Online for publication. Share the storify article with your audience for those who missed the    chat.

Evaluate the conversation: Assess the whole conversation to find out if the right message was communicated or if the intended purpose for holding the chat was achieved.

 

This post was written by :

Cecil Kwamena Ato Dadzie (@GhanabaKwamena), social media strategist, blogger and Youth Development Advocate.

Kofi Yeboah (@Kofiemeritus), social media strategist, blogger and Communications Officer for Clean Team Ghana – an organisation that provides innovative and portable toilet facilities to the urban .

Thank you to our editor Jemila Abdulai (@JAbdulai)  – Founder of Circumspect.

NB: This is a blogpost from my old blog – emeritusky.wordpress.com

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10 Under 35 Changemakers in Nigeria You Need To Know

June 26, 2013

10 Under 35 Changemakers in Nigeria You Need To Know

After my first visit to Kenya in June 2013, I was inspired to celebrate the young changemakers in that beautiful country. I then put together with the help of my team and social media friends a list of 10 Under 35 Changemakers in Kenya You Need To Know.

I was then queried by my Ghanaian friends to come up with a list young changemakers tackling major challenges in Ghana and providing employment as a result of their effort. My team and I then published the 10 Under 35 Changemakers You Need To Know In Ghana. 

I got in touch with Chioma Agwuegbo (@chiomachuka), one of Africa’s best bloggers and social media strategist, to put together a list of 10 Under 35 Changemakers in Nigeria You Need To Know. Below are the young Nigerians creating jobs and touching lives with their various businesses and social initiatives. This is not in any particular order, it is purely to celebrate the work and efforts of these young people and to inspire other young people across Africa, particularly in Nigeria.

 

Grace Ihejiamaizu

Grace Ihejiamaizu

Grace Ihejiamaizu, 23, is a Sociologist lecturer at the University of Calabar, Nigeria  and  a Social Entrepreneur and Global Changemaker with over five years of experience working in the nonprofit and youth development sector. In 2010, she started an afterschool youth development project called ‘Raising Young and Productive Entrepreneurs’ – RYPE Initiative, with the aim of educating, engaging and empowering young high school leavers to become leaders and entrepreneurs in their communities. RYPE’s impact has spanned across various communities in Nigeria, directly reaching more than 300 young people. Grace also founded iKapture Networks in 2013, a social enterprise strategically focused on providing educational and leadership services for students, school leavers and graduates.

Grace is also the founder and chief editor of Opportunity Desk, one of the largest online platforms for information on youth opportunities, scholarships, events, summits, etc. Opportunity Desk has over 100,000 visits monthly and has a growing social media platform for youth engagement.

Grace’s outstanding leadership skills has earned her multiple national and international awards and recognition including being named one of Google’s 12 Brightest Young Minds in 2011, and the recognition by the US State Department as the ‘International Exchange Alumni Member of the Month for September 2012’. She is the youngest to receive this award. The changemaker joined 59 other youths for the British Council Global Changemakers’ Summit in Brussels, Belgium 2012 and was one of 11 outstanding speakers at the TEDxYouth event at Bukoto, Uganda, same year. In 2013, she was one of the Honorees of the Future Awards Africa Young Person of the Year Prize and has been recognized by many other organizations in Africa for her work and achievements including the Under35CEO and Remarkable30 awards.

 

Japheth Omojuwa

Japheth Omojuwa

Japheth Omojuwa (@omojuwa), 30,a Nigerian blogger, socio-economic and political commentator, environmental consultant and social media expert. He is currently a lecturer (on Africa: Democratic prospects and challenges) at Free University of Berlin, and a consultant with the Heinrich Böll Stiftung Foundation and editor of the blog, Omojuwa.com which he began in 2009.

He has led panels organized by the World Economic Forum (WEF), Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development(OECD), African Development Bank (AfDB), the Germany Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development BMZ, Heinrich Boell Stiftung amongst other local and international organisations. He is the creator of Naija Teenz, a platform of engagement and value orientation for Nigerian teenagers and the curator of Omojuwa, which has since become a tool of expression for many Nigerians.

