We are always inspired by stories of young people doing remarkable work
in their countries to facilitate development in the lives of people in
their communities and throughout the continent. This year’s list
identifies young Africans, mostly below 30 years of age, who are
prominent in their areas of activism or fields of expertise and are
coming up with innovative ways to address some of the challenges faced
by the continent.
Kelvin Doe-Sierra Leone
Kelvin
Doe (16) is a self-taught engineer from Sierra Leone, West Africa. Out
of metal and wire scraps he made a battery to “power lights in people’s
houses,” an FM radio transmitter to disseminate news and a generator to power the device. Doe became the youngest invitee to the Visiting Practitioner’s Program for international development.
Esther Mbabazi- Rwanda
Esther Mbabazi was eight years old when her father was
killed in a crash as the plane he was flying in overshot the runway
landing in the Democratic Republic of Congo. So when, a few years later
she announced her intention to train as a pilot, the plan was not well
received by some of her family. But at the age of 24, Mbabazi has made
history as the first female Rwandan pilot.
Ludwick Marishane – South Africa
Ludwick
Marishane is the founder of DryBath, the world’s first germicidal
Bath-substituting skin lotion/gel. It is easy to use and needs minimal
water for use. Just apply DryBath to your skin and you’re done! You no
longer need a bath! It moisturises the skin, kills germs, and leaves the
user smelling fresh. He was rated as the best student entrepreneur in
the world (Global Champion of the Global Student Entrepreneurs Awards
2011). He is the country’s youngest patent-holder after having invented
DryBath. Google named him as one of the 12 brightest young minds in the
world in 2011..
Grace Ihejiamaizu – Nigeria
Grace
Ihejiamaizu is an entrepreneur and Global Changemaker . In 2010, she
founded an after-school youth project, Raising Young Productive
Entrepreneurs (RYPE) Initiative. Through RYPE, more than 350 young
people have been trained, engaged and empowered.Grace’s outstanding
leadership skills has earned her some national and international
recognition including being named one of Google’s 12 Brightest Young
Minds in 2011, and the recognition by US State Department as
‘International Exchange Alumni Member of the Month for September 2012’.
She was also selected as one of the top 60 Global ChangeMakers in 2012.
At only 22 years, she has just started a Social Enterprise company,
iKapture Networks, which provides educational services and products to
secondary and post-secondary students in Nigeria.She is also the founder
and content creator of the fast-growing online platform,
opportunitydesk.org, with more than 100,000 visitors monthly from over
160 countries across the world.
Evans Muchika -Kenya
Evans
Wadongo is a Kenyan engineer, the Executive Director and Chairman of
SDFA-Kenya, and one of CNN’s top ten heroes of 2010. Evans designed a
solar lamp which he calls ‘MwangaBora (Swahili for “Good Light”) in 2004
as a way to address poor education, climate change, health and poverty
in rural areas in Kenya. Evans named the entire project ‘Use Solar, Save
Lives’ as he aimed to use solar technology as a way to save lives in
the poor communities he grew up in.Wadongo was named one of three
recipients of the inaugural Mikhail Gorbachev Awards for “The Man Who
Changed the World.”Evans was a finalist at the inaugural Innovation
Prize for Africa held in Addis Ababa in 2012. He also received the
African International Achievers Award in 2012.
Bewa Joannie- Benin
Joannie BEWA is currently working as a
general practitioner
in a community health center in her country BENIN. She holds many
leadership positions in BENIN and is well known at global level. She is
the co-founder and the Executive director of Young Beninese Leaders
Association (YBLA), created after the President OBAMA Young African
leaders forum. In 2010, she also initiated “Red-Ribbon Campaign”, which
was a campaign to educate the population about HIV AIDS issues. In the
first six months following the campaign, she led a
training program on
sexual and reproductive health, reaching to various Beninese
communities, including sex workers. 10 000 Youth were reached at
national level. In 2012, she designed a project called “Women’s
Empowerment Campaign” which was funded through the First Lady Michelle
Obama program for Young African Women Leaders. The “Women’s Empowerment
Campaign” was implemented through capacities building and mentoring
sessions for 2,500 girls and 400 young women entrepreneurs. Her activism
was recognized by US Government who selected her in 2012 for the
prestigious International Visitor Leadership Program under the President
OBAMA Young African Leader program. Recently, she is appointed as the
first female president of the US Ambassador’s Youth Council in Benin.
