There is no doubt that the future of Nigeria is in the hands of its youths. Never mind the tongue in cheek statement about the readiness of the Nigerian youth to take over leadership.

To show the ability of Nigerians, The berthing of the ‘Future Awards’ by two Nigerian youths- Chude Jideonwo and Debola Williams -became a phenomenal success, as they went about showcasing the tremendous innovations of the Nigerian youth with the celebrations of excellence that is the Future Awards.

And we’ve done it for the past 14 years and 230 winners so far TFAA has given 230 awards to the winners and 1,914 nominees across the African continent.

The 2019 edition will hold in December, we have profiled below, 12 of the outstanding youths nominated for the next Future Awards. The Future is indeed here.

Zang Luka Bot: 28

While technology holds our attention for all the fascinating things it makes possible for us, it remains relevant to humans because of its capacity to solve even our most challenging problems. This is the philosophy behind Zang Luka Bot’s embrace of technology. Bot is the inventor of the Foot Mouse, an iteration of the traditional mouse that allows people with upper limb disabilities to still full access the Internet by navigating computer interfaces with their feet. It also works quite well for people with high back or neck problems that forbids them from putting unnecessary strain on their limbs in this way.
By connecting 1000 amputees in Jos town with Computer Foot Mouse technology, Bot has empowered many physically disadvantaged Nigerians who otherwise would be discriminated against. Bot also contributes to the conservation of the environment through waste management and recycling. Bot has patented technology that allows him to recycle waste into batteries that can be used in power bank technology. Bot has successfully distributed 500 power banks. Bot has been awarded the Excellence in Technology Innovation from the Federal Government of Nigeria, as well as the National Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Award 2019. ·He was also acknowledged as an Agent of Change at the Change Makers 2019 ceremony, the Best Innovator at the HubDigital Solutions Plateau State Innovation and Business Conference 2019.

Tiwalola Olanubi: 31

Tiwalola is an award-winning new media expert and the founder of DottsMediaHouse, an award-winning digital agency established in 2014. Tiwa has led his team in the past 4years in the execution of almost 100 successful social media campaigns for global brands including HP Africa, PEPSI, 9Mobile, INTEL, Aquafina and the Netherlands Embassy.
Tiwalola has been listed on Guardian Life as one of the young minds disrupting the future, also featured on Vanguard Allure as one of the young CEO’s making waves in media. DottsMediaHouse received the award for best digital marketing company at the World Alliance Group AQAA Award 2018 & 2019.
In early February 2019, Tiwalola led his team to produce a first of its kind industry report in Nigeria tagged “The State of Influencers Marketing in Nigeria Report”, (www.nigeriaimreport.com)- a story that surveyed over 1000 key industry professionals across the country. Tiwalola’s report was recognized at the Social Media Week 2019 as the first official influencer marketing report in the country with over 5000 physical copies shared and a reach of over 20,000 attendees; the report provided insights to brand managers, CEOS, Journalists, students, media experts. This report was recognized by Business Day, Punch, ThisDay e.t.c, and also mentioned as a reference in the New York Times and other international platforms.
In the last year, DottsMediaHouse has launched her products, including a co-working space for SME’s, and also a tech platform for influencers in Nigeria.

Achama Eluwa: 31

AchamaEluwa is a medical doctor who is passionate about improving the health of mothers and children in Nigeria. In the six years of post-training, she has gone from front-line clinical practice to health systems consulting and policy development. She currently works with the Health Strategy and Delivery Foundation to provide technical assistance to the Non-Communicable Diseases Division of the Federal Ministry of Health. Before this, she ran a state-wide 18-month pilot for healthcare quality improvement in 20 public health facilities under the Nigeria Healthcare Quality Initiative [NHQI] which reduced maternal and neonatal mortality by 40% and 30% respectively. She also developed the model used to upscale the pilot as well. Her work has directly led to improved quality of care provided to over 30,000 women during childbirth in Northern Nigeria. A corresponding number of newborns, and most recently, the potential prevention of 50% of deaths from the Nigerian populace – as non-communicable diseases (NCDs) now claim more than half of the lives of Nigerians and about 56% of lives globally, resulting in the prioritization of NCDs in the SDGs and by the Federal Government of Nigeria.
An innovative Quality Improvement Advisor, Achama was one of 10 Africans awarded the International Society for Quality in Healthcare [ISQua] Fellowship Scholarship in November 2018 for leading improvement efforts in service delivery, healthcare quality and patient safety; employing clinical/health systems research findings and expertise from successful pilot expansions. Only last week, she was exclusively invited to join a select group of 150 stakeholders, actors and influencers at the Stakeholders Summit – ‘Advancing quality maternal care in Nigeria: What are the missing links?’ as one of Nigeria’s key stakeholders in driving improvements in maternal care and indeed general healthcare service delivery, to contribute insights and expertise to conversations geared towards influencing policy, accelerating change and improving the maternal health sector in Nigeria.

