In January 2012, Young People in International Affairs(YPIA) put out a worldwide call for
nominations to find Africans under 35 years of age making an impact “in their
respective countries, on the continent and in the wider world.” To qualify, you
must have met the following conditions:
1. Under the age of 35;
2. A citizen of an African country;
3. Excelling in their respective field and area of
expertise;
4. Making a substantial impact on critical African issues
and international affairs;
5. Recognized among colleagues and the broader community as
a leader/future leader;
6. Values ethics and human rights.
The wait is over and YPIA is proud to announce the winners
of its first bi-annual Top 35 Under 35 Young African Leaders in International
Affairs!
The 2012 Top 35 are young Africans who are accomplishing
amazing feats in the fields of politics, business, media, education/academia,
community development and science and technology. And the winners are…
EDUCATION/ACADEMIA
Fred Swaniker
Fred Swaniker, 34, Ghana- Fred is an entrepreneur with deep
experience in education and leadership on the African continent. He is
currently based in Johannesburg, South Africa, and is the Founder & CEO of
African Leadership Academy, a world-class, pan-African secondary school that
aims to develop future generations of African leaders. He has extensive
experience launching and managing private educational institutions of
excellence in Africa.
Fred Swaniker is passionate about Africa and believes that
Africa’s future will be determined by the quality of its future leaders. He has
thus devoted the last several years to building an institution that aims to transform
Africa by developing its next generation of leaders: African Leadership
Academy.
Before founding African Leadership Academy, Fred founded
Global Leadership Adventures, a leadership development program for youth
throughout the world, and also helped launch Mount Pleasant English Medium
School, one of the top-performing private elementary schools in Botswana.
Fred began his career after college in the Johannesburg
office of McKinsey & Company, where he advised management teams of large
companies across Africa. Fred has an MBA from Stanford University, where he was
named an Arjay Miller Scholar, a distinction awarded to the top ten percent of
each graduating class. He also holds a BA degree magna cum laude from
Macalester College.
Lilian Chenwi
Lilian Chenwi, 34, South Africa- Dr. Lilian Chenwi is an
Associate Professor at Wits University. She holds an LLB degree from the
University of Buea, Cameroon, a Maîtrise in Law from the University of Yaoundé,
Cameroon, an LLM in Human Rights and Democratisation and an LLD, both from the
University of Pretoria. She served as acting coordinator of the Gender Unit
from June 2004 to April 2005, and was an LLM tutor and researcher from February
2003 to June 2005, both at the Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria.
Lilian was a Senior Researcher at the Community Law Centre,
University of the Western Cape and Head of the Centre’s Socio-Economic Rights
Project. She has presented guest lectures on socio-economic rights and
co-convened a module on criminal justice and the constitution for LLM students
at various universities in South Africa. She has a record of publications on
socio-economic rights, housing rights, as well as fair trial rights, the death
penalty and human rights in Africa. She has assisted in various capacities in
the editing of scholarly journals on human rights law and is the Editor of the
ESR Review and is on the editorial board of Housing and ESC Rights Law
Quarterly. Lilian has been involved in policy and law reform processes in the
area of human rights and litigation in the area of socio-economic rights, and
housing rights in particular.
She is also a member of the Steering Committee of the
International NGO Coalition for an Optional Protocol to the International Covenant
on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Through this membership she
participated in the negotiations and drafting of the Protocol at both the
African regional and United Nations levels.
Regina Kgatle, 21, South Africa- Regina Kgatle recently received
her Bsc in electrical & computer engineering from the University of Cape
Town. She has passion for education and a green environment, which drives her
to go beyond the normality of being green. Her most recent innovation is
educational arcade machines assembled using e-waste equipment and almost
everything old or worn out that could be used to enclose and decorate the
casing. The arcade machine will is pre-programmed, so as to suit each learner’s
school curriculum. It is comprised of multiple choice and one word answer
questions, short lessons and many more fun filled, yet educationally effective
lessons.