Joel Mwale- Uganda
After falling ill with dysentery, Joel Mwale decided to do something about the lack of
clean drinking water in his village. With a small bit of
money he
had saved and the knowledge of physics he had acquired at school, Joel
built a borehole on some community farmland.Joel launched Skydrop
Enterprises, a producer and bottler of low-cost purified drinking water.
Joel has sold as many as 10,000 bottles of Skydrop Enterprises water in
a single month, and his profits have paid school fees for his siblings
and put food on his mother’s table. He employs three people full-time at
his rural production facility, and Skydrop Enterprises bottled water
can be purchased as far away as Kampala, Uganda.
NoViolet Bulawayo- Zimbabwe
Violet Bulawayo2Bulawayo was born and raised in Zimbabwe. She and attended Njube
High School and later Mzilikazi High School for her A levels. She later completed her
college education in
USA , obtaining earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees in English from
Texas A&M University-Commerce and Southern Methodist University .In
2010, she completed a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing at
Cornell University, her amazing work was recognized with a Truman Capote
Fellowship. In 2011 she won the 2011 Caine Prize for African Writing
for her short story “Hitting Budapest” it’s a film about a gang of
street children in a Zimbabwean shantytown. Her novel entitled We Need
New Names was scheduled to be released 21 May 2013, and she has also
begun working on a memoir project.
William Kamkwamba- Malawi
Is a Malawian inventor and author. He rose to fame in his country when he built a windmill to power some electrical
appliances ah their family house back in 2002. He used blue gum trees,
bicycle parts
and some parts collected from the local scrap yard. He later built a
solar- powered water pump that was used to supply the 1st drinking water
in his village. Having to drop out of school due to lack of funds
Kamwamba took part in Maker Faire Africa in Ghana 2009. He is one of the
four recipients of the 2010 GO Ingenuity award. In 2007 He entered a 2
year academic program combining
the Cambridge University A-levels
with Leadership, entrepreneurship and African studies at the African
Leadership Academy in Johannesburg. He later went to study at Dartmouth
College class of 2014. William wrote his autobiography “The boy who harnessed the wind” which was published worldwide.
Toyosi Akerele- Nigeria
Toyosi
is the founder of Nigeria’s first and most prominent youth interest
organization, RISE, is a consummate young professional and outstanding
Manager. Toyosi’s is also a Public Speaker, Youth Advocate and
Entrepreneur. She was selected as part of 101 young African Leaders to
be delegates to the African Business Leaders’ Forum. A multiple award
winner, “The Best Use of Youth Advocacy Category at the 2008 edition of
Nigeria’s Boldest & Brightest Youth Achievement Awards and the
Future Awards of which she has been nominated 5 consecutive Years. In
2011, Toyosi was invited as a Consultant and Strategist on the Federal
Government Project tagged “Bring Back the Book”, an initiative with the
aim to encourage Young Nigerians to cultivate a Reading Culture. She was
a finalist for the category of Business Owner of the Year at the 6th
Season of The Future Nigeria Awards.Toyosi is a worthy alumnus of the
United States Government’s Prestigious International Visitor Leadership
Program for emerging African Youth Leaders. Toyosi Akerele was in June
2011 described by Mrs Michelle Obama the First Lady of the United States
of America as one of her personal inspirations.