He was one of the outspoken voices during the #OccupyNigeria revolution of 2011, along with other key activists and coalitions, like Eggheader Odewale, Tolu Ogunlesi, Abang Mercy and Enough is Enough Nigeria.  In 2012, YNaija named him one of the most influential young Nigerians under 35 in Business, Fashion, Media, Entertainment, Technology and Politics! with writer, Ifreke Inyang describing him in particular as “king of the click.” In July 2012, he was named ProMaCon Project Management Ambassador, to use the social media and other platforms to educate his fans and followers on the ideals of project management and its indispensability to national development. Omojuwa was ranked 29th on a list of the 100 Most Influential Black People on Digital/Social Media in April 2014 alongside Barack Obama, Beyonce, Oprah Winfrey amongst others.

 

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Blossom Nnodim. Photo: Blossom Nnodim

Blossom Nnodim (@blcompere), 33, a Nigerian writer, entrepreneur and public servant. She is popular across major cities in Nigeria for her social media educative start-up known as #AdoptATweep,  Abuja’s and probably Nigeria’s foremost largest offline social media event, specifically targeted at the use of twitter for business, networking, marketing, Social Good and branding for creative folks.. 

Consequent upon graduation in 2005, she had a brief work stint with Guaranty Trust Bank, Port Harcourt, as a Customer Care officer.

Blossom Nnodim was awarded the prestigious International Visitor Leadership Programme (IVLP) of the U.S Department of State as one of the Young African Leaders selected to monitor the U.S Elections in November 2012.  She was one of the speakers at TedX Abuja. Her pieces have appeared on Bella Naija. In July 2012, she and another leading Nigerian social media expert, Japheth J. Omojuwa , were named ProMaCon Project Management Ambassadors, to use the social media and other platforms to educate their fans and followers on the ideals of project management and its indispensability to national development.

Blossom has become a sought after public speaker with her message of Social Media for Social Good. She recently shared a stage with Nuhu Ribadu at “Project Mentor-Me”. In 2013, she was named alongside other A-class individuals as one of the top ten Nigerian celebrities to follow on Twitter. Notable in the list are Don Jazzy and P-Square. In 2014, Blossom got a surprise listing in a high powered listing of Social Media personalities. This is a list of the top 100 most influential black people on digital/social media. Notable in the list are Barack Obama and Beyonce Knowles.

 

Abasiama Idaresit

Abasiama Idaresit

Abasiama Idaresit (@Abasiama),34, a digital marketing expert and founder and CEO of Wild Fusion, one of Africa’s leading digital marketing agencies. Idaresit founded Wild Fusion in 2010 with no external funding, but with only $250 and with a bootstrapped budget, transforming the company into a $6 million (annual revenues) digital marketing firm offering Internet marketing and digital strategy solutions to some of the largest international corporations operating in in sub-Saharan Africa. Wild Fusion’s clients include Visa V -1.71%, Vodafone VOD +1.1%, Samsung and Unilever UN +1.81% as well as several large Pan-African corporations. Wild Fusion, which is on track to make $10 million in revenues this year, also has operations in Kenya and Ghana. Wild Fusion was also Google’s first Adwords certified partner in West Africa. He is a graduate if the London school of Economics and Political Science.

 

 

Misan Rewane

Misan Rewane/LinkedIn

Misan Rewane, founder  and CEO of  WAVE Hospitality, an entrepreneurial solution that addresses education challenges in Africa, particularly vocational education that provides skills and jobs to the continent’s most disadvantaged. Misan previously worked at Monitor Group, Technoserve, Bridge International Academies, and The Center for Public Policy Alternatives.

After receiving a seed fund from from Havard she launched WAVE Hospitality Academy in August 2013 which was designed to focus on the training and placement of unemployed youths in the hospitality and retail industry. She has also co-founded IMPACT Initiative (a youth development non-profit), and Desigining Futures (an education incubator). Misan has received degrees from Stanford University and Harvard Business School.

