We are pleased to announce the official launch of the OD Impact Challenge 30 under 30 Changemaker List, this being our first edition. The Changemaker List is set to recognize and amplify the Impact of 30 change makers from across the world every year through publicity.
For our first edition, the 30 Changemakers were shortlisted during the OD Impact Challenge 2019. They represent leaders and entrepreneurs who are taking great steps to solve real problems and add significant value to the lives of people in their communities. Below are their names and profiles in no particular order.
1. Shwetal Shah: Founder, Explore Science (India and UK)
Shwetal runs Explore Science, free public science lectures inviting women scientists to talk about their research. As a UN Empower Women champion, Shwetal created an award winning documentary on women in tech which led to the Feminist Library in London creating a year long tech skills program and led to her being recruited to the World Economic Forum Global Shapers. She created another documentary on Young Change Makers, which led to her being a BAFTA jury member for the children’s Film Awards Category. The Cabinet Office invited her to advise Prime Minister Theresa May and HRH Prince Harry at Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting 2018.
2. Bayo Ojelabi : Founder, Medivice Technologies (Nigeria)
Bayo is a passionate social entrepreneur, focused on providing low-cost solutions for people living with physical disability (PLWD). He studied Prosthetics/Orthotics at Federal College of Orthopaedic Technology, Igbobi, Lagos and Enterprise Management at Enterprise Development Centre of Lagos Business School. Bayo has over five years of experience providing low-cost prosthetic & orthotic solutions for people living with physical disability. Bayo’s long-term aspiration is to empower persons with disabilities through medical technology, so that they live to their full potential, without social stigma.
3. Rebecca Olatunji: Founder, Codah Entreprise (Nigeria)
Rebecca Olatunji is a social entrepreneur, Sign language Interpreter/tutor and a former classroom teacher. Rebecca is the founder of CODAH Enterprise, where she works to promote the Linguistic identity of the Deaf community, promote their culture, and foster their inclusion in the society. She was a classroom teacher for six years before she ventured into volunteering with Voluntary Service Overseas(VSO) for one year, and eventually started CODAH Enterprise. Rebecca holds a National Diploma in Textile technology, and is currently pursuing her Bachelor’s Degree in Community and public health at the University Of The People, USA.
4. Ian Makamara: Founder, Ladies in Red (Kenya)
Ian is a youth activist pursuing not only his Bachelor’s degree in Law, but justice and sustainability as well. He started the Ladies in Red Initiative, which is focused on the empowerment of women through the eradication of period poverty and period stigma. The initiative aims to combat the social, psychological and economic factors contributing to the propagation of period stigma, by providing a safe space to hold discourse about the matter at hand and by providing affected individuals with financial plans and means of income generation so as to enable them to meet their sanitary and medical needs.
5. Audrey Pe: Founder and Executive Director, WiTech (Philippines)
Audrey is the founder and executive director of WiTech (Women in Technology), a nonprofit organisation that aims to educate, inspire, and empower youth to make a difference and break gender barriers using technology. Through WiTech, she has been working on projects at the intersection of technology and education since she founded the organisation at age fifteen. She is now eighteen and on a gap year before heading to Stanford University in 2020 where she plans to major in Science, Technology, and Society.
6. Tochukwu Egesi: Founder, REM Health (Nigeria)
Tochukwu Egesi is the founder and Chief Executive of Rem Health. He is an innovation expert who has invested the last 2 years leading the growth of Rem health and evangelizing an industry-wide shift to technology innovation to drive healthcare based social intervention in Nigeria. Alongside his work at Rem Health, Tochukwu is an Analyst at Genesis Analytics working across South Africa, Lagos, Nairobi and London offices.