Thulani Madondo- South Africa
Madondo
is a founder of the Kliptown Youth Programme (KYP) and its chairperson,
the organisation provides meals for children, support with school fees,
after-school care as well as educational help and tutoring to about 400
disadvantaged children from the Kliptown area. Today the organisation
has also made it possible for 18 youths to get tertiary education.
Madondo was one of 10 finalists for the 2012 CNN Hero of the Year award,
an annual campaign which honours everyday people doing good deeds in
their communities.
Fanele Chester- Swaziland
Fanele
Chester is an African business, development and technology enthusiast.
She is social commentator who has gathered extensive experience in and
about African development during her time working with her native
Swaziland’s chamber of commerce and through her research. She is the
founder of the websites fanelechester.com and Meet Africa’s Finest, both
of which are encyclopedias of thought leadership on trends and cutting
edge commentary on Africa’s development. She is currently working on her
latest start-up, Inspired Young Minds, an education-focused initiative
whose mission is developing leadership, innovation and entrepreneurship
skills and mindsets among primary and high school students in rural and
isolated communities across Africa. She is also serves as an adviser for
a education-based tech start-up in Kenya, and as well as helping to
edit a collection of essays by Desmond Tutu Fellows, which will be
published by The African Leadership Initiative later this year. She is
also the former founder and editor of Fashion Et Al (fanelelove.com), a
website dedicated to providing high level commentary on the business of
fashion for African designers across the world, which has racked up over
120,000 hits to date. Fanele Chester is a Romance Languages &
Literatures in French major from the University of Chicago Class of
2013, and a graduate of Red Cross Nordic United World College Class of
2008.
Dayo Israel – Nigeria
Dayo Israel is an
astute motivational speaker and advisor to many world leaders, business
executive, politicians, young entrepreneur and sports professionals. He
is also an internationally recognized personality with over 12years of
professional experience in international development having worked with
organisations such as The United Nations, British Council, Save the
Children UK, UNICEF, in various capacities and has appeared on countless
television interviews, commercials, talk shows, radio programs, and was
even selected by the United Nations to represent all the young
delegates to the UN General Assembly Special Session on Children on a
special CNN Live Interview. Recently, He was specially invited by Queen
Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh to a private reception at
Buckingham palace.He is one of the Africa’s leading authorities on
Social Entreprise and Youth Development. He co-launched the UNICEF State
of the World Children’s Report in 2003 alongside Carol Bellamy and
Oscar Award Winner – Vanessa Redgrave CBE. He is the first African to
become a Student Council Chair in London’s Largest University and a
recipient of so many International Awards which includes the British Red
Cross Humanitarian Citizen Award, PEWA (Person Earnestly Working for
Africa) Award, GAB Award, Icon Awards, Icon of Hope Award, Young
Achievers Award and many more.
Ory Okolloh-Kenya
Ory
Okolloh a Kenyan activist, lawyer, and blogger. She is currently a
Policy Manager for Africa with Google. In 2006 she co-founded the
parliamentary watchdog site Mzalendo (Patriot). The site sought to
increase government accountability by systematically recording bills,
speeches, MPs, standing orders, etc. She helped Kenya create Ushahidi
(Witness) website in due to the violence that was taking place in 2007.
The website was used to record and report any reports on violence by
using text messages and Google maps. This Technology is now been adapted
in a number of countries. Ory Okolloh also worked as a legal consultant
for NGOs and has worked at Covington and Burling, the Kenya National
Commission on Human Rights, and the World Bank in the past. She obtained
an undergraduate degree in Political science from University of
Pittsburgh and Graduated from Harvard Law School in 2005.
Gilmore T. Moyo
Moyo
is a 23 year old Global Citizen, born and raised in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.
He is the Founder & Managing Editor of Deck Magazine and also a
member of the British Council Global Changemakers International Network.