 

Chude Jideonwo Photo: Google Images

Chude Jideonwo Photo: Google Images

 

Chude Jideonwo (@chude), 29, a Nigerian lawyer, award-winning journalist and media entrepreneur  and the co-founder of Red Media Africa, a leading marketing and corporate communication company that is subsidiary of the Red Media Group. Chude also founded EnoughisEnough Nigeria, one of the country’s foremost civic participation groups. He chairs the Public Relations & Communications Committee, and in that position has secured buy-in from national and international media including CNN, BBC, Radio France, Reuters, The Associated Press, amongst others. The organization was also a driver for Nigeria’s first ever youth-centred presidential debate in March 2011.

He is the youngest journalist ever to interview a sitting Nigerian president; securing an exclusive sit-down with Dr. Goodluck Jonathan in 2011. in May 2012, appointed the youngest member of the awards committee for the Ford Foundation Jubilee Transparency Award. Nigeria’s foremost daily, The Punch listed Chude alongside thirteen others, as one of the young people to watch in 2012. In February 2013, both Jideonwo and Williams were named in Forbes 30 Under 30: Africa’s Best Young Entrepreneurs.

 

Photo: Google Images

Ola Orekunr  Photo: Google Images

Dr. Ola Orekunrin (@naijaflyingdr), 26, a medical doctor, a trainee helicopter pilot and an entrepreneur  and founder of Flying Doctors Nigeria,  West Africa’s first air ambulance service which provides urgent air ambulances services to leading health institutions, insurance and private companies in Lagos Nigeria. Dr. Ola started studying Medicine at the University of York in England when she was 15 years and became a medical doctor at the age of 21. She started the new venture after her younger sister died of anaemia. Her sister was always in and out of hospitals and eventually died for lack of the availability of an air ambulance. But starting this venture was not easy. In 2013, she was named among the list of Young Global Leaders by World Economic Forum.  

 

Toyosi Akerele Photo: Google Images

Toyosi Akerele, Photo: Google Images

Toyosi Akerele (@toyosirise),  founder  and CEO of RISE Networks, a leading Social Enterprise with a deliberate interest in Technology and its relevance to Youth and Education Development across Africa. She was in June of 2011 described by Mrs. Michelle Obama, the First Lady of the United States of America, as one of her personal inspirations in a televised address to America as a prelude to her arrival in Africa for the Young African Women Leaders Forum of which Toyosi remains the only Nigerian member till date.

Her initiative, RISE Networks, has attracted hundreds of thousands of Young People in over 20 Nigerian States in the last 5years. An instinctive entrepreneur and consummate young professional, Toyosi’s leadership skills were recognised early in 2007 when she was selected as one of the 101 Young African Leaders by the African Business Leaders Forum of the Business in Africa Magazine.

An accomplished writer, author and public speaker, Toyosi is the author of  STRATE-TRICKS{strategies and tricks, the winning formula for emerging businesses} and other writings and interviews published in a wide variety of journals, newspapers and magazines, including the Nation, the Guardian, Forbes Magazine, Punch and This Day.

Toyosi is the recipient of numerous awards including recent recognition by Crans Montana Forum in Europe as a 2012 New Leader of Tomorrow, 2012 This Day Awards for Nigeria’s Women of Distinction, Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2011 of Success Digest Entrepreneurial Awards, The 2011 Excellence Awards of the School of Media and Communication – Pan African University, The 2008 Future Awards (Best Use of Advocacy Category) and the 2007 Nigerian Youth Leadership Awards jointly organised by Leap Africa, International Youth Foundation and NOKIA.  She also owns printmagicng.com – Nigeria’s first online Print Store that delivers 24hours Printing Service at low cost to Small Businesses via the Internet.Toyosi is also the founder of  passnownow.com – Nigeria’s prime Learning based social Community that employs contemporary solutions and innovation to teach, engage, entertain and empower Young people growing from Teenage into early adulthood.

