British High Commission hosts Future African Leaders
The British High Commission in Nigeria hosted winners and nominees of The Future Awards Africa 2015 to a reception at his residence on Monday 7 December, 2015. The reception was anchored at the residence of the British Deputy High Commission, Ray Kyles.The winners reception was a follow up to the awards event which held on Sunday December 6 at the Intercontinental Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos.
The Future Awards Africa celebrated 10 years of spotlighting individuals across Africa who are impacting and inspiring their community and the continent as a whole.
The award hosted by Bonang Matheba and Dare Art-Aladewitnessed a powerful rendition of the National Anthem performed by Niyola, Chidinma and OC Ukeje. Highlights of the event include performances from D’banj Timi Dakolo, Omawumi, HarrySong and Darey who performed his widely popular song, Pray for me.
One of the high points of this year’s event was Chude Jideonwo’s speech,which I find very inspiring and gives all of us so much to think about.
Guests in attendance at the award celebration include the Kaduna governor Mallam Nasir el-Rufai; GMD of Access Bank Herbert Wigwe, ED of Sahara Group Tonye Cole, CEO of EbonyLife TV Mo Abudu, CEO of Terra Kulture Bolanle Austen-Peters, MD of Bank of Industry Rasheed Olaoluwa, West Africa Rep for the Ford Foundation Innocent Chukwuma, the deputy governor of Imo, amongst others.
“We at the British High Commission understand the importance of recognizing the great work that young Africans are doing and the work that The Future Awards Africa is doing,” Kyles said. “Africa must develop Africa and we are here to support.”
The winners were drawn from Botswana, Ghana, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Liberia and Uganda.
The TFAA2015 was presented RED and UBA, and held with support from the British HighCommission, Ford Foundation, Microsoft, the US Consulate, the Canadian High Commission, Sterling Bank, Bank of Industry and The Tony Elumelu Foundation.
About The Future Awards Africa
The Future Awards Africa has been called the ‘Nobel Prize for Young Africans’, and the ‘most important youth awards’ by Forbes. It is a set of prizes given annually to celebrate and accelerate innovation, creativity and enterprise amongst young Africans aged 18 – 31. It has produced over 150 winners and over 1550 nominees since its first edition in 2006.
It is presented in conjunction with The Future Project, which has a mandate to build empowered citizens across Africa, through (inclusive) enterprise and (active) citizenship. This focus on Human Capital Development is informed by our value proposition: Africa’s growth needs a generation of young people who are gainfully employed and able to demand and secure better leadership.
Our projects include Aiki.ng, an employability portal presented with Microsoft; the Nigeria Symposium for Young & Emerging Leaders, #StartupsAfrica, Intern4Jobs, The m-Hub, The Future Enterprise Support Scheme and The Future Africa Awards & Summit, described as ‘The Nobel Prize for Young Africans’.
With a network of funders and partners including the Tony Elumelu Foundation, Ford Foundation, the US Government, First Bank, MTN, The Canadian Embassy, HP, the Nigerian Government and the British Council, our work has spanned Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa, Tanzania, Liberia, Burkina Faso, Uganda, Malawi, Cameroon, Somalia, Equatorial Guinea, Ivory Coast and Kenya.
Founded by the Chude Jideonwo and Adebola Williams, TFP is supervised by a Global Board of Advisors drawn from Africa, Europe, North America and the Middle East, including the Senior Advisor at one of the world’s leading financial advisory and asset management firms, Lazard LTD, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala; Senior Economic Advisor with the Open Society Foundations, Dr. Obiageli Ezekwesili; co-founder of ONE, Jamie Drummond and the Chief of Cabinet with the Africa Development Bank, Anne Kabagambe.