Gilmore has been involved in the Global arts & cultural industry
since the age of 16 & is the Founder/CEO of Zimbabwe’s arts and
branding management company, Hunnar Management Agency. He has sat on
international panels and has contributed greatly in the sustainability
of the creative industries of Zimbabwe as a whole. He boasts working
with Alliance Francaise, Civic World, Tallberg Forum, UNESCO and British
Council, amongst many international establishments. Gilmore Tee holds
Diplomas in French, Development Studies and Leadership. He is involved
in a lot of artistic programs across the world and was recently listed
as the Worlds Most Influential Young People 2013 by UK Magazine –
Eduzine. Gilmore Tee is simply an Arts Practitioner.
Deborah Ahenkorah- Ghana
Ahenkorah
is the co-founder and executive director of Golden Baobab which is
renowned for its annual Golden Baobab Literary Prize. She created this
prize with one mission in mind: to inspire African writers to create
stories for young readers. In the past four years, this literary award
has inspired the creation of over 850 children and young adult stories
from 15 countries. Deborah has been recently named by the Echoing Green
Fellowship as one of twenty-two of the most “game changing social
innovators in the world today.” In 2011, she was identified by Playing
for Change as one of Ghana’s leading social entrepreneurs working to
make the world a better place for children and youth. Deborah studied
political science at Bryn Mawr College and pursued her passion for
global issues by gaining experience in the European Union Parliament and
The Global Fund for Children. Her current mission is to ensure that in
the next ten years young people in Africa and the African diaspora have a
consistent supply of stellar African literature. Deborah is a Global
Shaper of the World Economic Forum.
Kariuki Gathitu- Kenya
Having
been in the banking industry, Kariuki saw the difficulties that people
have when it comes to payments and especially mobile payments. This led
to the birth of MPAYER, his mobile money management system, has been
widely acknowledged and received awards for innovation. MPAYER recently
won second position in a global competiton held in south Africa called
Dragons Den and was the best application in Africa and second in the
world among 50 top startups globally. MPAYER is having great impact in
the SME space in Kenya, allowing small businesses to build strong
scalable businesses. Kariuki is passionate about innovation, technology
and business. He is also involved in youth advocacy and from time to
time travels around the continent speaking to young people about
entrepreneurship. He has worked with the African union, the World Bank
and even governments in this capacity.
Duro-Aina Adebola, Akindele Abiola, Faleke Oluwatoyin, and Bello Eniola- Nigeria
At
the age of 14 and 15 years old, Four Nigerian students have shown their
innovative sides by developing a Urine Powered Generator. The generator
produces six hours of power for one litre of urine. They displayed
their invention at Maker Faire Africa in Lagos, Nigeria, an annual event
meant to showcase ingenuity
Ashish Thakkar-Rwanda
Born
in the United Kingdom, Ashish and his family moved back to Africa after
surviving the historic Rwandan genocide and generational exile of
African families. He grew up in the UK and Uganda and now lives in
Dubai.In 1996, Ashish borrowed $6,000 to start his first IT Company
that’s when he bought and sold computers. Within a year, he transitioned
from a high school student to a full time entrepreneur. In a span of 15
years, Ashish J. Thakkar built a conglomerate of IT, real estate and
manufacturing companies with operations in 26 countries and employing
over 7,000 people worldwide.
He has also been appointed on the advisory panels to several heads of
state in sub-Saharan Africa and is also a team member of the
Commonwealth Business Council and COMESA. Ashish has been profiled by
several publications and media outlets including Forbes, The Economist,
CNN, Africa Business Journal, Ventures Africa, San Jose Mercury, Reuters
and the BBC.The culmination of Ashish J. Thakkar’s business
achievements has been instituting Mara Foundation, the nonprofit social
enterprise of Mara Group which focuses on emerging African
entrepreneurs..In the near future, Ashish J. Thakkar will represent East
Africa on Virgin Galactic’s mission into space, thereby making him
Africa’s second astronaut.
