The Class of 2013: The full profiles of nominees for The Future Awards Africa

The Future Awards Africa TFAA

by Isi Esene

The Central Working Committee of The Future Awards Africa recently released the names of nominees for the awards.

The young achievers were later treated to an invitation-only dinner specially organised by the United States Consulate and hosted at the Ikoyi, Lagos, residence of Jeffery Hawkins, the US Consular-General, where nominees were presented with certificates in recognition of their outstanding achievements.

The awards organisers further raised the bar by announcing a groundbreaking partnership with the British Council to present ‘The International Young Media Entrepreneur of the Year’ 2013.

“We are certainly looking forward to hosting and celebrating the nominees of The Future Awards Africa,” said Mr. Hawkins.

“Every year, we are over-whelmed by the sheer intensity of achievement
and inspiration that we find from our nominees,” said Chude Jideonwo,
who is executive director of The Future Project.

“This year, we are excited to continue and heighten that tradition, especially since the awards are now continental.”

See the full profile of the nominees for Future Awards Africa 2013 below:

THE FUTURE AWARDS PRIZE IN ADVOCACY & ACTIVISM.

This award is given to a young person who has demonstrated exceptional vision, passion, and commitment to a social or developmental cause and made a measurable impact on lives.

Anu Ishola (27)

A program of the Youth Empowerment and development Initiative (YEDI), Gratrutsoka adapts the highly effective model of football to drive development and behavioral change in the Nigerian context from social change, life skills to HIV aids awareness. In May 2013, Anu’s organisation held a ‘Kick Out Malaria’ football tournament to create awareness against malaria and conduct free malaria testing for participants.

Jake Okechukwu (25)

A radio presenter and human rights activist. Okechukwu is Vice –President of the Sickle Cell Aid Foundation [SCAF] which is a non-profit and non-governmental organization established to amplify awareness on Sickle Cell Anemia and to raise funds solely for the provision of quality medical care for persons living with sickle cell anemia, especially for the indigent in Nigeria. He also hosts ‘Talk Your Own’, a 25-minute radio show focused on governance in Nigeria.

Orode Ryan -Okpu (24)

Pink Pearl Foundation represents a consistently growing force against breast cancer with over 40 programmes since 2007 to support the cause against the dreadful disease. In 2013, Uduaghan took her fight against breast cancer, a notch higher, crossing borders, taking breast and cervical cancer awareness and screening to neighboring Cameroun. Where from the 6th to the 8th of March, at the country’s Ministry of Health’s sub-divisional hospital, Kumbo free breast and cervical cancer screening of 175 women were conducted followed by a training session. Of the 175 women screened, 16 were found to have lumps or mass of tissues in their breasts.

Tobore Oro Edema (24)

Edema is Founder and Director of The Gladies, a faith-based non-governmental organisation formed in 2011 with a vision to raise leaders among women, skills transfer, and set them on a path of self-discovery. In 2013, The Gladies launched The BMW Series (Business Ministry and Women) which is a web-based talk-show series which showcases outstanding young women entrepreneurs and ministry founders. The maiden episode was held online in June 2013 with a young successful entrepreneur excelling in both fields (business and ministry), based Tera Carissa Hodges, Founder of Life Now Marketing and Life Now Ministries, both based in Atlanta Georgia. It had over 500 views, with a global impact on women in 15 countries spread across 4 continent like USA, UK, Canada, Australia, Botswana, Trinidad & Tobago, Kenya, Spain, and many more. The second edition of the BMW Series is billed to hold in July 2013. A graduate of Microbiology Technology from the Delta State University, Abraka, Edema is also co-founder of the Project-Security Initiative, a faith-based NGO established in 2006 focused on securing young women, promoting self-development, and purpose discovery. For the past three years, she has also been the secretary general of Celebrate Heroes, a charity dedicated to building esteem and enriching the lives of orphans and vulnerable children. She blogs at www.astoldbyoro.wordpress.com.

Maryam Augie (28)

Augie founded the AYAHAY Foundation, in 2003 after the death of a friend. The charity is focused on 4 key areas of providing quality healthcare, affordable education and counseling, promoting good sanitation practices, and enhancing personal development through sports and recreation. The foundation works in the Abuja FCT, Kebbi and Kano States where grinding machines have been donated to women centres, schools have been renovated, 8 boreholes have been constructed. One of the charities recent activities is the bringing of sporting activities (Inter communal) to these states such as football and volleyball, using sports as a platform to drive a conversation on social issues such as drug abuse, education, and rape. The foundation also grants scholarships to 4 children (ages 8 – 15) in Kebbi State.

THE FUTURE AWARDS PRIZE IN SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY.

This award is given to a researcher, scientist, innovator, inventor who has distinguished herself or himself and achieved a measurable breakthrough in the field of science and technology.

Modestus Chijoke Idoko (20)

A 20-year-old student of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) who designed a rocket propellant, Idoko’s childhood dream had always been to become a rocket scientist and this particularly led him into the Department of Physics and Astronomy of UNN to get a good grasp of the physics/science of rockets and an understanding of astronomy for which rocket is basically built. The rocket designed has PVC-pipe as the motor casing, aluminum as the nose cone. The propellant is made up of 325 grams of potassium nitrate (oxidizer) and 175 grams of sorbitol (sugar), making a total of 500 grams. The PVC-pipe is of ¾-inch diameter, and 65cm in length.

