Minerals Africa Development Institution (MADI) in partnership with the Calestous Juma Legacy Foundation (CJLF) is proud to announce the winners of the recent inaugural Prof. Calestous Juma Essay Competition which was concluded early this year. We are proud to announce the following outstanding essays as the winners respectively:
Adaji Ufedo-Ojo Eleojo
Ufedo-Ojo Adaji is a student radiographer with aspirations to change the world through her writing. Adaji is a talented writer who varies her genres to include scripts, articles, fiction and poetry. She has also won the top 20 Ekonke short story competition, the EMEND WED essay competition and the 2021 Humans of Transcorp poetry competition. Adaji is adamant that we have the resources needed to conquer the globe as Africans and she will do her bit to show the world what Africa is capable of.
MADI operates at the international forefront to promote the transformative role of minerals (oil, gas and solid) resources towards the achievement of African inclusive growth and sustainable development as envisioned by the Africa’s Lagos Plan of Action, the Abuja Treaty and the Agenda 2063 as well as the attainment of the Global Agenda 2030 or Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Nwankwo Gideon
Nwankwo Gideon Ikemdinachi is a writer, inspirational speaker and a public health enthusiast. He graduated from the University of Nigeria in 2019 with a B.Sc. (Hons) in Zoology and Environmental Biology.Gideon also writes poems, short stories and conference reports. He was a rapporteur during the 26th Nigerian Economic Summit event. He has coached many successful young writers and public speakers. He is the founder and director of the Excellent Writers Academy (EWA), an online coaching platform geared towards raising young dynamic writers who will champion social transformation through the power of the pen.
MADI operates at the international forefront to promote the transformative role of minerals (oil, gas and solid) resources towards the achievement of African inclusive growth and sustainable development as envisioned by the Africa’s Lagos Plan of Action, the Abuja Treaty and the Agenda 2063 as well as the attainment of the Global Agenda 2030 or Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Joshua John Inioluwa
Joshua John Inioluwa is a 4th year medical student at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. He is a multiple award-winning essayist, member of the 2022 UN Millennium Fellowship Class, volunteer and student leader. As a writer, he enjoys exploring the various socio-economic issues affecting Africa in general and Nigeria in particular, and more importantly researching and exploring practical ways to solve these problems. He looks forward to a career in trauma care and emergency medicine while also contributing through research and advocacy to improving health outcomes in Nigeria.
MADI operates at the international forefront to promote the transformative role of minerals (oil, gas and solid) resources towards the achievement of African inclusive growth and sustainable development as envisioned by the Africa’s Lagos Plan of Action, the Abuja Treaty and the Agenda 2063 as well as the attainment of the Global Agenda 2030 or Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
In addition to the top 3 winners, we would like to name two honourable mentions for their excellent submissions.
Honourable mention – Faith Oluwatosin
Honourable mention – Mame Hussein
We received over 50 essays from all over Africa and had so many exceptional ideas brought on by young Africans. Dr. Frank Mugyenyi, the Executive Chairman of MADI remarked that the main goal behind the essay competition was to bring together great young African minds to deliberate on solutions to persisting problems that plague Africa especially in regards to its natural resource sector, which was successfully achieved.
“We are proud to have partnered with MADI for the inaugural essay competition named for Prof Calestous Juma, who was a champion for innovative thinking among the youth. Congratulations and thanks to all of the participants and winners!” Angela Christiana, Executive Director, Calestous Juma Legacy Foundation
We would like to extend our appreciation to our panel of judges for their dedicated work towards finding the prize-winning essays. This esteemed panel was constituted by:
- Kate Bauer
- Robin Bose
- Victoria Chengo
- John Ludden
- Frank Mugyenyi
Prof. Calestous Juma
Click Here To Read The Top 20 Essays
Meet the Judges
Kate Bauer
Kate is the Project Coordinator at the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative, where she supports a range of editorial and organizational projects. Her previous work at HKS includes roles with the Science, Technology, and Globalization Project at the Belfer Center and the Innovations in Government Program at the Ash Center. During her time at Harvard, she completed a certificate in Environmental Policy & International Development, and currently serves on the Calestous Juma Legacy Foundation board, with the goal of seeing positive change in the Lake Victoria basin area of Africa.
Kate has a BA from Loyola University, New Orleans in Communications & English and an MA from the Mediterranean Academy of Diplomatic Studies.
Victoria Chengo
Victoria Chengo is a Research Fellow in the Climate Resilient Economies (CRE) Programme, and the Tomorrow’s Cities Nairobi Risk Hub Manager at the African Centre for Technology Studies (ACTS). Driven by her passion and background on Earth Sciences, Victoria aspires to create a meaningful impact in Africa’s Sustainable Development through evidence-based research and capacity building engagements in the fields of climate change (climate action and governance), sustainable cities & development – disaster risk reduction, and natural resources management – energy & water development. Besides her current work at ACTS, she has over years gained substantial experience in these fields from previous career development engagements such as serving as an intern at UNEP in the Department of Early Warning and Assessment (DEWA), and actively involving herself in climate, environmental policy and governance initiatives as a volunteer in organizations and movements such as African Youth Initiative on Climate Change (AYICC) and 350.org.
Robin Bose
Robin is an entrepreneur working to build both market and social impact. Previously, Robin was VP of market development at Endurance International Group. He has worked with Ashoka, a global network of social innovators, and with Public Interest Registry, which operates .ORG domains globally. He was on the founding team at Elevate Youth and at Global PACT, supporting young leaders to solve self-identified problems in their communities. Robin has previously served as a panelist at the MIT100K, MIT IDEAS social innovation challenge, and BUILD entrepreneurship competitions. He is a startup coach with MIT Innovation Leadership Bootcamps, and holds an MBA from MIT and a BA from the University of Pennsylvania.