Hadeel Ibrahim- Tanzania
Hadeel
Ibrahim is the founding Executive Director of the Mo Ibrahim
Foundation, which was established in 2006 to support great African
leadership. She is a member the Boards of the Mary Robinson Foundation –
Climate Justice (MRFCJ), Carter Center UK, Refugees International and
the Institute of African Leadership for Sustainable Development (UONGOZI
Institute) in Tanzania. Hadeel is a Patron of Restless Development, a
youth led development agency. She previously spent time with the Africa
Section of Actis Private Equity Investors and with EMP Africa.
Boniface Mwangi- Kenya
Boniface
Mwangi is an award winning Kenyan photographer and photo-activist.
Boniface is the Project Director of Picha Mtaani, which is a mobile
photo exhibition held in towns across Kenya, showcasing photographs of
the post-election violence that rocked various parts of the country in
2007/08. Picha Mtaani has reached over 500,000 individuals and plans to
develop an online platform that will use photography as a catalyst for
social change across East Africa. Boniface has worked as a
photojournalist for the Standard, and has worked as a freelancer for
Bloomberg, the AFP, Reuters, the Boston Globe, as well as a number of
other media outlets. He holds a Diploma in Print Journalism from the
East African School of Journalism, and has been recognized as a TED
Fellow and twice as the CNN Multichoice Africa Photojournalist of the
Year.
Michael Mulunga- Namibia
After
observing the poor conditions that the youth in Namibia lived with,
Michael decided to work youths from one of the poorest communities in
his region to start a poultry project as part of them generating an
income for themselves. Michael is one of more than 100 young African
leaders from 45 countries who were invited to the President’s Forum with
Young African Leaders August 3-5 in Washington. He was also a Google’s
Zeitgeist Young Minds 2011 Winner.
Eddy Gicheru Oketch- Kenya
Oketch is the Kenyan born founder and Trustee of PAD (
www.padinst.org).
PAD is a youth leadership, peace-building and enterprise incubator that
established youth economic empowerment projects and develop African
Peace Ambassadors in the continent. PAD has established 20 influential
youth groups, income-generation projects and reached about 250,000 young
people in Kenya, Mozambique and Uganda in this youth peace-building
strategy. Such projects include agricultural projects for young people
to bolster their income, escape poverty and avoid negative participation
in conflicts. Eddy is also a Global Changemaker with the British
Council who has participated in the World Economic Forum on Africa twice
as a discussion leader and was a panel discussion leader in the May
2012 G8 summit, a platform addressed by President Barrack Obama and
accomplished world leaders such as Hon. Hillary Clinton and Irish rock
star Paul David Hewson (Bono). He was a 2012 participant in the
Washington DC Clinton Global Initiative University and at a young age,
he is a trained UNESCO International Youth Peace Ambassador in Penang
Malaysia who also consults for the MasterCard Foundation head leadership
in Toronto Canada on youth entrepreneurship and engagement strategy.
Sandra Appiah-Ghana
When Sandra Appiah, 23, with her
partner Isaac Boateng met in New York City and discovered they shared
similar challenges in accepting their African heritage, the two decided
to team up and attempt to rebrand their continent’s image by sharing the
positive stories being left untold. Through their biannual publication
Face 2 Face Africa magazine, which just published its premiere issue,
Appiah, who serves as editor-in-chief, and Boateng, the magazine’s
publisher, cover everything from politics to lifestyle, entertainment,
African fashion and beauty, and issues facing the latest generation
coming out of the African diaspora and across the globe.
Richard Turere- Kenya
He
is the innovator behind ‘Lion Lights’ which are flashing lights set up
around a perimeter facing outwards; which are used to scare away lions.
Richard devised ‘Lion Lights’ to prevent night attacks by lions on his
family’s cattle herd, which was located in Kitengela on the unfenced
south side of Nairobi National Park, in Kenya. These types of attacks
often lead to the hunting and killing of the lions, which are
endangered. After his innovation the lion attacks ceased and soon
neighbours were asking for him to set up similar systems around their
farms. The cattle were also calmer because the lights meant that they
could see the land around was safe.
