We are pleased to announce the Top 12 Finalists for the OD Impact Challenge 2023! The OD Impact Challenge seeks to recognize and support the efforts of young change-makers working to bring positive change to their communities while projecting and highlighting the impact opportunitydesk.org is making in the lives of people worldwide.
Each of these finalists represent leaders and entrepreneurs who are taking great steps to solve real problems and add significant value to the lives of people in the communities.
Our judges were highly impressed with the quality of entries received this year. While many of the entries are great, we are only able to shortlist 12 finalists to advance to the next stage of the competition.
The application videos of the Top 12 finalists are now live on OD YouTube Channel. Three winners will emerge from these finalists and we are inviting you to be part of the process. Vote for them by liking and commenting on their videos.
Meet the ODIC 2023 Top 12 (in no particular order)
1. Mehreen Raza (Pakistan)
Founder, She Guard
Mehreen Raza, hailing from Hyderabad, Sindh, Pakistan, emerges as a dynamic force at the intersection of technology, environmental sciences, water, sanitation and health sciences, and women’s empowerment. Her academic accolades, including a gold medal and two silver medals in Computer Systems Engineering and Forestry, underscore her commitment to excellence. As the victor of the 2023 Climate Launchpad Asia Pacific Regional Finals, Mehreen’s passion for positive environmental and societal impact materialized in “She-Guard.” This innovative venture pioneers biodegradable sanitary napkins from agro-waste, combating climate change and addressing the dire need for affordable menstrual hygiene products in Pakistan. Her multifaceted role as a researcher, entrepreneur, and climate activist positions her as a catalyst for change, aiming to create a sustainable and equitable future for women globally. Awards from esteemed organizations like the UNFPA, UNIDO, and The Asia Foundation, The French Embassy, IUCN, Higher education commission, Shell Tameer Pakistan etc affirm Mehreen’s dedication to pioneering solutions for pressing global challenges. Her journey reflects not only academic prowess but also a profound commitment to bridge gaps, empower rural communities, and foster lasting change. Championing change, Mehreen aspires to revolutionize women’s health and environmental well-being with She-Guard, making a lasting global impact.
Vote For Mehreen Raza on YouTube
2. Kakembo Galabuzi Brian (Uganda)
Founder, WEYE Clean Energy Company
Kakembo Galabuzi Brian is the founder and Executive Director of WEYE Clean Energy Company, a social enterprise, empowering over 800 youth and women in Uganda to create sustainable and affordable clean energy solutions. He was also a UN intern with the World Meteorological Organization.
Kakembo Galabuzi Brian has an MBA in Energy and Sustainability awarded by the Catholic University of Murcia in Spain. For his work, he is a recipient of iF Social Impact Prize in 2017 by iF Design Foundation in Germany; Greenpreneurs Achievement Award 2018 by the Global Green Growth Institute in South Korea; the 2020 Commonwealth Young Person of the Year Award for excellence in development work and he was listed in the Forbes Africa 30 Under 30 class of 2021.
Vote For Kakembo Galabuzi Brian on YouTube
3. Juan Pablo Alvarado Herrera (Colombia)
Leader, Curie Project
Juan Pablo is a Young Colombian leader, lawyer, psychologist and student of social management specialization at Javeriana University. characterized by service vocation, leadership, and strategic group management. Mainly focused on education as a tool for social transformation, gender equality, mental health, and youth empowerment. Juan is volunteer of KAS foundation in the project of Student KAS network to empower colombian youth. Also, he lead Curie Project with Global Shapers and Educreando Foundation in hingh vulnerable area in their city. Alumni of Hansen Leadership Institute, MCW Global and Orygen Global organizations that give strongs skills for grow as a changemaker in their community.
Vote For Juan Pablo Alvarado Herrera on YouTube
4. Tito Tri Kadafi (Indonesia)
Co-Founder, Berembug Card by Bastra ID
Tito Tri Kadafi is an education activist who strives to improve literacy, critical thinking, and socio-emotional abilities for young Indonesians so that the world is more fair and tolerant through the Bastra ID organization he founded in 2018. This organization has a focus on language and literature, the vehicles for the aforementioned purpose. Due to the fact that his city is the least tolerant in Indonesia and there is a lack of interfaith dialogue there, Tito developed Kartu Berembug with his organization as a learning medium to help students develop negotiation skills in navigating the challenges of diversity.