7. Caroline Wairimu Kamau: Executive Director, Entito Sidai (Kenya)
Caroline is the Founder and Executive Director of Entito Sidai, a youth led platform based in Kajiado that seeks to eradicate retrogressive practices that denies girls their rights. The organization advocates for the end of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and early marriages and all its activities are rooted in SDGs 2, 3, 4 and 5. Through efficient mentorship and training, Entito Sidai has helped girls overcome trauma, told them that they are beautiful and helped them fight the culture that still sees young girls as objects to be married off. She will keep fighting for their rights not just in Kenya but beyond and across the globe.
8. Sheraz Abdul Hayee: CEO, Plant-a-Plate (Pakistan)
Sheraz is an entrepreneur working full-time on Plant-a-Plate startup. He is working towards the implementation of SDG 12 & 13 through the Plant-a-Plate. Plant-a-Plate aims to replace single-use plastic packaging from Food Industry that produces more than 1 trillion singleuse plastic waste. Sheraz has worked with YSI global and Asia Development Bank regarding Sustainable Development Goals.
9. Sarah Boateng: Investing in Girls’ Education in Africa (Ghana/UK)
Sarah Boateng is British Ghanaian and founder of Investing in Girls Education in Africa, which advocates for the investment into quality education of young girls living in rural communities in Africa through the development of projects. Their first project called Menstruate and Educate provides young girls in rural communities in Northern Ghana with reusable period pad kits that lasts for two years. Through this, they remove the barriers of menstruation on young girls which prevents them from receiving quality education.
10. Samuel Moses Elba: Founder and CEO, Spark Light Energy (Sierra Leone)
Samuel is an innovator and Founder of Spark Light Energy. His company is dedicated to providing clean and affordable access to electricity supply to over 3.5M people living in rural communities in Sierra Leone over the years. Spark Light Energy is a clean tech startup that manufacture a one-minute hand crank powered generator electricity supply using recycled materials which can provide 220-volt electric current that can power household appliances without the use of fossil fuel.
11. Isaac Melchizedek: Initiator and National Coordinator, Digital Society (Nigeria)
Isaac Melchizedek is the founder and CEO of Digital Society, a startup that prepares African youths (especially students) for the future of work through skills sharing. Isaac has facilitated entrepreneurship discourse and programs for The Catalyst Dream Africa, MLEV, among others. He holds a certificate in Design-Led Strategy from The University of Sydney Business School as well as in Corporate Strategy from UCL School of Management.
12. Esther Oulo: Founder and Executive Director, Beauty Business Hub (Kenya)
Esther is a passionate budding social entrepreneur in the Kenyan Beauty industry. In 2019, she founded Beauty Business Hub, a vibrant business for social impact targeting female campus students and youths aged 18-24. She strongly believes that empowered women empower women hence her key business value, to offer paid internships to female campus students in the hub. She has partnered with Taita Taveta University female lecturers in organizing monthly mentorship sessions over coffee and invited guests consisting of women in different professions and global institutions. Currently Esther is a full-time self-employed beautician seeking to grown and take her business to the next level through networking, mentorship and empowering women.
13. Akinse Fela Buyi: Founder and Creative Director at SALUBATA. (Nigeria)
Having resigned as a business analyst and an environmental scientist, Fela started out as the Founder and Creative Director at SALUBATA. He is a Business Consultant, a Mentor, Motivational Speaker and also a Business Coach. Fela is highly passionate about entrepreneurship development and community impact.
14. Nature Edet: Founder,SMART (Nigeria)
Nature is the founder of SMART (Selfless Mavericks Arousing Radical Transformation) Gang, a nonprofit organisation of young people who consciously and selflessly take actions to provide solution to issues in their communities through innovative and sustainable approaches in Education, Health, Leadership and Capacity Building. Through SMART-Gang, she is working to ensure that every child has access to quality, affordable and all inclusive education, especially in rural communities in Africa. As a Health Educator, she works to end the stigma of women and girls who suffer shame, social exclusion and cultural taboos during their menstrual cycle and advocates for the participation of boys in menstrual matters to end gender inequality in Nigeria. Apart from being a passionate advocate of the UN SDGs, she is a strong activist in the students’ community.