Sandrah Tubobereni: 28

SandrahTubobereni knew she was going to leave behind her career in finance and business development to follow her dream to become a fashion designer. She knew she had the talent for it and the drive to see it through, but also knew she had no guarantee that it was the right thing to do. She did it anyway, starting Tubo, her women’s wear brand, and put all her energy towards reinventing the traditional African bridal silhouette. In the years since she began her label, she has forged a great designer/muse relationship with Nollywood screen goddess Rita Dominic and earned the attention and respect of Nigeria’s fashion elite.
Tubobereni’s vision for TUBO is to change the world through fashion and make TUBO a multi-award-winning global brand present on international runways and high streets as well as in the wardrobes of the most influential women and stylish celebrities around the globe.

Timini Egbuson: 32

While having famous siblings is a challenge other actors have to overcome to find their voice as actors, TiminiEgbuson’s path into Nollywood was paved by the charisma and goodwill that his famous big sister DakoreAkande earned in her near two decades in Nollywood. But Egbuson never had to depend on this goodwill to find his footing. After a surprise casting in the MTV owned youth television series Shuga, TiminiEgbuson’s layered portrayal of the struggle’s of the show’s protagonist endeared him to a generation of teenagers and fast-tracked his career to towards superstardom.
An essential role in the Ebony Life Films project Fifty¸ proved he wasn’t only compelling to watch, and he was also bankable. Between 2018 and 2019, Timini has had roles in television, radio and film productions including Kamsi, Fifty the series, MTV Shuga, The Missing Piece, Room 420, Skinny Girl in Transit, to mention a few.
This year, Timini takes on his first role as a leading man in a significant Nollywood project with Elevator Baby, alongside ToyinAimhaku.

Stephen Tayo: 25

Stephen Tayo is a photographer who captures intimate portraits that reveal the sartorial flair and quiet dignity of his sitters. His work explores the multi-layered symbolism of fashion: what clothing says about identity and relations with family and community. Adopting formal poses that were popular in the studio photography in West Africa in the 1950s and 1960s, his work is influenced by the portraits of Seydou Keita, Malick Sidibe and Samuel Fosso. Stephen Tayo studied philosophy at the University of Lagos. His work has featured in Vogue US, British Vogue, New York Times, Indie Magazine, Dazed, Teen Vogue, Dazed, I-d, CNN, Vogue Australia, Vogue Spain, Vogue Italia, Okay Africa, Cultured Magazine, Interview Magazine among others.
He was one of the exhibiting photographers at Lagos Photo Festival. In 2018, he was commissioned by Dutch streetwear brand Patta and Nike on the occasion of their collaboration, to shoot a campaign for their launch which was exhibited in London. In the same year, he co-photographed the increasingly ascendant culture of boundary-breaking fashion in Nigeria’s commercial capital, Lagos, for the New York Times. He created a series that. was celebrated twin-ship (Ibeji Series) that was exhibited at the Rele Young Contemporaries’ Same’ series was also in a Group Show at Palais De Tokyo, Paris.

Reginald Aziza: 27

As an attorney in the legal division of Chevron Nigeria, Reginald Aziza provides tailored legal support to the company’s Joint Venture Operations and litigation. In his position, Aziza helps the company negotiate essential agreements with impoverished communities in which the company operates, ensuring that the concerns of all parties considered and implemented. Aziza has worked on complex, multi-billion dollar disputes for Chevron, testing his stellar education and commitment to legal practice. A graduate of Kings College and Obafemi Awolowo University, Aziza graduated as the class valedictorian in his year, before transitioning to the Nigerian Law School where he also graduated with honours at the 2013 Bar ceremony. He completed the trifecta with a Masters in Law from the Cambridge University, also graduating with honours in 2015 and won the Wolfson College Jennings Prize for a starred first-class in a Cambridge Law Examination.
Aziza has practised at leading law firm OlaniwunAjayi LP, Lagos, Herbert Smith Freehills LLP, London and Sherman and Sterling LLP, Paris. He has worked on cases for financial giant Goldman Sachs and is currently working towards a PhD in securities regulation at the University of Oxford.

