The biggest youth awards event in Africa, The Future Awards sponsored by Red Media Group and UBA lived up to its image yesterday at the Intercontinental Hotels, Victoria Island, Lagos. Hosted by the elegant Bonang Matheba and the artful Dare Art Alade, the show was attended by important dignitaries and celebrities in and out of Nigeria. Eleven (11) of the most promising, progressive and active young Africans in various fields ranging from science, entertainment,. politics, fashion and business, were presented with awards acknowledging their efforts in reshaping the continent.
Meet the winners:
The Future Awards Africa Prize in Advocacy & Activism
Queen Baboloki (Botswana) 25 years old
She is the brain behind the Dream Hub Project, an NGO in Botswana set up to help young girls cope with violence experienced in the home. She has done remarkable in her hometown to end gender based violence at home and in the community. She focuses on vulnerable women and girls, teaching them skills and reinforcing their value as people. She was invited to become a Moremi Initiative for Leadership, Empowerment and Development in Africa (MILEAD) Fellow in 2013. She was also selected as a 2014 Mandela Washington Fellow- President Obama’s Young African Leaders Initiative; 2015 VV Lead Fellow and 2015 Global Laureate Fellow.
The Future Awards Africa Prize in Education
Lily Kudzro (Ghana) 29 years old
Lily Kudzro is the CEO of Devio Arts Center. The Devio Arts Centre, a social enterprise initiative, uses creative and digital art as a catalyst, to stimulate constructive learning and creative thinking in Ghanaian children. To make up for the lack of an avenue to explore their artistic potentials in Ghanaian students, she is introducing schools and students to creative and imaginative ways to practice visual arts application. Devio Arts through its programs has provided transformational impact by providing infrastructure, resources and inclusive access to children from disadvantaged backgrounds.
The Future Awards Africa Prize in Enterprise Support
Olufunbi Falayi (Nigeria) 29 years old
He is co founder of Passion Incubator. Passion Incubator provides immense support to focused individuals by helping young technology entrepreneurs build their businesses from scratch. So far he has recoreded successes with business like Warra Cakes and Talking Books. With Warra Cakes, he helped developed a middle-ware platform for consumers to order sweets and bakeries from different suppliers of bakers. With Talking Books, he is turning all Nigerian literature and books into audio books.
The Future Awards Africa Prize in Community Action
Kelvin Mutize (Zimbabwe) 27 years old
The Future Awards Africa Prize in Technology
Rasheeda Mandeeya Yehuza (Ghana) 25 years old
Kelvin Mutize volunteers in the world’s largest psycho-social programme for children infected or affected by HIV/AIDS, Champions for Life started in 2005 in Harare, Zimbabwe by Tom and Bonnie Deuschle and spear headed by physician Dr Andrew Reid. The programme has had more than 15,000 children in sub-Saharan Africa receive the emotional, moral and physical support required. Mutize has travelled and set up Champions for Life programmes in South Africa, Zambia, Malawi, Botswana, Namibia, Mozambique, Lesotho, Swaziland and Uganda. All of these he has done has an unpaid volunteer!
She is the founder of Nasar ltd. She develops and manages softwares such as Nasara Mobile and Nasara Voting System and computer games such as Buju Hunt and Sphere Attack. She is an active member and organizer of the GhanaThink Foundation programs; Barcamp Kumasi and ‘Kumasi Konnect’ both of which are aimed at educating young Ghanaians about the issues in the environment. Most importantly, Rasheeda co-founded Tech Needs Girls Ghana, an interactive workshop for girls in Ghana. The workshop involves a hands-on session where girls learn to develop mobile and web applications, interact with software and provides mentoring for female technologists.
The Future Awards Africa Prize in Entertainment
Olamide “Badoo” Ayodeji (Nigeria) 26 years old
Olamide is known for his playful and punchy lyrics. since the release of his first single in 2010, he has released 4 albums and his a proud owner of a record label. Rapping with a blend of Yoruba nd English, he has created a niche for himself that is appreciated in every circle. Not such a surprise to find him on this list, isn’t it?