 

Tunde Kehinde, Photo: Google Images

Tunde Kehinde, Photo: Google Images

 

Tunde Kehinde (@tunedaay), former co-founder of Jumia Nigeria, Rocket Internet’s largest online store in Africa where people can purchase and browse through a wide range of electronics, fashion, home appliances, kid’s items and more. He and his co-founder Raphael  took over reins of the ecommerce startup mid-2012 with a multimillion-dollar investment from Berlin-based Rocket Internet. Tunde is a trained business person from Harvard and currently reported to starting a new company called NewCo. NewCo is reported to be a logistics company.

 

Esther Agbarakwe, Photo: Google Images

Esther Agbarakwe, Photo: Google Images

Esther Agbarakwe (@EstherClimate), 29, a social entrepreneur and founder of the Nigerian Youth Climate Coalition and an international climate change campaigner with experience working on environmental sustainability, social and environmental policy analysis, biodiversity conservation, justice and reproductive health and rights. She currently works as a communication advisor for the Association for Reproductive and Family Health.  Esther is also the youngest chair and convener in the General Assembly of ActionAid Nigeria with the responsibility of driving ActionAid’s policies and programs in the country. Previously, she worked as an international advocacy fellow (population, health, environment and climate change) at Population Action International, Washington DC, USA. She has led several youth representations to major climate change and development conferences including Rio+20, Durban Conference and COP17. She has also worked on other projects with UN Commission on Sustainable Development, UNICEF and the Society for Family Health. Esther is one of the Youngers of the Elders+Youngers initiative involving notable leaders such as Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Gro Harlem Brundtland. She is also a Commonwealth Youth Climate fellow, Atlas Corps international fellow and Dekeyser & Friends Foundation Academy awardee.

 

Special Feature

 

Gbenga Sesan

Gbenga Sesan

Gbenga Sesan, 36, founder and Executive Director of Paradigm Initiative Nigeria, a social enterprise that connects Nigerian youth with ICT-enabled opportunities and focuses on consulting, research, telecentre support, youth-led social technopreneurship and capacity building. In October 2001, he was appointed Nigeria’s first Information Technology Youth Ambassador.

Gbenga’s initiative has directly benefited over 7300 young people across Nigeria and beyond. He was recently listed among Schwab Foundation’s “Social Entrepreneurs of The Year 2014”

He is a  member of the United Nations Committee of eLeaders on Youth and ICT, he is a CyberStewards Program Fellow, Crans Montana Forum Fellow, Archbishop Desmond Tutu Leadership Fellow, Ashoka Fellow, Our Common Future Fellow and Cordes Fellow. ‘Gbenga serves as a member of the Presidential Committee on Roadmap for the Achievement of Accelerated Universal Broadband Infrastructure and Services Provision, was listed in 2012 by CNN as one of the 10 Leading African Tech Voices and by Ventures Africa as one of 40 African Legends Under 40.

 

Thank you to everyone who contributed to making up this list. Send me your comments or suggestions to this post through my email: emeritus2011@gmail.com or through the comment box below.

NB: This is a blogpost from my old blog – emeritusky.wordpress.com

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10 Under 35 Changemakers in Ghana You Need to Know.

June 26, 2013

10 Under 35 Changemakers in Ghana You Need to Know.

There is a new generation of young Ghanaians who are refusing to follow the status quo in their society. They do not want to grow old before they create the change they want to see in the society. They have taken the challenge to develop and create opportunities for other youth in Ghana.

This is the Ghanaian version of a previous article titled 10 Under 35 Changemakers in Kenya You Need to Know. The focus of this post is to celebrate our young heroes and to let them know that their work and contribution to the development of the nation is seen and well appreciated. Africans need to celebrate their heroes no matter how small their efforts may be.

Meet the awesome 10 young Ghanaians who are creating change and contributing to the development of Ghana.These people are mentors to several young Ghanaians. These young people were selected from sectors like technology industry, sport industry, social enterprise, film industry and the field of agriculture. This selection is in no particular order of ranks.

