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8 posts tagged award
In a statement, the Foundation said Blitz is being recognized for his work as an MC, composer, and producer.
“As his stage name suggests, he is a cultural emissary, seeking the intersections between American hip-hop and West African musical traditions, citing amongst his influences Highlife, funk, and Afrobeat music, and rapping just as fluently in Twi as in English,” Vilcek said.
Blitz’s prize which came as a result of his career contributing to the American arts and sciences will come with a cash prize of $35,000.
“I never thought my background as a Ghanaian immigrant would give me an advantage in hip-hop. But somehow, as the world becomes more global, so has hip-hop,” said Blitz.
He added “My goal is to continue to push more global voices in hip-hop through collaborations and tours. Hip-hop gave me a voice, and I intend to use it to give others a voice.”
(via Ghana Business News » Ghanaian-born Blitz wins US music prize)
Source ghanabusinessnews.com
Sixty-four-year-old Margarida Matsinhe has won the 2013 Gates Vaccine Innovation Award for her “instrumental” work in overhauling the vaccine system in her native Mozambique. Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, made the announcement on Wednesday in his annual letter. The award recognizes “revolutionary ways” for immunizing the world’s poorest children. Nominees are assessed on innovation and creativity, impact and scale. Matsinhe, a field officer with the non-profit VillageReach, has worked in vaccine delivery in Mozambique for more than 30 years, including during the country’s civil war and post-war reconstruction period. She currently serves on the government’s Committee of Experts on Immunisation and advises leaders on vaccine quality and distribution strategies. Partly as a result of her work, Mozambique has achieved vaccine coverage of 95 percent, but Matsinhe says her goal is no less than 100 percent. AllAfrica’s Lauren Everitt spoke with Matsinhe about her reaction to the award and to learn what she has set her sights on next. (via allAfrica.com: Africa: Mozambican Wins Prestigious Vaccine Innovation Award (Page 1 of 4))
Source allafrica.com
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An innovative and potentially life-saving malaria test kit developed by two young South Africans has won the top prize of 1 million Rand (US$115,000) in the South African Breweries (SAB) Foundation Social Innovation Awards. The award was presented to Ashley Uys and Lyndon Munger by business tycoon Cyril Ramaphosa on Thursday night.
Uys and Munger’s Malaria pf/PAN (pLDH) Test Kit is an innovative rapid medical diagnostic test kit that detects all strains of malaria while also indicating, within 30 minutes, whether the malaria treatment provided is effective.
The kit is one of only nine developed globally and the only one that is fully African-owned. It costs just four Rand (US$0.4) per test, which makes reliable diagnosis feasible in low-income and poor rural areas.
”Source afriquejet.com
Solomon Elorm Allavi founder of Syecomp Business Services: …an entrepreneur with proactive solutions bedeviling agricultural growth in Ghana, he utilises the Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology with the Global Positioning Systems (GPS) tools-Garmin Etrex GPS and Trimble GPS and Digitized Base Map, to provide an array of farmland surveying and mapping services. His clients include smallholder rice farmers, horticultural farmers, food processing companies, individual farmers and corporate clients.
Professor Relebohile Moletsane, who walked away with the prestigious Distinguished Woman Scientist Award (physical and engineering) has published several articles and book chapters on using digital technology and digital story telling in rural communities with the focus on HIV education. She said her goal was to ensure that vulnerable societies had all the necessary information about HIV and Aids and how the disease operates.
Dr Rapela Maphanga from the University of Limpopo won the Distinguished Young Women Scientist Award for her research on computer simulations of energy-storage device materials. She has published her research findings on high profile scientific journals and is a junior associate at the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics in Italy. Maphanga has supervised to completion one PhD student, four masters and six honours students at her university. Speaking of her research, she said:
“I believe that the solution for most of our problems lies in science so my aim is to make the little contribution that I can to achieve change and development in our communities”.
Dr. James Mwangi, CEO and Managing Director Kenya: Equity Bank Limited
Dr. James Mwangi’s journey at Equity Bank started in 1993 when the Governor of the Central Bank of Kenya obtained a damning report ranking Equity 66th out of 66 banks. The Governor decided to close the bank to protect depositors, but James left a well-paying job to save the institution.
Eighteen years later, he has turned Equity into one of the region’s leaders. Its purpose is to transform the lives of Africans by providing modern financial services that maximize their opportunities.
With more than 7.3 million accounts, Equity has over 50% of all bank accounts in Kenya, giving it the largest customer base in the region. Through his initiative, the bank also established the Equity Group Foundation, which champions educational initiatives aimed at creating transformational leaders.
Equity has focused on the empowerment of youth and women and has spearheaded a successful agricultural campaign. James says,
“This award is in recognition for Africans who have continued to believe in themselves, and are constantly working to transform their lives.”
Equity Bank Limited is a public company providing personal, business and corporate banking services and products.
Ghanaian social entrepreneur, Kwaku Kyei has been selected as a winner of the 2011 UNEP SEED Initiative Award.
The Awards recognize inspiring social and environmental entrepreneurs whose businesses can help meet sustainable development challenges.
Kwaku has been using his holistic education from Valley View University and talents to contribute to Ghana’s green economy through his Recnowa Initiative www.recnowa.org which he co-founded with three young enterprising Ghanaians.
The project is contributing to the fight against the plastic waste menace in Ghana by up-cycling waste into high fashion goods while creating employment opportunities for street youth and unemployed artisans.
Kwaku competed with over 500 applicants from 76 countries worldwide with his innovative approach in solving local environmental problems while showing high potential to leave the start-up phase. (via Ghanaian social entrepreneur picks UN award | Business)
Source business.myjoyonline.com
Africa’s movers and shakers sipped fruit cocktails on Wednesday in the glitzy Ritz Four Seasons hotel in Lisbon as they celebrated a homegrown business success story. The man they came to honour was Mossadeck Bally, the softly-spoken founder and chairman of the Azalai hotel group in west Africa.
Bally received the African business leadership award at a side event of the African Development Bank’s annual meeting taking place in the Portuguese capital. The occasion at the Ritz represented a different side of Africa, one of high economic growth, growing private equity interest, and successful entrepreneurs.
Given the growing importance accorded to the private sector in development – something that was also much in evidence at last month’s UN conference on least developed countries in Istanbul – Bally’s award is indeed a sign of the times.
Born in Niger to Malian parents, Bally, 50, studied in France and the US before returning to Mali. He started his hotel business in 1994 by buying the Grand Hotel de Bamako when it was privatised by the government. Other hotel acquisitions followed as he established the Azalai chain, which expanded into Burkina Faso, Guinea Bissau and, most recently, Benin.
Azalai is now the first African private hotel chain in west Africa, employing 700 people directly and more than 3,500 indirectly.
In his acceptance speech, Bally expressed his confidence in Africa’s potential, oozing quiet optimism.
This is the image of Africa that African policymakers are keen to project, a counterpoint to that of conflict, coups and hunger westerners so often associate with the continent. (via Celebrating business success in Africa | Mark Tran | Global development | guardian.co.uk)
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