ChiYoWo had a wonderful time celebrating with the winners of the just concluded Prize Award Ceremony of ChiYoWo’s World Creative and Innovation Quest 2023: Step Out, Innovate, and Solve a Problem Competition.

The Ceremony that took place online with a packed virtual room full of guests and partners was a testament to how excited we were to finally give out the Prizes to the deserving winners.

Emmanuel Obanijesu (Emlight – Reading Light) emerged as the winner (Branded Laptop and Cash Prize), followed by Umar Iman (Afrik Eco Designers – Recycling) as the 1st Runner-up (Branded Phone and Cash Prize) and Adefunke Bello (Waste Management Solutions) as the 2nd Runner-up (Cash Prize). In their acceptance speeches, they all pledged to continue to work to develop solutions that would positively impact their communities and the world.

It was an honour to have our Chairman of the Ceremony Dr. Ebenezer Idowu Ajayi deliver his keynote talk where he encouraged youth to, ‘Talk the talk; and walk the walk’, while they make changes to something existent or introduce new methods, ideas or products in the bid to find sustainable solutions to existing or new global challenges.

In addition, ChiYoWo announced and introduced the ChiYoWo Mentoring Hub – Sustainability Programme. According to the Founder of the ChiYoWo Initiative, Tokunbo Ifaturoti, “support from our volunteers and partners will be vital as we continuously dedicate time and effort to empowering youth, by offering a comprehensive platform for structured training, personalized mentorship, and invaluable practical experiences”. 

Our thanks go out to our Organising Committee led by Onyeka Titigbe and Esther Temilade, our Judges, Viviane Adjado, Karen Miles, and Dumi Senda, to our partners, Stephanie Inneh (Talscent, the Handmade Sustainable Candle Making Company), Dr. Ajayi (Ebelola Bioenergetic Solutions/ STEMSEL Nigeria/ STEMSEL Foundation Australia) and all our volunteers and guests.

What a great achievement!