Rasheeda Mandeeya Yehuza

Rasheeda Mandeeya Yehuza

Rasheeda Mandeeya Yehuza, 23 years, founder of Nasara Tech Company Limited, an IT company aimed at improving technology in Ghana and making technology readily available to those in rural communities. Nasarah aims at building efficient, robust, simple but life changing products that solve problems. Prior to Founding Nasara Tech, she co-founded Click Trade Ghana in 2012, a platform for buyers and sellers in Ghana to connect, and she built a couple of games and desktop applications under the snapso brand while still figuring out which path she wanted to take in IT. Rasheeda is also the co-founder and mentor of Tech Needs Girls Ghana, an interactive workshop organized annually for girls in the Senior Secondary Schools, which involves hands on sessions where girls learn to develop mobile and web applications and interact with software that teach them more about STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math ).

 

Nehemiah Attigah

Nehemiah Attigah

Nehemiah Kwesi TT Senyo Yelu Attigah, 33 years, CEO of Hatua Solutions Ltd. an Accra based company, a brainchild of highly professional people with a far reaching vision and excellence. With the aim of reaching every corner of the globe, catering for the needs of this fast changing inter-connected world with every idea, technology, process and expertise. He is an experienced software engineer, project manager, business analyst, Microsoft Dynamics specialist ,a blogger, and entrepreneur . He is also passionate about God, Data, Photography, sports, music, social projects and mentoring the younger generation. He is a member of the Ghana Think (BarCamp Ghana) and BloggingGhana’s BlogCamp Teams.

Anne Amuzu

Anne Amuzu

Ms. Anne Amuzu is the CEO and the Technical Lead of Nandimobile Limited, a young and vibrant technology startup in Ghana. Nandimobile’s objective is to leverage the high mobile penetration rates in Africa to create mobile customer service technology that enable businesses easily connect with their customers on the mobile platform. In the last two years, the company has launched three products and attracted a clientele of over 80 companies. In April 2013, she was selected among 27 emerging women leaders from around the world by the Annual Fortune/U.S. State Department Global Women’s Mentoring Partnership Programme.

Maccarthy

Maccarthy

MacCarthy M. Mac-Gbarthy , 25, a  student of Tamale Polytechnic, an Entrepreneur and Co-Founder of Hopin Academy. Hopin is a social enterprise that grew out of a growing frustration with the existing educational system in Ghana.  For the period of seven(7) months during 2013 this year, Hopin has trained ninety (90) local participants in our program. Hopin is based both on personal experience with self-directed learning as well as exposure to many kinds of technology for learning. Hopin collects the best content and tools from the internet and mobile content and combines it with a strong local learning community where you can learn individually and collectively via, coaching, Peer to Peer learning, mentoring, project-based learning and experimental processes.(www.hopinacademy.org). He is an active member of a a vibrant youth networking ogranisation in Ghana called Barcamp Ghana.

Akosua Adoma Owusu

Akosua Adoma Owusu

Akosua Adoma Owusu, 29, Artist/Filmmaker, is an AMAA award-winning American avant-garde filmmaker of Ghanaian parentage. Producers of Owusu’s first feature film Black Sunshine won France’s ARTE International Prize Award at the 2013 Durban FilmMart.  One of ArtForum‘s Top Ten Artists, she has exhibited worldwide including at MoMA, Rotterdam, Viennale, San Francisco, The Studio Museum in Harlem, Rencontres Internationales Paris/Berlin/Madrid, The Smithsonian Institute, and London Film Festival. She has directed award-winning short films, including Kwaku Ananse, Drexciya and her thesis film, Me Broni Ba (My White Baby). Her first fiction short, Kwaku Ananse is being nominated for the Golden Bear Prize at the Berlinale in 2013. Owusu has served on the jury and screening committees for Festival 3 Continents and AFI Silverdocs. She was a featured artist at the Robert Flaherty Film Seminar in 2010. A former adjunct professor in film in Virginia, She is also a recipient of the Art Matters Grant and the Africa First award sponsored by Focus Features.