Tolani Alli: 27

TolaniAlli is an acclaimed documentary photographer whose images and stories have been featured on BBC News, World Press, The Guardian (U.K), Bella Naija and more. She was recently commissioned as a freelance photographer by The Guardian (UK) on a special report on the oil spill in the Niger Delta. Additionally, Tolani was the first African enrolled in the debut of World Press Photo Noor Images and Danish School of Photojournalism/Media Documentary Program, which she completed with honours.
Tolani came to prominence as an official photographer to the Oyo state government, one of Nigeria’s most notable states. While this role has historically had limited female representation, she battles hard to push for more gender equality and prides herself as a proponent of equity in her profession. A distinguished alumnus of The University of Michigan, she credits her photography journey to a chance interest in a camera after watching an Aston Kutcher Canon commercial while battling a grave illness. As her true passion for photography emerged, she transformed from being medical school-bound to becoming obsessed with photography and telling stories with her lens.
TolaniAlli continues to be a trailblazer and unapologetic in redefining what it means to be Nigeria, American, African and global citizen. In delivering the keynote presentation at The World-Renowned Fearless Photographers Conference In Split, Croatia, she challenged the crowd to open up itself to a new African narrative and to show the importance of photography in doing so. Her bold and visionary approach leaves little explanation as to why she was recently named in the top 30 of 100 of the most influential young Nigerians. Currently, Tolani is The SA on Photography to the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in the office of the Vice-President and The Personal Photographer to Vice-President Prof.YemiOsinbajo SAN.

Sharon Ooja: 28

What quicker way to break international barriers than being nominated for ‘Best Actress of the Year’ at the City People Movie Awards for a role in a web series. This is the kind of single-minded focus that actress Sharon Ooja brings to all the projects she is affiliated with. It is a little hard to believe she began her career in Nollywood as a supporting character in the first season of cult classic Skinny Girl in Transit.
Ooja has transitioned from her titular role as Shalewa in SGIT to feature in the critical darling The Men’s Club. When Sharon isn’t working to bring characters to life on the small screen, she is earning her stripes as a serious method actress by collecting film credits with some of the most exciting directors working today. She featured in serious indie film fare in Kemi Adetiba’s King Of Boys, worked on Bolanle Austen Peter’s directorial debut Bling Lagosians as well as teaming up with DamiElebe for From Lagos With Love.
Ooja is currently doing press runs for her most ambitious project yet, Ebony Life Films prostitution drama Oloture, where she carried her first leading role and had its first showing at the Creative Arts agency in Los Angeles and received its first nomination at the Carthage Festival in Tunisia). With six best actress nominations in 2019 alone, Sharon Ooja is on a roll.

Samuel Ajiboye: 28

Providing 360-degree advertising solutions for the nations’ integrated marketing communication industry is the reason why Samuel Ajiboye gets out of bed each morning. As the Country Manager at Alpha and Jam, a full-service creative digital business solutions agency, Ajiboye guides teams with competencies in digital content management, gamification, online media buying/planning and innovative deployment, web and mobile app development as well as interaction and AR to create viable content-based products for global audiences. With a presence in four African countries, Australia, Singapore and Hongkong while expanding to cover 22 African countries, Canada, Uk and Portugal, Ajiboye’s impact is truly global.
Alpha and Jam’s clientele consists of local and international brands such as Skye Bank, Unity Bank, HP, Reckitt Benckiser, Intel and Windows, RB, LG, Nexus home appliances, INTEL, Hp, Dano Milk, Kelloggs, Skye bank, Daigeo, Coca COLA, Unity bank, among many others. As the CEO, Samuel has been at the forefront as Alpha and Jam has performed beyond industry expectation because many brands it has worked for subsequently reported unprecedented growth in their businesses. It is for this reason that the agency has become a household name in the creative digital business solutions segment of the integrated marketing communication industry. Under his guidance, Apha and Jam have managed to dominate the digital advertising market, building a programmatic DOOH platform called CANDLE worth millions of dollars. CANDLE like UBER allows users to access digital advertising screens programmatically. With 15% of the DOOH market, Alpha and Jam is the second-largest shareholder in the market with plans to expand to 50% by 2021.
Today they are a team of 25 people (15 male and ten female staff) with five tech team members. They currently own and manage Nigeria’s most premium LED Screen (THE MADISON) and four other digital led screens across Lagos and Abuja, reaching over 30million Nigerians daily.

Chinney Love Eze: 31

Awoman who believes firmly in the adage that women should support other women, filmmaker Chinney Love Eze always has broken barriers. Eze began her career in Nollywood as an actress, featuring in 12 films before deciding that being an actress was too stifling to her aspirations as a filmmaker, and there were more relevant roles she could fit into comfortably. Choosing to start her career with minimal experience behind the camera in the director’s chair (Eze studied economic and statistics for her first degree at the University of Benin), Eze became one of the youngest producers to debut a Nollywood film in cinemas and one of the most youthful women to do so.
While she is best known for her blockbuster hits Hire A Man and its sequel (both films were rumoured to have made a cumulative 100 million naira in cinemas), Eze made her debut as a director/producer with ‘The Cartel’. The Cartel was a critical success, earning five nominations at the Zulu African Film Academy Awards (ZAFAA) awards as well as four nominations at the Best of Nollywood Awards. Chinney love Eze is also the producer of Maduka Daughters, Sister’s Quest, Okrika and hit movie, Hire a Man.

Compliled By – Remi Diagbare