Changemakers Under 30 – Chude Jideonwo, Grace Ihejiamaizu, Japheth Omojuwa, Ola Orekunrin and Esther Agbarakwe

Nigeria has been extremely fortunate to have a ton of young talent. This post features some of the best and brightest the country has to offer in various fields. They’ve carved a niche for themselves and caught the eye of the public doing what they love while making Nigeria a better place!

There is a current positive inflow of young Nigerians creating jobs and touching lives with their various businesses and social initiatives. This is not in any particular order, it is purely to celebrate the work and efforts of these young people and to inspire other young people across Africa, particularly in Nigeria.

Grace Ihejiamaizu, 23, is a Sociologist lecturer at the University of Calabar, Nigeria and a Social Entrepreneur and Global Changemaker with over five years of experience working in the nonprofit and youth development sector. In 2010, she started an afterschool youth development project called ‘Raising Young and Productive Entrepreneurs’ – RYPE Initiative, with the aim of educating, engaging and empowering young high school leavers to become leaders and entrepreneurs in their communities. RYPE’s impact has spanned across various communities in Nigeria, directly reaching more than 300 young people. Grace also founded iKapture Networks in 2013, a social enterprise strategically focused on providing educational and leadership services for students, school leavers and graduates.

Grace is also the founder and chief editor of Opportunity Desk, one of the largest online platforms for information on youth opportunities, scholarships, events, summits, etc. Opportunity Desk has over 100,000 visits monthly and has a growing social media platform for youth engagement.

Grace’s outstanding leadership skills has earned her multiple national and international awards and recognition including being named one of Google’s 12 Brightest Young Minds in 2011, and the recognition by the US State Department as the ‘International Exchange Alumni Member of the Month for September 2012’. She is the youngest to receive this award. The changemaker joined 59 other youths for the British Council Global Changemakers’ Summit in Brussels, Belgium 2012 and was one of 11 outstanding speakers at the TEDxYouth event at Bukoto, Uganda, same year. In 2013, she was one of the Honorees of the Future Awards Africa Young Person of the Year Prize and has been recognized by many other organizations in Africa for her work and achievements including the Under35CEO and Remarkable30 awards.

Japheth Omojuwa (@omojuwa), 30,a Nigerian blogger, socio-economic and political commentator, environmental consultant and social media expert. He is currently a lecturer (on Africa: Democratic prospects and challenges) at Free University of Berlin, and a consultant with the Heinrich Böll Stiftung Foundation and editor of the blog, Omojuwa.com which he began in 2009.

He has led panels organized by the World Economic Forum (WEF), Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development(OECD), African Development Bank (AfDB), the Germany Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development BMZ, Heinrich Boell Stiftung amongst other local and international organisations. He is the creator of Naija Teenz, a platform of engagement and value orientation for Nigerian teenagers and the curator of Omojuwa, which has since become a tool of expression for many Nigerians.

He was one of the outspoken voices during the #OccupyNigeria revolution of 2011, along with other key activists and coalitions, like Eggheader Odewale, Tolu Ogunlesi, Abang Mercy and Enough is Enough Nigeria. In 2012, YNaija named him one of the most influential young Nigerians under 35 in Business, Fashion, Media, Entertainment, Technology and Politics! with writer, Ifreke Inyang describing him in particular as “king of the click.” In July 2012, he was named ProMaCon Project Management Ambassador, to use the social media and other platforms to educate his fans and followers on the ideals of project management and its indispensability to national development. Omojuwa was ranked 29th on a list of the 100 Most Influential Black People on Digital/Social Media in April 2014 alongside Barack Obama, Beyonce, Oprah Winfrey amongst others.

Chude Jideonwo (@chude), 29, a Nigerian lawyer, award-winning journalist and media entrepreneur and the co-founder of Red Media Africa, a leading marketing and corporate communication company that is subsidiary of the Red Media Group. Chude also founded EnoughisEnough Nigeria, one of the country’s foremost civic participation groups. He chairs the Public Relations & Communications Committee, and in that position has secured buy-in from national and international media including CNN, BBC, Radio France, Reuters, The Associated Press, amongst others. The organization was also a driver for Nigeria’s first ever youth-centred presidential debate in March 2011.

He is the youngest journalist ever to interview a sitting Nigerian president; securing an exclusive sit-down with Dr. Goodluck Jonathan in 2011. in May 2012, appointed the youngest member of the awards committee for the Ford Foundation Jubilee Transparency Award. Nigeria’s foremost daily, The Punch listed Chude alongside thirteen others, as one of the young people to watch in 2012. In February 2013, both Jideonwo and Williams were named in Forbes 30 Under 30: Africa’s Best Young Entrepreneurs.

Dr. Ola Orekunrin, 26, a medical doctor, a trainee helicopter pilot and an entrepreneur and founder of Flying Doctors Nigeria, West Africa’s first air ambulance service which provides urgent air ambulances services to leading health institutions, insurance and private companies in Lagos Nigeria. Dr. Ola started studying Medicine at the University of York in England when she was 15 years and became a medical doctor at the age of 21. She started the new venture after her younger sister died of anaemia. Her sister was always in and out of hospitals and eventually died for lack of the availability of an air ambulance. But starting this venture was not easy. In 2013, she was named among the list of Young Global Leaders by World Economic Forum.

Esther Agbarakwe, 29, a social entrepreneur and founder of the Nigerian Youth Climate Coalition and an international climate change campaigner with experience working on environmental sustainability, social and environmental policy analysis, biodiversity conservation, justice and reproductive health and rights. She currently works as a communication advisor for the Association for Reproductive and Family Health. Esther is also the youngest chair and convener in the General Assembly of ActionAid Nigeria with the responsibility of driving ActionAid’s policies and programs in the country. Previously, she worked as an international advocacy fellow (population, health, environment and climate change) at Population Action International, Washington DC, USA. She has led several youth representations to major climate change and development conferences including Rio+20, Durban Conference and COP17. She has also worked on other projects with UN Commission on Sustainable Development, UNICEF and the Society for Family Health. Esther is one of the Youngers of the Elders+Youngers initiative involving notable leaders such as Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Gro Harlem Brundtland. She is also a Commonwealth Youth Climate fellow, Atlas Corps international fellow and Dekeyser & Friends Foundation Academy awardee.