She envisions these machines having numerous benefits by
recycling e-waste (which would otherwise become waste material and release
harmful gases, e.g: lead poisoning into te atmosphere), the ‘Educational Arcade
Machines’ promote a green and eco-friendly environment. Moreover, they expand
learners knowledge and promoting effective learning methods, thereby deepening
and strengthening the foundational stages of learning.
Regina has been very much involved with the Eskom science
expo competitions, boosting and casting my innovative ideas. You can call me
“innovative girl” because my personality encompasses its definition.
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
William Kamkwamba
William Kamkwamba, 24, Malawi- Born on August 5, 1987,
William Kamkwamba is a Malawian inventor and author. He gained fame in his
country when, in 2002, he built a windmill to power a few electrical appliances
in his family’s house in Masitala using blue gum trees, bicycle parts, and
materials collected in a local scrapyard. Since then, he has built a
solar-powered water pump that supplies the first drinking water in his village
and two other windmills (the tallest standing at 39 feet) and is planning two more,
including one in Lilongwe, the political capital of Malawi.
His story is told in the book “The Boy Who Harnessed the
Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope”, written with journalist Bryan
Mealer and published in 2009. William took part in the first event celebrating
his particular type of ingenuity called Maker Faire Africa, in Ghana during
August, 2009.
He is currently studying at Dartmouth College, Class of
2014.
Ludwick Marishane
Ludwick Phofane Marishane, 21, South Africa- Ludwick
Marishane is currently rated as the best student entrepreneur in the world
(Global Champion of the Global Student Entrepreneurs Awards 2011). He is the
founder & Chief of Headboy Industries Inc, and is his country’s youngest
patent-holder after having invented DryBath™. Google has named him as one of
the 12 brightest young minds in the world, and he is studying a BBusSc-Finance
& Accounting degree at the prestigious University of Cape Town.
Ludwick sees himself as a visionary, pursuing a degree which
will help him understand the world of business, with Africa being the first to
benefit from his skills. He is a big fan of the world of commerce, and thinks
that you will not encounter many teenagers who are as passionate about business
as he is. He has good leadership capabilities, and an innate understanding of
people and business processes. Ludwick’s passion is his addiction to learning
and mentoring others to unleash their true potential. He loves business and
decided to study an accounting degree as he thinks that it will provide him
with the broadest understanding of business.
Arthur Zang
Arthur Zang, 24, Cameroon- Arthur created a digital tablet
in 2010 known as Cardiopad: “It’s the first fully touch screen medical tablet
made in Cameroon and in Africa. It’s an invention that could save numerous
human lives,” explains Arthur. There are only 30 heart specialists in Cameroon,
all based in either Douala or Yaoundé. This means heart patients often have to
travel across the country for a consultation. Appointments sometimes must be
made months in advance, leading to death of some patients. The Cardiopad solves
this problem by enabling medical examinations to be performed remotely and the
results transmitted electronically, saving patients the hassle of having to
travel to the city.
Eunice Cofie
Eunice Cofie, 32, Ghana- Today, Eunice is the President and
Chief Cosmetic Chemist of Nuekie, Inc., an ethnic dermatology company she
founded. She was recently presented with the 2012 Young Global Leader Award by
The World Economic Forum. She has also been recognized for her work in HIV/AIDS
prevention in Ghana, West Africa (where her parents are from) after helping to
implement the Save A Million Education and Preventive Program. A graduate of
Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, Eunice is also a former Miss
Black Florida USA.
Paul Potgieter Jnr
Paul Potgieter Jnr, 23, South Africa- Paul Jnr, who is
described by his colleagues as “not so jnr due to his size,” is Aerosud’s
Innovation Programme manager and head of the Advanced High-Performance
Reconnaissance Light Aircraft (AHRLAC) project.
Developed in close partnership with the South African
Paramount Group, leaders amongst others in Land Systems, the AHRLAC mission
definition focuses on “Homeland Security” covering applications such as border
security, coastal and maritime/EEZ patrol, the combating of piracy, drug
traffic control etc. and crew and mission protection is playing a major role in
the design.
Construction of a first prototype is now well advanced,
thanks to Paul, and with wind tunnel testing completed and fully instrumented
testing of a ¼ scale radio controlled model having been the subject of some 80
flight tests to date, a first flight is planned for 2012.
