Kenya’s Joel Mwale, 19, and Simeon Oriko, 23, both from Kenya, are among five contestants from Africa who have won the Zeitgeist Young Minds, a Google pioneered entrepreneurial competition.
Mwale’s project called Skydrop Enterprises Inc that has become profitable provides clean drinking water to over 5,000 people in his community and has spread hisbusiness to neighboring Uganda.. Oriko’s The Kuyu Project educates school children on how to use social media for social change.
Others from Africa includedAda Umeofia, 19, from Nigeria with his WeBuilt: Africa project, a design-centered social enterprise that redesigns and constructs market stalls for poverty-stricken Africans by recycling found building materials in slums.
Jordan Ridge, 23, from South Africa’s Made by Mosaic project is a job creation venture for women in South Africa addressing the challenges of economic development in the townships.
Sibusiso Tshabalala, 20, from South Africa Developed reading clubs and a library renovation programme in South Africa to encourage critical thinking and thoughtful debate within local high schools.
All applicants had to submit a 1-minute video of their projects that had to be uploaded to Zeitgeist YouTube account for the judges to assess.
Previous Young Minds finalists won an experience of a lifetime, from meeting Chelsea Clinton and Will-I-Am of BlackEyedPeas, to taking part in panel discussions with Jon Snow and Martha Lane Fox (Co-founder Lastminute.com).
The 10 winners will become Zeitgeist Young Minds representatives at various conferences to highlight their businesses.
The competition that targeted at young people aged between 18 and 24 from Europe, Middle East and Africa focuses on young people who front for change in their community.