Foglabenchi Lily Haritu- Cameroon
Lily
Haritu is the youngest individual to reach the position of program
supervisor in the Cameroon Baptist Convention Health Services. She has
demonstrated an outstanding commitment to reproductive and sexual
health rights education and rights promotion particularly through her
work with stationary and rural mobile clinics across Cameroon. This work
has accelerated development efforts in maternal and child health
promotion and HIV/AIDS prevention and care. Lily has empowered women to
negotiate safer sex practices and has increased access to sexual
education and counselling for young adolescent girls. She was also a
finalist for the Commonwealth Youth Awards or Excellence in Development
Work
Brian Bwesigye- Uganda
Bwesigye was born
in 1987 in Kigezi, south-western Uganda. He studied Law at Makerere
University and Human Rights at Central European University- Budapest. He
is co-founder of the Centre for African Cultural Excellence (CACE),
which seeks to harness the role of culture and the arts in improving
society. He also teaches in the School of Liberal and Performance Arts
and Faculty of Law at Makerere and Busoga universities
respectively.Bwesigye’s non-fiction and literary work has appeared in
literary and academic journals, websites, magazines, national newspapers
and in other places, including the Uganda Modern Literary Digest, New
Black Magazine, Saraba and Readers Cafe Africa among others. His book,
Fables out of Nyanja, a collection of short fictional rhythmic
narratives of childhood is published by Kushinda (2012). He is presently
a Theatre Fellow at the D&F Academy, Hamburg, Germany.
Simon Ssenkaayi- Uganda
Simon
Ssenkaayi, is a Rotarian, a youth advocate, passionate leader and
motivational and inspirational speaker. He has advanced training in
advocacy from Turkey, sustainable youth-led development from UAE, SME
management from China.A graduate with an MBA with great focus on
marketing management and strategy. He has previously worked with Youth
for Human Rights International (Uganda Chapter), Germany Foundation for
world population (Dsw_Bonita), Save the Children Uganda, Uganda Red
Cross Society, Young Empowered and Health initiative for and by young
people under Uganda Aids Commission funded by USAID, Winsor Development
Consultants, Ministry of Youth Buganda Kingdom, Founder and Senior
trainer of Global Empowerment Link and other NGOs. He is currently the
National Director World Faith International – Uganda Chapter, Alumni of
the 5th World Youth Congress Istanbul-Tuurkey, Democratic Party Youth
Leader – Makindye Sub-County, Business Trainer on CBS FM and RADIO TWO
Kampala ,Buganda Youth Council and Community Mobiliser – Ministry of
Youth, Buganda Kingdom
Erasmus Mweene- Zambia
Erasmus
Mweene’s work revolves around Social Entrepreneurship and activism on
youth empowerment, HIV/AIDS, Gender-Based Violence and Sustainable
Development. He is the founder of a youth-led and non-profit
organization known as Youth Activism for Change (YAfC). He is currently
serving as Zambia’s National Focal Point for the Global Youth Coalition
on HIV/AIDS (GYCA), and he is also an ambassador for the Global Youth
Innovation Network (GYIN). In 2012,his project won as the best suggested
employment creation project at the Rhodes Youth Forum held on the
Rhodes Island, Greece.
Fungai Machirori- Zimbabwe
Fungai
Machirori is a Zimbabwean new media activist who runs a personal blog
and has recently launched a Zimbabwean women’s web platform, Her
Zimbabwe. Fungai’s personal blog (‘Fungai Neni’ online at
http://fungaineni.wordpress.com/)
tackles personal and social challenges from an intimate, provocative
and gendered perspective and has been awarded accolades including
runner-up at the prestigious World Youth Summit Awards in 2011. Her
Zimbabwe (online at
http://herzimbabwe.co.zw/)
is a dynamic new platform for Zimbabwean women to articulate and
celebrate the complexity and diversity of their feminine identities.