Joel Mwale
Joel Mwale, 19, Kenya- 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. The borehole reduced the amount of time required to collect water for
daily cooking, drinking and cleaning, and reduced the rate of infection from
water-borne illnesses. Over one hundred people visit the farm daily to collect
water from the borehole, free of charge. But Joel still needed money to pay his
school fees and complete his secondary education. Combining his service project
with his own entrepreneurial ambition, 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.
On September 1st, 2011, at the Protea Fire and Ice Hotel in
Melrose Arch, Johannesburg African Leadership Academy and The MasterCard
Foundation announced Joel Mwale as the grand prize winner of the inaugural
Anzisha Prize ($30 000), the premier award for Africa’s young entrepreneurial
leaders.
Joel Mwale was also named one of 10 winners for the
‘Zeitgeist Brightest Young Minds’, in 2012. Google’s online competition aims to
find exceptional, motivated and inspiring 18-24 year-olds from across Europe,
the Middle East and Africa making a positive impact through science, the arts,
education and innovation.
COMMUNITY AND
DEVELOPMENT
Saran Kaba Jones
Saran Kaba Jones, 29, Liberia- Saran was born on the 21st of
June 1982 in Monrovia, Liberia. She attended Lesley College, Cambridge,
Massachusetts and transferred during her sophomore year to Harvard College
where she studied government and international relations.
Ms Saran Kaba Jones is the Founder & Executive Director
of FACE Africa, a non profit organization dedicated to providing access to
clean and safe drinking water to communities in Liberia while also empowering
women through education and economic opportunities. She is also a staunch clean
water advocate, a social entrepreneur, a change agent and a global citizen.
During her first visit to Liberia in nearly 20 years, Saran
was faced with the harsh realities of a post-conflict Liberia and the enormous
challenges facing the country. The long and devastating civil war had left
Liberia’s infrastructures in ruins. Saran then believes that the most effective
way to bring about positive change in Africa is to invest in the education of
its young children. Her hard work, determination and passion for FACE Africa
have led her to become an inspiration and set the path for many Africans and
young people around the world.
Saran has been featured in top magazines and newspapers such
as Forbes and Huffington Post. She is into women’s empowerment issues and has
mobilized her over 20,000 followers on social media to not only care but act to
help her eradicate these problems.
While she has plans to target other areas like health and
education, Saran’s current goal is to ensure that clean water and sanitation is
a reality for all Liberians.
Escar Kusema
Escar Kusema, 26, Zimbabwe- Escar Kusema is the Founder and
President of Dumela, a grassroots non-profit organization based in the United
States whose focus is on internal displacement and urbanization in
post-conflict nations worldwide. Dumela’s four-fold mission is that of
Advocacy, Awareness, Research and Direct work with IDP communities. In it’s
first year of operation, Dumela’s work has reached four countries, impacted the
lives of over 2000 people, helped ensure equity in the resettlement 3 tribes
and, educated 65 students about internal displacement. Escar also sits on the Board
of USACF (US-Africa Children’s Fellowship), a non-profit organization dedicated
to improving the education of over 70 000 children in Africa. USACF repairs
school furniture in Zimbabwe’s rural schools and it has sent 19 40-foot
containers of library books, textbooks, school-supplies and sports equipment to
schools in Ghana, Tanzania, South Africa and Zimbabwe. In addition, Escar is a
cofounder of Backpacks for Zimbabwe, an initiative to support orphanages in
Zimbabwe with much-needed items like stationery, books, toiletries in backpacks
packed specifically for each child.
Escar attended the United World College (UWC) in Singapore
with a full UWC Scholarship and received the Davis UWC Scholarship at Colby
College where she graduated with Honors in Biology. Escar has an immense
passion for science and its applications in solving the world’s greatest
problems. She was a recipient of an INBRE Research Fellowship and the Harvard
SILEN Award for Undergraduate Research Presentation on her research in
Neuroscience from Harvard University and the Biomedical Science Careers
Program.
