The
Central Working Committee (CWC) for The Future Awards, which the World
Bank has called “The Nobel Prize for Young Africans”, has again decided
to unveil the long list for the biggest award, Young Person of the Year before the full list.
As
is the tradition, the nominees for Young Person of the Year have been
taken out of the various categories as always and identified as
trailblazing role models foryoung Nigerians – all except for the
Science and Technology categories; and that is a deliberate exception
to encourage and spotlight more high-impact activity in those sectors.
“All
of the Young Person of the Year nominees are winners,” Atafo said.
“They are honorees and will yet again all be given plaques. Also, they
will not go through the four stages of judging for the awards, only one
stage for voting and one stage for judging. These guys inspire us!”
YOUNG PERSON OF THE YEAR HONOUREES 2012
Bankole Wellington [Banky W] (Musician/Entrepreneur/
Known
primarily as a musician, Banky W has however transcended that label:
emerging not just as one of thenation’s leading talents, but also
building an inspiring business with Empire Mates Entertainment that has
created superstars like Wizkid. Banky also leads the stage as an
activist passionate about Nigeria – proving this with his involvements
in everything from the What About Us? Youth Debate to #OccupyNigeria.
Banky is not just an entertainment personality. He is a national figure
of hope and love of country. He is a leader.
Chinwe Njoku (Engineer)
Njoku recently won the The Sir Robert Martin University Prize at the Loughborough
University in the United Kingdom, which is the premier award of the
University and consists of an award of £1,500 plus a commemorative
medal. Beyond that,Njoku stands out for including significant published
research that has benefited the wider community. In total she has 12
peer-reviewed publications (10 as 1st author). This includes the IEEE Transactions on Antennas & Propagation Journal (the most prestigious journal in the field) and the IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters (Special Issue on Metamaterials). This groundbreaking research will continue in a major £600,000 major interdisciplinary government grant.
Dapo Oyebanjo [D’banj] (Musician/Entertainment Entrepreneur) 32
D’banj
is not just an artiste – he is an idea. Having broken every single
boundary in the Nigerian, and African, music industry through Mo’Hits
Records, he has became a trailblazer for artistes reaching for an
international market, with his exploits with GOOD music and his newly
formed D’banj Records. As he told the UK Observer, “I see what I’m
doing now as the bridge that we’ve been looking for from Africa to the
mainstream world. I want others to see the potential in my country,
other than our oil and natural resources.” He’s on his way to achieving
that.
Jason Njoku (Media Entrepreneur)
Njoku
is at the forefront of Nigeria’s digital revolution – he didn’t begin
it, he doesn’t own, but for much of the world he impressively represents
it. With his sexy Iroko TV brand tagged the ‘Netflix of Africa’, he is the
world’s largest distributor of African movies. His company raised $8
million in venture capital from TigerGlobal Management, a New York
based Private Equity and hedge fund run by billionaire Chase Coleman,
has distribution deals with Dailymotion, iTunes,Amazon and Vimeo and
has been said to be worth as much as $30 million dollars.
Peter and Paul Okoye [Psquare] (Musician/Entertainment Entrepreneur) 31
This
inspiring brothers are easily the #1 in African music. That success is
apparent in their high-profile shows/tours across the continent, their
endorsements and the mega-launch of their last album in 2011. Their
video featuring American super-star Rick Ross continues to be a talking
point across the music industry; and in addition to signing with Akon’s
Konvict Muzik, they are also signed to the Universal Music Group. Currently, this music duo is the artiste with the highest YouTube video views of over 25,000,000 in the continent.
Linda Ikeji (Blogger/Media Entrepreneur)
She
is the most influential Nigerian online – and it is a position she has
wielded with flair and a keen sense of history. There are those who see
Linda as a blogger peddling soft stories, but she has become much more
than that, influencing issues, driving conversations and doing good.
Linda’s influence can be seen in her spotlighting #ABSURape, involving a
young woman in Abia State, profiling Oke, the young man who almost lost
his leg due to complications from diabetes, and taking up the cause of
Blessing Effiom. These three issues caught the attention of the nation –
and it was because Linda took it seriously. She is a phenomenon.
Idris Akinbajo (Journalist)
Starting
with NEXT Newspapers and now as Head of the Investigative Desk at
Premium Times, he has worked quietly and stealthily to reveal most of
the rot in Nigeria’s politics and economy – with exclusive revelations
in aviation, campaign finance and more. That work has not gone
unnoticed; winning him awards including African Investigative
Journalist of the Year, Nigerian Investigative Journalist of the Year,
Best Nigerian investigative story in print, and Second best Nigerian
investigative story (online). He has now been announced a finalist for
the CNN/Multichoice African Journalist 2012. Akinbajo is a journalist’s
vision.
Raheem Temitope Bello (Scientist)
Bello
has two undergraduate degrees – in Astronomy and Physics with Special
Honours and is already a doctoral student; all before he turned 19. For
most of his undergraduate years, he conducted research in a condensed matter physics lab; refurbishing
the thermal conductivity probe and fabricating unique thermocouples of
0.001” in order to measure temperature gradient. During his 2+ years of
research, he has presented his work at various conferences and given an
oral presentation at the American Physical Society (APS). Presently, he
is working on the devolvement of a startup energy utility
company, GeoUtill. GeoUtill leverages geothermal energy to supply homes
with clean, sustainable, and dependable energy. Since receiving feedback
from applying to startup incubator competitions, GeoUtill has refocused
on its mission. GeoUtill believes that there is an abundance of energy
all around us, which can supply all of the energy demands. We are
currently working on the development of a new type of a low cost solar
panel, that may be deployed any where in the world without access to an
energy grid. And he is still in his teens!
“Note
that, due to the adjusted The Future Awards calendar - it was moved
from its traditional January to August, the period in review is October
2010 – May 2012,” Atafo added. “Nominees who were still 31 years as at
March 2011 (six months into the period in review) are therefore
eligible.”
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