In Africa, where poverty, conflict and inequality often dominate headlines, a new generation of changemakers is rewriting the narrative one bold idea, one community project and one resilient act at a time. These remarkable young Africans are proving that transformative leadership is not bound by privilege, but shaped by purpose.
13 trailblazing African students have been named among the Top 50 finalists for the 2025 Chegg.org Global Student Prize, a prestigious international award that recognizes exceptional students making a global impact. The $100,000 prize, often dubbed the “Nobel Prize for Students,” highlights changemakers driving innovation, advocacy and social transformation.
Adama Finda Borway -Sierra Leone
In Sierra Leone’s Kono District, Adama Finda Borway has become a beacon of hope for girls whose lives mirror her own. Raised by a mother who survived child marriage and domestic violence, and later losing her mother during her final year of secondary school, Adama faced the prospect of leaving her education behind. But she turned her grief into action.
At just 18, she founded the She-Empowerment League (SEL) a grassroots movement providing leadership training, vocational skills, and trauma healing to girls and young women across rural Sierra Leone. From digital literacy and tailoring to menstrual hygiene and business skills, SEL has empowered over 500 girls in 14 communities, equipping many to launch their own businesses.
Adama’s influence now stretches well beyond her hometown. As Sierra Leone’s Global Girls and Young Women Representative for the She Leads Board, she helped shape national legislation, including the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act. Her vision? To build a Skills and Leadership Center in Kono District that will serve over 500 girls each year, creating generational change in the communities that shaped her.
Adigao Alvin Wenia – Ghana
In Ghana, Adigao Alvin Wenia has transformed personal disappointment into national impact. After being accepted to 13 international universities but unable to afford tuition, Alvin founded The Child with Big Dreams, a youth-led initiative that has reached over 3,500 students in 2024 alone offering mentorship, leadership training and climate education to underserved children.
His Creative Communities project teaches children to turn plastic waste into art, blending sustainability with creativity. He’s led mangrove restoration projects, co-authored policy papers against illegal mining, and even organised the world’s first Children’s COP, where young voices negotiated climate policy.
Alvin is also Ghana’s youngest climate negotiator, representing youth at COP29 and engaging in national policy discussions on biodiversity and adaptation. If awarded the Global Student Prize, Alvin plans to scale his environmental programmes and offer scholarships for emerging youth climate leaders proving that from the margins, great movements can rise.
Christian Maboko – Burundi/Kenya/USA
When civil war in Burundi separated Christian Maboko from his father, he fled to Kenya’s Kakuma refugee camp, where he endured hunger, heat and hardship. But Christian carried one unshakable belief: that education could change everything.
Today, as founder of AridVitality, he leads clean water, agriculture, and women’s empowerment programmes that have impacted over 3,600 people. He’s installed water pumps, launched tailoring and soap-making projects for refugee women, and designed reproductive health education tools for girls in the camp.
A Rise Global Winner and international speaker, Christian has raised more than $20,000 for clean water and shelter projects and is now preparing to study international affairs at George Washington University on a full scholarship.
His vision is clear: build solar-powered water systems and refugee-led farms that reduce dependency and restore dignity to displaced communities.
Daniel Itegboje – Nigeria
A medical student at the University of Benin, Daniel Itegboje is also one of Nigeria’s most promising young documentary filmmakers. His groundbreaking film O.Y.O (On Your Own) offers a rare, unflinching look at Benin City’s “Elema” boys homeless children surviving on the streets.
The film has been screened at 24 international festivals, nominated for Best Documentary at the Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards, and is spurring real-world change. Daniel is now collaborating with NGOs to build a rehabilitation and reintegration centre that provides shelter, healthcare, and education for street children.
Through his production company 3WM and YouTube series Stories from Benin (150,000+ views), he tells stories of resilience, climate justice, and civic activism. He’s also a leader in Nigeria’s public health sector and co-host of The Media Twins, an online platform empowering youth to embrace multiple passions.
If awarded the Global Student Prize, Daniel plans to use the funds to launch his shelter for street children combining medicine, storytelling, and community healing into one transformative vision.
