We are pleased to announce the winners of the OD Impact Challenge 2018. Thank you to all applicants for a most exciting competition season and commend you for your hard work. Your passion, optimism and commitment to solve the world’s most pressing problems is an inspiration to everyone around the world.
Selecting the top three was a very tough decision to make as all finalists were outstanding. They 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. It is amazing to see the brilliant ideas and we are deeply moved by the commitment of young people to bringing about positive change in your community.
Meet the Winners
#1 First Place: Chidi Nwaogu (Ghana) – Publiseer
Chidi Nwaogu is a Nigerian serial Internet entrepreneur, physicist, computer programmer, SensX Fellow, and a recipient of the African Entrepreneurship Award and the OD Young Person of the Month in November 2018. He was the keynote speaker at the 2012 IT Leaders West Africa Summit, where he gave a thirty-minute lecture on the role of social media and mobile in developing nations.
He has been featured on National newspapers like Punch, Vanguard, National Mirror, The Guardian, The Nation, Business Day, Daily Trust, National Mirror, and New Telegraph, for my pioneering contributions in ICT in Nigeria. Since he was 19, he have co-founded, grown and sold two Internet companies. He is presently the Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Publiseer, described by Konbini, as “one of the largest digital publishers in Africa”. Publiseer was a finalist at the Harvard Business School New Venture Competition.
#2 Second Place: Damilola Fasoranti (Nigeria) – Prikkle Academy
Damilola Fasoranti is a professional educator, with 6 years’ experience of interfacing with citizens, public and private institutions in Africa to create sustainable solutions to global problems. He is the Founder and Chief Listener at Prikkle Academy, where he co-creates open innovation hubs with rural stakeholders to uncover their potentials, then mobilize it to create street-smart solutions.
In 2017, he launched Nigeria’s first solar-powered grassroots innovation hub (called a makerspace) to unleash the ingenuity, talent and passion in Nigerian youths. He have reached more than 4000 Students in 16 States in Nigeria engaging communities to create home-grown projects through innovative global thinking. As a trainer, he has led different initiatives on leadership programs with organizations such as WorldPulse, Asia Pacific Institute of Coaching, and Global Shapers. He is a 2015 kanthari Fellow, 2017 Fellow at the Dalai Lama Fellow and 2017 Fellow at the Social Innovators Programme of LEAP Africa. He is a 2018 Laddership Fellow at Service Space and 2018 African Changemaker Fellow.
#3 Third Place Winner: Luisa Romero (Colombia) – Get Up And Go Colombia
Luisa is 24 years old. She has studied engineering and currently is doing a Masters in International Tourism Management at Ulster University. She has a passion for projects related to social impact, tourism and technology. She understands technology as a way to solve social problems. She has always been engaged in local volunteering initiatives and has also travelled abroad to volunteer in projects in Brazil the US and across the Cauca region where she was born and grew up. Throughout her childhood she and her family were confronted with different aspects of the armed conflict. Her volunteering experience, at home and abroad, led her to lead local initiatives which contribute to peacebuilding in her country.
Use tourism to help healing the wounds of the conflict was a logical consequence of her volunteering experiences and the curiosity she encountered in many travellers. She was selected as selected as one of the most talented and promising young entrepreneurs in Latin America and The Caribbean by the US State Department as well as other international awards.
Congratulations to the winners!
People’s Choice Winner – Sunset Sylvanus-Peters (Nigeria)
Sunset Sylvanus-Peters has over 3years experience in the social entrepreneurship space. Currently, Sunset is the founder of “The Sunset Nigeria”, an NGO, which focuses on Rape and Domestic Violence, and which has created social awareness to over 1,500 young people, in the last 6 months, across 13 High Schools in Nigeria. She holds a Diploma in Public and International Relations and is currently pursuing a Law degree in the University of Benin in Nigeria.
Sunset plays active roles in volunteering with local organisations such as crown of glory Foundation, Bright Plus Initiative and Lington Resource Network. In March 2018, She collaborated with a YALI Cohort 6 member, Joshua Ekpopkobe, on his community service project on ending Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), where she educated about 100 students on the legal perspective of FGM.
Sunset Sylvanus-Peters is a Cohort 12 YALI Regional Leadership Centre, West Africa fellow, having successfully completed the 5 weeks online and onsite training. What stands her out are her passion, her ability to work with minimal supervision and her commitment to leadership development. Sunset believes that change is possible through social impact.
What some of the entrants had to say:
Upoma Ahmad – “Honoured to be selected as one of the Top 12 Finalists in OD Impact Challenge 2018/19! That too being the only Bangladeshi in this huge platform among thousands of candidates!“
We are proud of every applicant. Thank you everyone for making this edition a success. We welcome you to join the next round.
Follow Opportunity Desk for updates.