She is an eloquent public speaker who has won many awards
since the age of 10. She used her public speaking skills in her first job as a
writer, producer and presenter of a prime-time television show on Zimbabwe
Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC). As an entrepreneur at the age of 15, she
designed a show that was later bought by ZBC and continued to air long after
Escar left Zimbabwe. It is because of this passion, strength and perseverance that
Escar is the young woman she is today.
Nirinjaka Ramasinjatovo Naharivelo, 25, Madagascar-
Nirinjaka is the Deputy Country Director of PACT Madagascar. Over the last two
years, PACT has implemented over 100 projects in more than 60 countries in
Africa, Asis, Latin America and South America with field offices in 22
countries. Most project activities target one of five program sectors:
democracy and governance, HIV/AIDS, livelihoods, natural resource management
and peace building.
Nirinjaka was one of a select few chosen amongst civil
society leaders, activists and entrepreneurs from approximately 40 countries in
sub-Saharan Africa who participated in American President Obama’s Forum with
Young African Leaders in August 2010.
Anselm Iwundu
Anselm Chukwuemeka Iwundu, 34, Nigeria- Anselm Chukwuemeku
Iwundu is a Sustainable Food Advocate
and currently the Executive Director of
the global Advocacy and Campaign group, Fairfood International. He leads
a global team of over 120 employees located in five offices and over 100,000
supporters worldwide; challenging big food and beverage companies to ensure
significant improvement in the lives of poor and vulnerable groups in their
supply chains. He is the first African to head Fairfood (in comparison to Dr.
Kumi Naidoo who is the first African to head Greenpeace).
Anselm believes that African farmers and smallholders
experience so much hardship despite their toll and invaluable contribution to
the global food production; therefore his advocacy and campaign work focuses on
highlighting the challenges that these groups endure in the supply chains for
food and beverage companies, as well as to tackle critical issues such as food
insecurity and sustainability challenges in Africa.
He holds a Bachelors degree in Geology with the Federal
University of Technology, Owerri Nigeria and an MBA in Environment and Energy
Management from the University of Twente, the Netherlands. He combines his
advocacy work with his doctoral research on innovation and governance for
sustainable development at the University of Twente.
David Mwambari
David Mwambari, 31, Rwanda- David is the co-founder and
visionary behind Sanejo. Originally from Rwanda, Mwambari spent a significant
part of his life living and studying in Kenya after surviving the 1994 Rwanda
genocide, as well as other conflicts in East Africa. David witnessed a horrible
genocide in that country before escaping with his family to Kenya. He went on
to earn bachelor’s and master’s degrees at United States International
University in Nairobi and another master’s degree at Syracuse University in New
York and various other qualifications.
He recently co-founded a non-profit organization that
promotes education to help reconstruct Rwanda and other post-conflict
societies. David has worked in East, Southern and Central Africa, training
leaders of community-based organizations in educational dimensions and small
business projects. These projects, academic research as well as other similar
endeavours have taken him to various conflict situations in East and Central
Africa. David has travelled throughout different continents, informing and
educating international audiences. He is a recipient of numerous awards,
internationally for his community and academic work. Among David’s
responsibilities are to lead Sanejo team and work as Sanejo’s spokesperson.
David has delivered lectures, presented academic papers in
various International forums. He has also contributed numerous newspaper
articles, co‐published academic paper, and also uses poetry to voice the plight
of then African youth. He has conducted research in former conflict zones,
including working with former child soldiers in North Uganda, youth in Burundi,
post genocide Rwanda, and in internally displaced camps in Kenya.
Grace Ihejiamaizu
Grace Ihejiamaizu, 21, Nigeria- Grace Ihejiamaizu is a
Sociology graduate and emerging social entrepreneur in Nigeria known for her
RYPE Initiative, a project that is helping young people gain real skills to
become leaders and productive entrepreneurs.
Grace has one numerous awards due to her involvement in
various community-based projects including being selected by Google’s Zeitgeist
as one of the 12 Brightest Young Minds in 2011. She is also a worthy alumnus of
a US Government program, SUSI – “Study of the US Institute for Student
Leaders”. Grace was also awarded a Michelle Obama Young African Women Leader’s
Forum Grant in 2011 in support of her work in the community.