Chikezie Nwaoha (29)

Nwaoha is a science and technology researcher working in the academia with several books and dictionaries to his publishing credit. His books which are published by reputable publishers such as John Wiley and Taylor and Francis include: Process Plan Equipment : Operation, Control and Reliability, Dictionary of Industrial Terms, Corrosion and Materials in Oil and Gas Industries, and Dictionary of Oil, Gas and Petrochemical Processing. One of the scholar’s articles published in a peer reviewed journal was named one of the Top 25 Best articles for 2012. He is currently studying for a Master’s degree on full scholarship majoring in Petroleum Technology at Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand.

Yewande Akinola (28)

A Bachelor of Science degree holder in Engineering Design and Appropriate Technology from the University of Warwick and a Master’s degree holder in Innovation and Design from Cranfield University, Akinola won the Young Woman Engineer of the Year Award from the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) in London, United Kingdom, in 2012 consequently placing her among best under 30 female engineers in the UK and making her the new IET’s young woman engineer ambassador for 2013. The Institute recognized her for her commitment to sustainability and innovation, especially around water supply technology.

Chuka Ofili (31), Emotu Balogun (27), Kene Udeze (24), and Clive Ayonye (23)

Ofili, Balogun, Udeze, and Ayonye are co-founders of OpenApps, a market intelligence system that aggregates Internet users’ behavior from multiple high traffic sources to support the development of intuitive digital services in Nigeria. The team worked from the CCHub, Lagos.

Hugo Obi (32)

Obi is founder of Maliyo Games, a Nigerian-based start-up specializing in creating casual games with African themes. Maliyo Games launched in May 2012 with the goal of sharing the experiences of everyday Africans with a global audience through games with over 10 gaming titles including Okada Ride, Aboki, Kidnapped, and Mosquito Smasher. Obi and his work has been featured on BBC, CNN, CNBC Africa, and DEMO events.

THE FUTURE AWARDS PRIZE IN COMMUNITY ACTION.

This award is given to a young person who has remarkably changed the lives of a community or communities.

Rita Omovbude (32)

Through her organisation, Street Project Enterprise and its operations, Omovbude has been a positive change agent for the less privileged youth and people in orphanages. www.streetproject.com.ng

Bolajoko Fadipe (30)

Fadipe runs a charity called the FOODCLIQUE that stores and distribute purchased or donated perishable and non-perishable food to poor kids, pensioners, destitutes, disabled, homeless, working poor, low-income families, and the food insecure people through community outreaches and partnership with a network of other non-for-profits. Through FOODCLIQUE, Fadipe has fed and empowered several thousands of Nigerians in Benin City, Lagos, Ogun State and other.

Dr. Okeke Kanayo (30)

A youth corp member serving in the Kwali area council of the F.C.T, Dr. Kanayo built a N3.9 million healthcare centre in the Fula community of the council in January 2013.

Monica Onuoha (28)

An Abia State indigene posted to Kaduna State during the Batch A 2012/2013 NYSC year, spearheaded the construction of a Corpers Lodge worth over N 5 million and impacted the lives of her fellow corp members and the Sabon Gaya community of Chikun Local Government.

Ife Adebayo (30)

A web developer, Adebayo commenced raising funds to build a block of classrooms for the students at St Michael’s Anglican Primary School, Epe, Lagos a public school after he visited the school where he witnessed student being lectured in the dilapidated buildings. The project was completed in April 2013.

THE FUTURE AWARDS PRIZE IN NEW MEDIA.

This award is given to a young person who is reaching new frontiers as an innovator, publisher, business owner, entrepreneur, or professional in new media.

Kingsley Ezeani (23)

At age 18, Kingsley Ezeani founded Information Nigeria a news portal which has become one of the most popular wedsites in Nigeria with 12 full-time staff, over 100 volunteers, over 500,000 Facebook fans, it is one of the 20 most visited Nigerian websites with over 10 Million monthly visitors. His passion for development led to the founding of Crowdsourced Education, a project which earned him the 2011 I.T.U fellowship, he was also a finalist in the I.T.U Young Innovators Contest in Geneva, Switzerland and one of Nigeria’s delegates to the World Business Dialogue, the largest student conference in the world.

Ediong Umoh (26)

Umoh is Chief Curator and Creator of Nigeria’s News Desk an entirely Twitter- based news service. @NigeriaNewsDesk, which has been identified as Nigeria’s most influential Twitter handle has over 405,000 Twitter followers as at July 2013. An aggregator of news from sources across the world, @NigeriaNewsDesk is unarguably the number 1 news source on Twitter for Nigerians. The handle now serves over 7 online news papers.

John Obidi (27)

Obidi is a co-founder of Blue Fountain Solutions. It was registered in 2011. It provides Live Streaming/Internet Radio solutions to churches, individuals, and corporations. He is also the co-founder of TIGweekly.com, which he co-hosts as well. The 1st ever LIVE Internet Radio show on the Nigerian I.T industry, TIGWeekly.com is aimed at “telling the story of the Nigerian I.T industry to the world as it happens in real-time.” Something unique about this is that the audio stream is accessible to ALL internet enabled devices because the stream is super-compressed.

Modupeola Abiola (31)

She is the founder and CEO of Intern Avenue an online internship website designed to connect employers with students and graduates. Described as a “seri

Comments (2)

  1. thumbs hope to them. they have really inspired me.

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