I attended the AYC Changemakers showcase at Eden Heights, Victoria Island, Lagos on Thursday, July 6th, to represent our founder, Jennifer Uchendu, who is an Ashoka fellow. The Ashoka Young Changemakers are a group of young people who are making a positive difference in the world. What’s interesting and inspiring about this project is that it focuses on young people between the ages of 12 and 20.
I was amazed to meet the recent cohorts of young changemakers, including Victor Eyo of Wegodigiteens Africa, who is working on providing tech skills to African teenagers one community at a time. There was also Abeedah Alabi of Project ClimeSet, which educates and empowers young minds to combat climate change and build a sustainable future. Ruth Egbedi of the Young African Foundation, Amara Nwuneli of Preserve Our Roots working on mobilizing the next generation of climate activists, Magnus Imam of ZeroUp Academy, and Joshua Chiefo-Ejioforobiri of Techplug Academy who advocate for equality and access for everyone to high-quality STEM education, resources, and opportunities.
As Ashoka Young Changemakers, they will be connected to the Ashoka network, which offers support and resources to help them scale their initiatives. They will have opportunities to keep their change-making mindset alive.
I was thrilled to also hear from Ayomide Akran, an Ashoka Young Changemaker from the 2022 cohort, who leads the Pink Diva organization. Ayomide is doing remarkable work in alleviating period poverty and empowering young girls. During the showcase, she shared her latest project, a collaboration with Lantern Books, where they are using Artificial Intelligence to advance their mission. I can’t wait to see the positive impact it will have.
After learning from these inspiring young people and their work, there was a session for comments, where the children received well-deserved praise, advice, and support. The Vice President of Empathy and Childhood Strategy at Ashoka Africa emphasized the importance of support and collaboration. They mentioned that they are counting on our support and are open to advice and suggestions. They also expressed their eagerness to have a conversation with us and our team to explore opportunities and actions that we can all take to promote change-making in Nigeria.
One way to support this initiative is by nominating exceptional young people under the age of 21, who have demonstrated their ability to create change and work in teams, to become part of the next cohort of Ashoka Young Changemakers. Alternatively, you can share the nomination link with them for them to self-nominate.
Overall, it was a wonderful experience and was a timely reminder that everyone can make a difference, no matter what age, size, colour. Everyone can be a changemaker.