In 2023, he was given the chance to work in the Indonesian State Palace as a student at the Presidential Staff School. Through his perseverance, he was also awarded by the Indonesian Ministry of Youth and Sport as a National Youth Pioneer, Young Leaders for Indonesia by McKinsey & Company, won Unilever’s Every U Does Good Heroes for this action, and was one of the Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative Academic Fellows in Nebraska, United States. Tito was a valedictorian at UIN Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta with an Indonesian Language and Literature Education major.
Vote For Tito Tri Kadafi on YouTube
5. Janu Muhammad (Indonesia)
Founder, Sayur Sleman Academy
Janu Muhammad is a Founder and CEO of Sayur Sleman, a platform which offers gardening supplies, regenerative farming programs, urban farming training, agribusiness consultation, and free vegetable donation program starting 2020. Sayur Sleman’s innovations not only provide business but transform and empower the local communities in Indonesia. Through the Sayur Sleman Academy program, more than 2000 young people have become agribusiness training participants. Janu, an inspirational and passionate person, has more than 7 years experience working on project management, community development, and agribusiness sector. He has worked with grassroot communities and multi-stakeholder in combating poverty, ending hunger in rural-urban societies, and young farmers’ regenerations across Indonesia. Prior to developing Sayur Sleman, Janu spent 3 years as a CEO to connect with local, national, and global networks such as Indonesia Millennial Farmer Association, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Youth and Sport, National Food Agency, UNDP Accelerator Lab Indonesia, SDG Academy Indonesia, Ministry of National Development Planning, and Regional Center of Expertise (RCE) Global. Janu was also given a mandate to lead Indonesia Delegate for K-Smart Farm Workshop in South Korea 2023 – a fully funded smart farming training for millennial farmers.
Vote For Janu Muhammad on YouTube
6. Bishal Panthi (Nepal)
Founder, Tech Education Nepal
Bishal Panthi is the founder and President of Tech Education Nepal, a non-profit dedicated to promoting literacy in environmental awareness, research, and entrepreneurship. Bishal is a distinguished individual, securing the winner position in the Asia Pacific Innovation Challenge 2022 for Sustainability in Business and attaining Top 5 Global Finalist recognition in the Business, Innovation, and Technology Challenge. He also achieved Finalist status in the EPIC Youth Well-Being Prize by USAID. Bishal, as an ambassador for the International Astronomy and Astrophysics Competition, registered his NGOs under IN-SPACE as a Space Situational Partner, impacting over 10,000 individuals through various impactful projects.
Vote For Bishal Panthi on YouTube
7. Princess Chinelo Noble (Nigeria)
Founder, Protect The Host
Princess Chinelo Noble shares any ambition that connects to improved health for the public through Communications and Strategic Advocacy. She has initiated health advocacy programs like a Genotype awareness rally along with free genotype tests for over 200 students, organized a Directorate of Health Advocacy in her University community etc. Her current project – ‘Protect The Host’ has reached 100 school children and counting. She is also a fellow of Clinton Global Initiative University, Aspire Leadership Institute (Founded at Harvard University), The Bridge Program, and the Millennium Fellowship. Digital and visual storytelling are some of her top skills.
Vote For Princess Chinelo Noble on YouTube
8. Obasanjo Fajemirokun (Nigeria)
Founder, EduGirls Nigeria FC
Obasanjo Fajemirokun is a leading advocate for quality education in Nigeria who founded Brace-Up The Young. With a visionary approach, he has mentored and educated over 425 individuals, imparting crucial soft and leadership skills. He has also sensitised 6,763 students, mainly focusing on girls, across eight Nigerian states, emphasising the significance of quality education and SDGs through his organisation. Obasanjo’s impact reaches 298 children in slums, providing essential learning materials. Beyond this, his dedication is evident in starting EduGirls Nigeria FC, a transformative project using football to empower 50 schoolgirls in Ota, Ogun State, fostering their academic growth and personal development.