15. Habeeb Asudemade: Co-founder and Head of Business Development, Tell! (Nigeria)
Habeeb is an award winning writer, public speaker, and a diligent law student with demonstrated interests in Law, Leadership, Business and Community Service. He is a Co-founder and Head of Business Development of Tell! Habeeb believes in the power of change through the birth, actualization, and sustenance of ideas.
16. Anjali Nair: Founder, Oregano Farm Foods-“Waste to Wealth to Health” (India)
Anjali has been analyzing variegated aspects of waste management hierarchy and its utilization to ensure the greater good of society. She has engaged with various organisations such Aide et Action, IRCDS. Her focus areas include Migration,Education, Transgender mainstreaming and Societal settings.
17. Qabale Duba: Founder, Qabale Duba Foundation (Kenya)
Qabale is the founder of Qabale Duba Foundation, an organization that is empowering pastoralists girls and women through education in Marsabit County, Kenya. She is a Nursing graduate and is currently pursuing her master’s degree in Field Epidemiology. Qabale attributes who and where she is today to the privilege of getting an education in a community where girl child education was not valued. Therefore, she gives back to her community through; Mentorship/career talk programs in primary and high schools, projects such as PAPA (pads and panties) sanitary pads donations to the rural village schools and community literacy initiative through her school called Torbi pioneer.
18. Kafula Kangwa: Entrepreneur ( Zambia)
Kafula Kangwa Darlingtone is a entrepreneur, Events Coordinator and recently a graduate Veterinarian (2019). While at the University, Kangwa established Phoenix printing services, a company specialized in T-shirt branding and Mug cups that he sold to both students and Lecturers to support his stay in the University. Kangwa is equally passionate about community work and spends his weekends conducting radio shows educating the public on animal welfare and other Veterinary related activities. He also collaborates voluntarily with NGO’s to coordinate and participate in community activities such as rabies vaccinations and improving community awareness.
19. Toheeb Ojuolape: CTO, SkillsNG (Nigeria)
Toheeb is the Chief Technology Officer of SkillNG, Nigeria’s foremost skill acquisition and youth talent accelerator that prepares young people for the future of work. He is also the co-founder of Tell!; Africa’s biggest online publishing community for writers, thinkers and storytellers. He is passionate about SDGs 4 and 8 of Quality Education and Decent work. Toheeb Ojuolape is on a mission to make skill-based learning easily accessible and he is also currently building Xchange to make the future of learning affordable, faster and more interactive.
20. Emmanuel Adam: Project Coordinator, ZAMO (Zambia)
Emmanuel is an advocate for people with Albinism. He is an executive member of the Zambia Albinism Matter’s Organization (ZAMO’s), a non-profit organization which does active sensitization of communities regarding the effects of discriminating person’s living with Albinism; And teaches them how to adapt and accept them as members of the community. At ZAMO, Emmanuel is a project coordinator where he insures perfect and smooth running of projects set to be implemented and that the right people are on board executing their tasks effectively.
21. Gracian Mkandawire: Founder, Play Malawi (Malawi)
Gracian is a young Malawian enthusiastic about youth empowerment and sports. He holds a Bachelors degree in Social Sciences-Development studies. In his second year at the university, Gracian founded Play Malawi a non-profit non-governmental organization working to empower youth using sports as a platform where he is now the Executive Director. Currently Play MALAWI is working to reduce health risks that youth face in Malawi by providing health education information and building social skills through sports impacting over 500 youth every year.
22. Sahil Pareek: Founder, Prayaas ( India)
Sahil Pareek is a graduate in Electronics and Communication Engineering. He is working towards different SDGs: Providing Quality Education to underprivileged kids, food and clothes to the needy ones, and taking part in environment-friendly initiatives towards climate change. He started his NGO center “Prayaas” in 2014 for the education of migratory worker kids in India and currently works with 2 other NGOs as well. Also, he has been working in the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning, and has worked on interesting user-cases in media, healthcare, finance, and contact centered industry.
