THE FUTURE AWARDS UNVEILS, LINDA IKEJA, BANKY W, DBANJ,P.SQUARE, CHINWE NJOKU, JASON NJOKU, IDRIS AKINBAJO AND RAHEEM TEMITOPE BELLO AS NOMINEES FOR THE YOUNG PERSON OF THE YEAR AWARD 2012
The Central Working Comittee (CWC) for The Future Awards has
unveiled the complete list of its biggest award – the Young Person of the Year.
As it tradition, the nominees for the coveted award category has been
taken out of the various categories as always and identified as
trailblazing role models for young Nigerians – all except for the Science and
Technology categories as it is deliberate attempt to encourage and
spotlight more high-impact activity in those sectors.
Mai Atafo (Chairman, The Central Working Comittee)
spoke on the award category saying “ All of the Young Person of the
Year nominees are winners, they are honorees and will yet again all be given
plaques. Also, they will not go through the four stages of judging for the
awards, only one stage for voting and one stage for judging. These guys inspire
us!” He further said “Note that, due to the adjusted The Future
Awards calendar – it was moved from its traditional January to August, the
period in review is October 2010 – May 2012, nominees who were still 31 years
as at March 2011 (six months into the period in review) are therefore
eligible.”
Bankole Wellington (Banky W)
Profile
Occupation: Musician/Entrepreneur/Activist
Age: 31
Known primarily as a musician, Banky W has however transcended that label; emerging not just as one of the nation’s leading talents, but also building an inspiring business with Empire Mates Entertainment that has created superstars like Wizkid and Skales. The EME Boss also leads the stage as an activist passionate about Nigeria – proving this with his involvements in everything from the What About Us? Youth Debate to #OccupyNigeria. Banky W is not just an entertainment personality, he is a national figure of hope and love of country and a leader.
Profile
Occupation: Musician/Entrepreneur/Activist
Age: 31
Known primarily as a musician, Banky W has however transcended that label; emerging not just as one of the nation’s leading talents, but also building an inspiring business with Empire Mates Entertainment that has created superstars like Wizkid and Skales. The EME Boss also leads the stage as an activist passionate about Nigeria – proving this with his involvements in everything from the What About Us? Youth Debate to #OccupyNigeria. Banky W is not just an entertainment personality, he is a national figure of hope and love of country and a leader.
Chinwe Njoku (Engineer) 26
NJOKU RECENTLY WON THE THE SIR ROBERT MARTIN UNIVERSITY
PRIZE AT THE Loughborough University in the United Kingdom, which is the
premier award of the University and consists of an award of £1,500 plus a
commemorative medal. Beyond that,Njoku stands out for including significant
published research that has benefited the wider community. In total she has 12
peer-reviewed publications (10 as 1st author). This includes the IEEE
Transactions on Antennas & Propagation Journa [1]l (the most prestigious
journal in the field) and the IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters
(Special Issue on Metamaterials) [2]. This groundbreaking research will
continue in a major £600,000 major interdisciplinary government grant.
Dapo Oyebanjo [D'banj] (Musician/Entertainment Entrepreneur)
32
D’banj is not just an artiste – he is an idea. Having broken
every single boundary in the Nigerian, and African, music industry through
Mo’Hits Records, he has became a trailblazer for artistes reaching for an
international market, with his exploits with GOOD music and his newly formed
D’banj Records. As he told the UK Observer, “I see what I’m doing now as the
bridge that we’ve been looking for from Africa to the mainstream world. I want
others to see the potential in my country, other than our oil and natural
resources.” He’s on his way to achieving that.
Jason Njoku (Media Entrepreneur) 31
Njoku is at the forefront of Nigeria’s digital revolution –
he didn’t begin it, he doesn’t own, but for much of the world he impressively
represents it. With his sexy Iroko TV brand tagged the ‘Netflix of Africa’, he
is the world’s largest distributor of African movies. His company raised $8
million in venture capital from TigerGlobal
Management, a New York based Private Equity and hedge fund run by billionaire Chase Coleman, has distribution deals with Dailymotion, iTunes,Amazon and Vimeo and has been said to be worth as much as $30 million dollars.