Vote For Obasanjo Fajemirokun on YouTube
9. Shivani Dodamani (United States of America)
Co-Founder Racquet Armour
Shivani Dodamani is a current student at UC Berkeley but a lifelong problem solver. Her first initiatives stemmed from her own experiences, tackling the lack of environmental consciousness in the classroom and anti-bullying themes in her children’s books and hosting the Network Channel podcast bridging youth to unconventional wisdom. With over 100 pages and 300 minutes of impact, Shivani’s drive to improve the status quo has challenged her to build her own skills to better empower others. With patent pending invention Racquet Armor, Shivani developed patent pending invention Racquet Armor alongside her co-founder Sachi Dodamani to give the arm-disabled an opportunity to play racquet sports. She has inspired thousands of high school students in mission oriented entrepreneurship with the Blue Ocean Competition nonprofit and has been honored by the national museum of education for her innovation.
Vote For Shivani Dodamani on YouTube
10. Praise Akobo (Nigeria)
Co-Founder, Project BALE
Praise Akobo has over 5 years of experience in social services, using education to drive wholesome health. She is a Disability Inclusion Advocate and Co-founder of YieldUp Development Initiative (Y_Dev) formerly called YOWAD, building young leaders especially in PWDs (Persons With Disabilities) living in vulnerable communities and underrepresented societies and has hosted leadership training programs in tertiary institutions. Praise is passionate about creating an inclusive society for young persons living with disabilities, hence the Project Lead of Project BALE (Build A Local Eco-friendly Library), which works at closing the gaps in literacy and empowerment as a result of discrimination for young persons with disabilities by constructing sustainable libraries using reused plastic bottles, facilitating reading development in a supportive environment with the assistance of service and therapy dogs. Currently, she is a volunteer at Dogalov Human Support Initiative, the only organization in Nigeria pioneering Human Animal Interactions, where she creates content to raise awareness, and supports visiting Autism and Disabilities centers in Abuja, Nigeria offering Animal Assisted Interventions (Education, Activities, Therapy). Praise is a current Veterinary Medical Graduate from the College of Veterinary Medicine, Joseph Sarwuan Tarka University, Makurdi, Benue State, and a 2023 Mandela Washington Fellow.
Vote For Praise Akobo on YouTube
11. Favour Eragbie (Nigeria)
Team Lead, Pledge For Nature
Favour Eragbie is a plant biology and biotechnology student at the University of Benin, Nigeria who took an interest in using education to combat climate change. Her mission is to empower and build capacities among young students across universities to drive climate action in various sectors where they take up careers in the future, thereby turning the tide on nature loss and climate change by building societies living in harmony with nature. She is the founder of Friends of Nature Network, a Student Ambassador Coordinator at Nature Positive Universities and a Global Youth Ambassador with Their World. She is a Sterling Bank HEART fellow and a graduate of the Founders Institute Accelerator Programme. Her passion for youths driving nature-based solutions with technology earned her a place as the only student on the winning team at the World Bank Group Utility of the Future Youth Challenge. Her works and passion have been featured by the World Bank Group, the University of Oxford, the United Nations Environment Programme and the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration.
Vote For Favour Eragbie on YouTube
12. Julia Carolina Carvalho (Brazil)
Founder, Logos Initiative
Julia Carolina Carvalho after coming from Salvador, Brazil’s first city and capital, started wondering how Brazil could overcome its structural issues to become a more just and democratic society. As such, Júlia founded the Logos Initiative with the mission to promote a transformative education to Brazilian youth through scientific initiation. She has connected with numerous policymakers and entrepreneurs and leads a vibrant community of students, who transform their local communities through their studies. Her innovative ideas for education led her to joining the Latin American Leadership Academy and Ashoka, the largest global network of social entrepreneurs, as a Young Changemaker.
Vote For Julia Carolina Carvalho on YouTube
Congratulations to the Finalists.
Next Steps:
- We invite you to view, like and comment on your favorite video to show your support.
- Deadline: You have between 29th December and 31st December, 2023 to like, comment, and share your favorite video.
- Winners: The top 3 winners will be announced on Tuesday, 2nd January 2023.
Important Note
Please note that voting contributes only about 10% to your final scores. We will NOT automatically choose winners based on the highest number of likes and comments. The essence is not to make this process competitive. We are more concerned about helping our Finalists spread the word about the work they do and getting friends like you to support their work.
Keen on Voting? Get started now: https://opd.to/ODIC2023Vote
