Rise, a global challenge programme of Schmidt Futures in partnership with the Rhode Trust is supporting talented Nigerian teens to provide solutions to societal problems.
Through its collaboration with Build Nigeria, it finds exceptional Nigerians between the ages of 15-17 who need opportunity and provide support for them for life as they work to serve others.
In September, five Nigerians made the list of the second cohort of 100 Rise Global winners with the support provided by Build Nigeria in applying.
“We support Rise applicants and get their words out there by reaching Nigerians across the country to let them know that Rise is a programme that exists that is able, willing, and excited to support students like them,” said Tolulope Olaswere, co-founder of Build Nigeria.
“We provide support to the applicants. They can drop by our workshop to talk about the challenges they are facing. We work with school administrators, community leaders and teachers to ensure we support them as much as we can,” she said.
She added that her organisation also provides a year of free college counselling and preparation programming for low-income and high-achieving Nigerian youth.
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Ikenna Charles Nwafor a teen from Abeokuta, who created awareness on the importance of cybersecurity in the lives of teenagers in Nigeria as cases of cyber-attacks continue to grow in the country with the onset of the COVID pandemic, said he was excited when he was listed among the second cohort 100 global winners.
He appreciated Schmidt Futures and the Rhode Trust for the opportunity for him to be a changemaker.
He urged other teens to continue to make positive changes that will lead to societal development.
Speaking also, Tomisin Ogunnubi, a winner of the first cohort of the Rise Global challenge, who created an algorithm to identify misconceptions and biases that restrict girls’ pursuit of STEM and provide resources to debunk the misconceptions said lack of role models restrict girls from going into STEM.
Since its inception, Rise has welcomed over 150,000 people from over 170 countries to its community, and has selected 200 winners from 69 countries of origin.
Applications for the next class have opened, and applicants can visit the Rise Global website to apply.
