Who is your AFRYDEF's 2014 Person of the Year?
Gossy Ukanwoke, 25 year old President and Founder of the Beni American University from Abia State. He was profiled on CNN African Startups and dubbed “Nigeria’s budding Mark Zuckerberg” by Forbes, Gossy Ukanwoke, wants to transform how education is provided and make it readily available for people who otherwise might not have access or the resources for higher education. Prior to BAU Research and Development, Gossy founded Students Circle Network, an academic network for students, teachers and institutions that brings over 10,000 academic resources from over 200 universities and shares it free for students and teachers. The success of SCN had led to Gossy being referred to as “Africa’s Top Tech Entrepreneur” by ITNews Africa in 2011.
Cynthia Mosunmola Umoru, 31 year old celebrated agro entrepreneur. She is a self-taught farmer, who started her company, Honey Suckle as an undergraduate. Cynthia, the Future Africa Awards winner is also the CEO of Farmshoppe. Cynthia is an agribusiness entrepreneur who is extremely passionate about food, farming and the community. Proudly calling herself a farmer, her dream is for Nigeria to attain national food security which can only be achieved through increased education of youths and women within the local communities. She is a zoology graduate, an alumnus of the Pan African University under the Enterprise Development Center (CEM), an Ashoka Fellow and Alum of the U.S Department of States International Visitors Leadership Programme and was one of the youths that participated in the recently concluded confab.
Chude Jideonwu, 29 years old is co-founder and Managing Partner of Red Media Africa/The Future Project, a full service media-content, communication and development company that has worked for several national and international brands. The firm also owns The Future Nigeria Awards, reputed as Nigeria's biggest youth event. He became editor of Y!/YNaija! in July 2010. Chude also founded EnoughisEnough Nigeria, one of the country's foremost civic participation groups, which has received funding from the Omidyar Network and the MacArthur Foundation. A public speaker, he has motivated youth across the country and beyond. He has been Project Defense Panelist/Judge for several organisations including the United Nations Information Technology Service (UNITeS), YGC Africa, amongst others, and has spoken at events, schools, churches, seminars and conferences including the recent 2010 ICT and Civic Engagement Symposium organised by the Berkman Center for Internet & Society in conjunction with
Oluseun Onigbinde is leading digital innovator in Nigeria and an advocate of the open data movement who works to foster greater transparency and better understanding of government budgets. Currently a Knight International Innovation Fellow with the International Center for Journalists, his work focuses on advancing the Code4Africa open data movement and promoting the use of creative digital tools in media organizations to increase public engagement around key development issues such as health and education. In 2012, he was awarded the prestigious Ashoka Fellowship, and in that role he co-founded a civic startup named BudgIT, which uses digital technologies to make government budgets more accessible and understandable to Nigerians. In 2013, BudgIT was listed by Forbes Magazine as one of the top five exciting African startups to watch out for. Onigbinde is a contributor to the Data Journalism Handbook, a member of the Open Spending Wiki Group, an Open Knowledge Foundation Ambassador, a
Gbenga Sesan, 36 year old 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
Grace Ihejiamaizu, 23 year old 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 100,00
Japheth Omojuwa, 30 year old 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 Eggh
Blossom Nnodim, 33 year old 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 platfor
Abasiama Idaresit, 34 year old 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, 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.
Dr. Ola Orekunrin, 26 year old 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, 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 tri
Tunde Kehinde, 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, 29 year old 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, UN
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