Management, a New York based Private Equity and hedge fund run by billionaire Chase Coleman, has distribution deals with Dailymotion, iTunes,Amazon and Vimeo and has been said to be worth as much as $30 million dollars.
Peter and Paul Okoye [Psquare] (Musician/Entertainment
Entrepreneur) 31
This inspiring brothers are easily the #1 in African music.
That success is apparent in their high-profile shows/tours across the
continent, their endorsements and the mega-launch of their last album in 2011.
Their video featuring American super-star Rick Ross continues to be a talking
point across the music industry; and in addition to signing with Akon’s Konvict
Muzik, they are also signed to the Universal Music Group. Currently, this music
duo is the artiste with the highest YouTube video views of over 25,000,000 in
the continent.
Linda Ikeji (Blogger/Media Entrepreneur) 31
She is the most influential Nigerian online – and it is a
position she has wielded with flair and a keen sense of history. There are
those who see Linda as a blogger peddling soft stories, but she has become much
more than that, influencing issues, driving conversations and doing good.
Linda’s influence can be seen in her spotlighting #ABSURape, involving a young
woman in Abia State, profiling Oke, the young man who almost lost his leg due to
complications from diabetes, and taking up the cause of Blessing Effiom. These
three issues caught the attention of the nation – and it was because Linda took
it seriously. She is a phenomenon.
Idris Akinbajo (Journalist) 30
Starting with NEXT Newspapers and now as Head of the
Investigative Desk at Premium Times, he has worked quietly and stealthily to
reveal most of the rot in Nigeria’s politics and economy – with exclusive
revelations in aviation, campaign finance and more. That work has not gone unnoticed;
winning him awards including African Investigative Journalist of the Year,
Nigerian Investigative Journalist of the Year, Best Nigerian investigative
story in print, and Second best Nigerian investigative story (online). He has
now been announced a finalist for the CNN/Multichoice African Journalist 2012.
Akinbajo is a journalist’s vision.
Raheem Temitope Bello (Scientist) 19
Bello has two undergraduate degrees – in Astronomy and
Physics with Special Honours and is already a doctoral student; all before he
turned 19. For most of his undergraduate years, he conducted research in a
condensed matter physics lab; refurbishing the thermal conductivity probe and
fabricating unique thermocouples of 0.001″ in order to measure temperature
gradient. During his 2+ years of research, he has presented his work at various
conferences and given an oral presentation at the American Physical Society
(APS). Presently, he is working on the devolvement of a startup energy utility
company, GeoUtill. GeoUtill leverages geothermal energy to supply homes with
clean, sustainable, and dependable energy. Since receiving feedback from
applying to startup
incubator competitions, GeoUtill has refocused on its mission. GeoUtill believes that there is an abundance of energy all around us, which can supply all of the energy demands. We are currently working on themdevelopment of a new type of a low cost solar panel, that may be deployed any where in the world without access to an energy grid. And he is still in his teens!
incubator competitions, GeoUtill has refocused on its mission. GeoUtill believes that there is an abundance of energy all around us, which can supply all of the energy demands. We are currently working on themdevelopment of a new type of a low cost solar panel, that may be deployed any where in the world without access to an energy grid. And he is still in his teens!
“Note that, due to the adjusted The Future Awards calendar –
it was moved from its traditional January to August, the period in review is
October 2010 – May 2012,” Atafo added. “Nominees who were still 31 years as at
March 2011 (six months into the period in review) are therefore eligible.”
Previous Young Person of the Year winners include malaria
scientist Ify Aniebo, award-winning writer Chimamanda Adichie, NASA scholar
Tosin Otitoju, amongst others. Last year, agriculture entrepreneur and advocate
Nnaemekan Ikegwuonu beat Genevieve Nnaji, Don Jazzy, Psquare and others to
clinch the top prize.”
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