Niniola Williams, Managing Director of Dr. Ameyo Stella Adadevoh Health Trust, has been announced as the winner of the GE’DA 2022 Cohort 4 Digital fellow pitch competition.

The winner was announced during the graduation of 80 fellows at an event, held at the Oriental Hotel, Lekki.

Organised by Donors for Africa, in partnership with Meta, Niniola emerged top out of the five finalists who pitched their ventures from a pool of 30 fellows shortlisted.

She received N700, 000, while other winners, De-Rabacon Plastics, owned by Yolo Bakumor Smith; Onyinye Omenugha, Founder/Team Lead – Lawsanaid, Sarah Ugbana, Founder Azar initiative and Ernestina Muulikaa, Founder, Tina Reports on YouTube based in Ghana, also received prize money.

Speaking at the graduation ceremony, Chidi Koldsweat, Founder/Executive Director of Donors or Africa, expressed gladness at the completion of the program, which had her organisation with the full funding of Meta train 80 fellows drawn from Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and The Gambia.

Chidi explained further that the fellows were trained in digital skills in addition to core topics impacting their sustainability over three months, and were also connected to mentors to also continue to support their work.

“Today, we are extremely proud of our fellows. It’s been an intense journey filled with exceedingly difficult sessions, many of them sacrificing and investing their time, and efforts to attend sessions and participate in the programme fully.”

Asked how recipients of the grants are monitored to ensure adequate use, the ED explained that fellows are expected to send in monthly reports, so that the organisation can continue to monitor and evaluate their growth, and can get intervention when needed. “Occasionally, they are also brought together to listen to talks on how they can improve the quality of work,” she said.

Also speaking at the event, Ireayomide Oladunjoye, Head of Startups (Lagos Innovates) at Lagos Employment Trust Fund (LSETF), who spoke on the theme ‘Repositioned For Real Impact” charged the fellows on the need for continuous practice all that they learned during the training. She also stressed finding and securing the right partnerships, the need for proper documentation, being visible on social media, and being resilient, if they are going to make a real impact.

The GEDA Digital fellowship was launched as part of Meta’s programs for non-profits and social enterprises in Nigeria and across Anglophone West Africa. It focuses on developing the capacity of non-profits to become digitally savvy as well as developing their capacity to deliver impact-driven programs across Anglophone Africa.

The programme is aimed at providing solutions to sustainable development goals, by increasing the human capacity of leaders who desire to understand how to play in the development sector and want to deep dive into how to build a thriving sustainable social impact organisation.

Donors for Africa has trained about 184 fellows from 24 African countries in the last two years.