The Future Awards Africa Prize in Agriculture
David Asiamah (Ghana) 27 years old
David Asiamah is a farmer. Not just any kind of farmer, a learned, passionate farmer. He is the founder of Agro Mindset which he created in his 3rd Year on campus. Agro Mindset has imparted positively in the lives of over 7000 young students both in Ghana and beyond through its innovative and creative programmes like agribusiness outreach programmes, field trainings, farm business development, entrepreneurial workshops and symposia. In recognition of his outstanding contribution to youth involvement in Agriculture, Agro Mindset won the 2013 edition of the Ghana UK Based Award (GUBA) on Invest in Africa Sustainable Business Award.
The Tony O. Elumelu Prize in Business
Samuel Malinga (Uganda) 26 years old
Samuel Malinga’s team developed a mechanism to address the entire faecal sludge management chain in Uganda. They developed a new modular latrine called DuraSan (made up of durable, interlocking, precast concrete blocks), a low-cost pit emptying pump called a Rammer, primary transportation devices (Grappler, handcart & Shlifter), and a Decentralized Faecal Sludge Treatment System (DFSTS). Malinga was shortlisted for the Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation and in Kampala, other entrepreneurs have entered into the pit emptying business using the technology pioneered by Malinga and his team.
The Future Awards Africa Prize in Public Service
Emmanuel N. B. Flomo (Liberia) 27 years old
Emmanuel Flomo is a member of the President’s Young Professional Program, the flagship program of the Liberian President, Madame Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, a youth capacity and public service program. Flomo was assigned to the Ministry of Finance & Development Planning as a Budget Analyst working in the Economic Services Sector. His performance was so outstanding that he was appointed by the Finance Minister of Liberia as Budget Director for the Ministry of Commerce & Industry. Flomo was elected in February 2015 as the Vice President for International Affairs of the Liberia National Student Union (LINSU), the umbrella organization for all students in Liberia.
The Future Awards Africa Prize for Young Person of the Year
Philip Obaji Jnr. (Nigeria) 29 years old
This here is one outstanding guy! He was the winner of The Future Awards Africa Prize in Education 2014. This year, he is Young Person of the year. Read his profile below:
In 2014, the 1 GAME Campaign which he founded four years earlier with an objective to fight violence and ignorance through education, met with nearly 100 community leaders in North-East states of Borno, Yobe and Gombe on raising a volunteering team to move house to house, encouraging parents to send their children to tuition-free public primary schools rather than to Almajiri Mallams. Collectively, they have reached out to nearly 1,000 families.
To make learning easy and affordable, Philip’s 1 GAME Campaign provided 100,000 exercise books and pens to about the same number of children in Borno and Gombe States with virtually every recipient attending school for the first time. 1 GAME also established a book centre in Maiduguri, the Borno State, where poor school children who are in need can get writing materials.
Through 1 GAME Campaign, Obaji Jnr has brought together, hundreds of former child soldiers in a movement to end the conscription of children by local vigilantes fighting Boko Haram. He has told the stories of hundreds of children affected by the insurgency, published on foreign journals, and helped get foreign aid to thousands of displaced children particularly in Borno State.
Through his ‘Off The Streets’ project, Philip supports these children by catering for them through the provision of food and clothing and at the same time prepares them for western education through a mentoring program.
Off The Street Project Van goes out every last weekend of the month in Maiduguri to Almajiri centers, delivering food stuffs, beverages and clothing to children in need. It reaches out to about 10 major centers with a near total of 20,000 children every month.
Now backed by various global humanitarian agencies including Compassion It and UNICEF, Philip’s 1 GAME Campaign will be reaching out to most of the 800,000 children displaced by the insurgency in northeastern Nigeria through the recently launched #BringBackOurChildhood campaign.
Ford Foundation Prize for Youth Employment Category
Ukinebo Dare
She is the Editor-in-Chief of Young Executive Diary and the initiator, PSENSE Certification Programme. Her passion for self-development has led her to design and facilitate several courses on self-development and skill-improvement. She has experience in Business Strategy Development, Facilitation, Counseling and Systems administration. Mrs. Dare is a well-rounded professional with years of experience in managing teams and is a seasoned facilitator of Creative thinking, Problem Solving, Interview Skills and other courses.
If none of these beautiful people has inspired you, let this inspire you: Notice how all of them are below 30 years? Age is not a barrier or an excuse anymore. Get started!
