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Nigeria’s Bukola Bolarinwa & Nasir Yammama Receive Queen’s Young Leaders Award for 2017
Bukola Bolanrinwa, Nasir Yammama
Bukola Bolarinwa and Nasir Yammama, who were last year selected as one of the 2017 Queen’s Young Leaders were presented with the award on Thursday.
Bukola Bolarinwa was born with Sickle Cell Disease, and after noticing the chronic shortage of blood faced by people living with Sickle Cell who need regular transfusions, she joined the Sickle Cell Aid Foundation in 2010 to help raise awareness about the importance of giving blood.
LONDON, ENGLAND – JUNE 29: Bukola Bolarinwa from Nigeria receives a Queen’s Young Leaders Award for 2017 from Queen Elizabeth II at the 2017 Queen’s Young Leaders Awards Ceremony at Buckingham Palace on June 29, 2017 in London, England.The Queen’s Young Leaders Programme was launched at the time of her Diamond Jubilee and aims to discover, celebrate and support young people across the Commonwealth.
She began a monthly campaign drive in partnership with the National Blood Transfusion Service to try to ensure a regular supply of donated blood, and to help combat cultural fears about giving blood.
In 2015, Bukola set up an online blood donation register which asks young people to register to donate blood in emergency situations. During its first year, the register has gained more than 1,000 prospective donors and, through the use of social media and text messaging, linked over 500 donors with patients in urgent need of blood. Bukola is currently working to recruit 5,000 people as registered blood donors by December 2017.
LONDON, ENGLAND – JUNE 29: Nasir Yammama from Nigeria receives a Queen’s Young Leaders Award for 2017 from Queen Elizabeth II at the 2017 Queen’s Young Leaders Awards Ceremony at Buckingham Palace on June 29, 2017 in London, England.The Queen’s Young Leaders Programme was launched at the time of her Diamond Jubilee and aims to discover, celebrate and support young people across the Commonwealth. (Photo by Jonathan Brady – WPA Pool/Getty Images)
Nasir Yammama is harnessing the power of simple, low-cost technologies to help local farmers produce more crops and increase their sales. He is the founder of the social enterprise Verdant Agritech Ltd, which began in 2015 by teaching 50 farmers how to use low-cost mobile phones to access market and weather information, management skills and financial services.
Now, in collaboration with Oxfam and GIZ, Verdant is supporting 25,000 farmers through a mobile platform which makes smallholders more visible to the markets, and provides agricultural data for improved food production. Nasir’s vision is to transform agriculture in Nigeria and enable farmers to double or triple their yields.
ICYMI: Verdant's @yammama receives his #QueensYoungLeaders medal 2017 from HM The Queen?. Cc @QueensLeaders ?? pic.twitter.com/O00YJye2LO
— Verdant Agri-Tech (@VerdantNG) June 30, 2017
Other Africans on the 60-person list are:
Chaikhwa Lobatse from Botswana.
Efua Asibon, Elijah Amoo Addo, and Winnifred Selby from Ghana.
Chebet Lesan, Domtila Chesang, and Towett Ngetich from Kenya.
Virginia Khunguni from Malawi.
Hilda Nambili Liswani and Nyeuvo Amukushu from Namibia.
Kellya Uwiragiye and Yvette Ishimwe from Rwanda.
Demien Mougal from Seychelles.
Kumba Musa and Salton Massally from Sierra Leone.
Aditi Lachman, Chantelle De Abreu, and Farai Mubaiwa from South Africa.
Nonduduzo Ndlovu from Swaziland.
Favourite Driciru, Joel Baraka, and Ruth Nabembezi from Uganda.
Natasha Salifyanji Kaoma from Zambia.
See full list HERE.
Photo Credits: Twitter – @QueensLeaders | Jonathan Brady – WPA Pool/Getty Images)