23. Joshua Otei: Founder, Hope Assured Foundation (Nigeria)
Joshua is a young change maker who is passionate about the development of young people mostly in rural communities. He is an inspirational speaker, a policy maker and a gender advocate. He is also the founder of Hope Assured Foundation, an organization which tackles teenage and young adults crisis in rural communities using innovative strategies like proper sexuality and reproductive health education, leadership skills, personal development, self awareness, soft and handy skills acquisition and entrepreneurial skills.
24. NIYIBIGENA Marie Josee: Founder and CEO, CHE LIVE Designs (Rwanda)
NIYIBIGENA Marie Josée is THE founder and CEO of CHE LIVE DESIGNS which designs clothes, interior decor and fashion accessories based on culture, history and environment.
25. Benson Daud: Founder, Born 2 Save Tanzania (Tanzania)
Benson Daud is a youth activist focused on community development issues. He is the Founder of Born2Save Tanzania which focuses on giving back to the community and supporting orphans and youths living with disabilities especial in their education, talents and health matters. Benson holds a Diploma in Community Development from Tanzania Research and Career Development Institute.-Dodoma. Currently he is serving at the Global Peace Foundation Tanzania as Program Assistant on peace building and youth empowerment.
26. Praymore Kugara: Founder, Open Book Academy (Zimbabwe/South Africa)
Praymore Kugara is the Founder of the Open Book Academy and Trendsetters Elementary; a network of learning environments set to revolutionize the system of education in Africa through unconstrained modes of learning. His vision fuses both Hierarchical and individual learning techniques to better suit the individual learner. Having observed the urgency of decentralized learning in most African schools, he has invested a great deal in improving the learning experience of students across the continent.
27. Patrick Louzolo: Founder, BIG AID Program (Congo)
Patrick is a leader and founder of BIG AID Program, where he serves as a civic educator. The NGO aims at reducing the rate of insalubrity through door-to-door sensitization campaigns, sensitization actions and public awareness campaigns on streets, in schools, in public places and on social networks. It also works towards reducing the rate of illiteracy through free capacity building sessions for orphans and equipping young people committed to impact positively their country with leadership skills in order to accelerate the change they want to see in the Congolese communities. Patrick is a member and project manager at the Bilingual Journalists Forum which works in collaboration with United Nations Information Center. He implements projects related to Human Rights and SDGs. He holds a degree in English Linguistics.
28. Zaharah Nabirye: Founder, Tusobola Women (Uganda)
Nabirye Zaharah is the founder and CEO of Tusobola Women which transforms plastic waste into sustainable and waterproof bags and accessories while employing rural marginalized women. Zaharah holds a certificate in Entrepreneurship.
29. Diana Njeri Waithanji: Founder, STEM Wahandisi La Femme (Kenya)
Diana Njeri Waithanji runs STEM Wahandisi La Femme which is a structured mentorship programme for young girls in rural Kenya to motivate them take up engineering and technology courses with an aim to curb the gender gap in the engineering and technology fields. Diana is a software engineer and cybersecurity engineer by profession. She has experience in working in the development sector (gender, climate change, governance, differently abled and community development) and in the private sector.
30. Evlyne Chidzugwe: Founder, Mudzini Healthy Bakes (Kenya)
Evlyne Chidzugwe is the Founder of Mudzini Healthy Bakes, a home-based baking agency that makes gluten free cakes, pastries and granola. Her business aims to bridge the gap for those who are gluten intolerant or those on selective diets to get fresh healthy alternatives while also addressing SDG3 on good health and well-being. Her dream is to open a resource center in future that would train youth on baking skills.
Congratulations to our first class of the OD Impact Challenge 30 Under 30 Changemaker List!