Alloysius Attah

Alloysius Attah

Alloysius Attah, 24, is the co-founder of Farmerline, a mobile venture offering improved information access and communication pathways for smallholder farmers and agricultural stakeholders. He is passionate scaling technology to smallholder farmers across Africa. He was a speaker at both TEDxKNUST and TEDxAccra speaker and has been named by the World Bank and InfoDev as one of the top 20 high impact entrepreneurs in the world. He is a recipient of many international awards like the World Summit Youth Award and Apps4africa Climate change competition. He is also the Front End Developer for iCottage Networks, a full-service multimedia agency providing top-of-the-class web development services, compelling graphic design and cutting-edge branding tactics. He won the Global Innovation Through Science and Technology in 2012 and also the 2012 Apps4Africa Climate Change Competition winner.

Nina Oduro

Nina Oduro

Nina Oduro, 27, founder and editor of AfricanDevJobs.com, a platform for Africa-based development job opportunities and career advice with a special focus on highlighting the contributions of Africans and the African diaspora in the field. Committed to education and youth leadership development, she has worked as an education advisor, trainer, and facilitator for programs and initiatives aimed at positive youth development in the US and Africa. Nina is a member of the Diaspora African Women’s Network’s (DAWN) and was named “DAWNer of the Year” for 2013. She received a Master’s degree in African-American Studies from Columbia University and an undergraduate degree in Political and Social Thought from the University of Virginia.

 

Fiifi Baidoo

Fiifi Baidoo

Fiifi Baidoo, 29, Co-founder of iSpace, a successful initiative that offers product-oriented technology start-ups with a dedicated co-working space, community gathering point and network for driving entrepreneurial success. He is also a Web Enthusiast and has worked in the internet industry since 2003. In 2010, he accepted the role to be a managing member of GDG Ghana (Google Developer Group) where he helped set up new GDGs across Ghana and SSA. He until recently was a Program Coordinator at Google Ghana.

Valerie Labi

Valerie Labi

Valerie Labi, 28, is part of the senior management team of  Clean Team Toilets, a social enterprise pioneering a relevant and affordable household sanitation solutions for urban communities in developing countries. She acquired significant experiences whilst working for a host of international corporations including Vodafone Ghana and Ernst & Young UK. Since relocating to Ghana in 2008 she has supported the fair trade co-operative of Global Mamas.  Working with more than 300 women owned businesses across Ghana. Furthermore Valerie was a critical member of the team who developed the site www.tradeforchange.com enabling this co-operative of small businesses to trade their produce direct to international buyers online. Valerie is also Chief Marketing Officer of www.votekastafrica.com an online platform dedicated to strengthening democracy and transparency during elections across the continent.

Gary Al-Smith

Gary Al-SmithGary Al- Smith – The Controversial

Gary Al-Smith, 25, known as the controversial sports journalist.  At the young age of 19, Gary Al-Smith’s first ever journalist work was with the BBC. He did a feature piece for them for their Focus on Africa magazine and he has been doing bits and pieces for them ever since. He regularly does radio work for BBC; in the past two African Cup of Nations, in Gabon and in South Africa. He has also corresponded a few times for CNN, the biggest being the African Footballer Awards last year. He is currently the editor for SuperSport online in Ghana and has worked for ESPN. He currently works for network on a commission basis and has worked on documentaries for Radio Netherlands. He is also part of the CitiFm Sports team.

Special Feature:
Raphael Kofi Afaedor

Raphael Kofi Afaedor

The team would like to commend the work of Raphael Afaedor, Co-founder of Jumia, Nigeria’s number one online shopping destination where you can shop the widest selection of electronics, fashion, home appliances, kid’s items and more in Nigeria and have them shipped directly to your home or office at your convenience!  With affordable prices and great products, Jumia lets you enjoy an awesome shopping experience with your order sent directly to your doorstep. From a 10 employees in a year ago, Jumia has grown to 450 employees and operate internationally in five other countries; Nigeria, Egypt, Kenya, Morocco and Côte-d’Ivoire.

Thank you to everyone who contributed to making up this list. Send me your comments or suggestions to this post through my email: emeritus2011@gmail.com.

 

NB: This is a blogpost from my old blog – emeritusky.wordpress.com

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