CONTINUING TO DO GREAT
WORK
Ory Okolloh
Ory Okollah, 35, Kenya- Ory is a Kenyan activist, lawyer and
blogger. She lives in Johannesburg and was born 35 years ago and graduated with
an undergraduate degree in Political Science from the University of Pittsburgh
and Harvard Law School (2005). Ory is the Google policy and government
relations manager for Africa. She is co-founder of Ushahidi and served as the
organisation’s executive director from inception until December 2010. Ushahidi
is a website that initially collected and recorded eyewitness reports of
aggression using text messages and Google Maps after the Kenyan post election
violence in 2008. The imaginative technology has since been modified for other
purposes (including examining elections and tracking pharmaceutical
availability). Ushahidi is now being actively used in a number of other
countries in Africa and beyond.
She is also the co-founder of Mzalendo, a website that
tracks the performance of Kenyan MP’s. Ory has been recognised as one of the Most
Influential Women in Technology by Fast Company (2011), one of the top 100
Global Thinkers by Foreign Policy Magazine and a Huffington Post 2010 Game
Changer. She is also the recipient of the Monaco Media Forum Award, and the
World Economic Forum Tech Pioneers award.
Yohannes Mezgebe Abay
Yohannes Mezgebe Abay, 35, Ethiopia-Yohannes Mezgebe Abay is
the Vice President of the Pan African Youth Union, which is the continental
platform for African youth rights. He is a fellow of Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s
Leadership program. Yohannes founded the African Youth Corps, which works on
youth leadership development in Addis Ababa.
Bethlehem Tilahun Alemu
Bethlehem Tilahun Alemu, 37, Ethiopia- Bethlehem is the
Founder & Managing Director of Sole Rebels, the internationally recognized
green footwear company based in Addis Ababa. Bethlehem was born, raised and
educated in Ethiopia. Since she launched her company in 2005, allowing for the
creation of hundreds of local jobs, she has garnered international recognition.
She won ‘Most Outstanding Businesswoman’ at the annual African Business Awards
and was named ‘Most Valuable Entrepreneur’ at the 2011 Global Entrepreneurship
Week. Last year she was named one of the World Economic Forum’s Young Global
Leaders. And most recently Forbes Magazine declared her one of Africa’s Most
Successful Women. She is currently an NYC Venture Fellow, a program established
by Mayor Michael Bloomberg two years ago that is designed to connect promising
entrepreneurs from around the world with mentors and investors from leading
companies in New York City. World Economic Forum [WEF] Founder and Executive
Chairman Klaus Schwab has named Bethlehem Tilahun Alemu, founder and managing
director of trailblazing footwear brand Sole Rebels and a WEF 2011 Young Global
Leader, as Founding Curator of the Forum’s newest and most critical venture,
the Global Shapers community.
AMBITIOUS PEOPLE TO
LOOK OUT FOR
Simiso Lucinda
Velempini, 29, Zimbabwe- Simiso is currently an African
Associate Analyst for Control Risks (Johannesburg). She monitors political and
security developments in southern Africa. Simiso received her Masters in
International Relations from the London School of Economics in 2011. She
previously worked the African Leadership Academy, Frontier Advisory and the
United Nations.
Siphokazi Magadla
Siphokazi Magadla, 25, South Africa- Siphokazi is a Junior
Lecturer and a PhD student in the department of Political and International
Studies at Rhodes University. She was named one of the 2011 Mail and Guardians
Top 2oo Young South Africans.
Her research interests are the security-development nexus in
post-conflict Africa, the role of the African Diaspora in postconflict
reconstruction, women in peace and security, South African politics and South
African foreign policy. She previously worked as a research consultant for the
Security Sector Governance programme of the Institute for Security Studies in
Pretoria focusing on the role of women in peace and security in Africa where
she did field work in Rwanda, Sudan and Uganda. She obtained her Masters degree
in International Affairs at Ohio University in the US as a Fulbright Scholar in
June 2010.
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