Darren Harry Baine – Uganda/Canada
A biology student at the University of Waterloo, Darren Baine’s impact straddles two continents. In Uganda, he founded the Young Eye Foundation, supporting over 1,000 students with bursaries, school renovations, and climate education. In Canada, he co-leads Young and Restless, a youth incubator that has distributed over $4,000 in microgrants and hosted hackathons addressing climate justice and youth empowerment.
Despite the hardship of immigration and financial instability, Darren has become a United Nations speaker, Top 40 Under 40 honouree, and founder of IWIP, a digital networking app helping students connect professionally while tracking their carbon footprints.
With the Global Student Prize, Darren would scale his education programmes in Uganda and expand IWIP’s reach proving that ideas born from adversity can span continents.
Foday David Kamara – Sierra Leone/Liberia
Growing up in Sierra Leone’s toxic slum of Bumeh, Foday Kamara often studied on scraps of paper by candlelight. Today, he is co-founder of Central Leadership Academy (CLA) in Bokay Town, Liberia a community that had been without a school for 14 years. Since 2023, CLA has reached over 6,500 students and saved local families more than $78,000 in education costs.
Foday also co-leads Ecovironment, a startup turning plastic waste into building materials, and launched the “Letters Without Borders” Pen Pal programme to foster cross-cultural storytelling across Africa. His environmental leadership has earned him the UN Habitat Scroll of Honour and the Young Climate Prize.
With the prize funding, he plans to provide solar-powered labs, bicycles for long-distance learners (especially girls) and trauma-informed wellness programmes.
Israel Smart – Nigeria
Surviving a Boko Haram school attack as a child, Israel Smart vowed to make education accessible for all. Today, he’s the founder of OneChild Africa, which has delivered STEM education, built four learning centres, and connected over 50,000 children to educational opportunities across six African countries.
He’s also the force behind Smartel, a company transforming plastic waste into hydroponic systems that are now feeding drought-affected schoolchildren and training 4,000+ farmers in climate-resilient agriculture. An AI-powered pest prediction tool he co-developed has improved crop productivity for 10,000 farmers.
Israel’s work has earned him honours from the World Food Programme, the Nobel Foundation and the Ban Ki-moon Centre. He’s now developing Menava, an AI tool helping doctors predict maternal complications in low-resource clinics.
Should he win the prize, Israel aims to scale school farms and Dream Spaces mobile tech labs that bring STEM education to underserved communities across the continent.
Lennox Omondi – Kenya
Founder of EcoBana, Lennox transforms banana stem waste into biodegradable sanitary pads. Born in rural Homabay, his work combats period poverty and environmental waste. Since 2021, EcoBana has distributed over 3 million pads across East Africa, rescuing girls from transactional sex and school dropouts. A Hult Prize winner and youth advocate, Lennox aims to scale his innovation to refugee camps and launch a line of biodegradable nappies.
Ntyam Princia Minko – Cameroon
A STEM leader and safety tech innovator, Ntyam co-founded MOTUWA, a GPS-powered platform protecting public transport users. She also leads BIOREX, which recycles biodegradable waste into energy and fertiliser. Through the GiHoN Foundation, she supports displaced and orphaned youth. Her next mission? Distribute wearable tech for safer mobility and expand BIOREX’s community impact.
Omar Ahmed – Egypt
At just 17, Omar is revolutionizing coding education in the Arab world through Horas Code, a viral TikTok channel with 150K+ followers. He’s also an award-winning AI and AR innovator focused on dementia detection and deaf accessibility. If he wins, Omar plans to develop a short-form EdTech platform for students with ADHD, blending accessibility with gamified learning.
Titilope Olotu – Nigeria/USA
Born to Nigerian immigrants and a near-survivor of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and first-generation college student, 18 year old Titilope founded PADÍ For You, a nonprofit supporting menstrual health and wellness through herbal-infused, biodegradable pads. Her innovation now includes biosensor-integrated pads providing real-time health data. She’s served over 14,700 students globally and is mentoring the next wave of wellness entrepreneurs.
Her most impactful innovation, the PADÍ Eco-Kit, is a compassionate response to the often-overlooked health needs of women and girls. Thoughtfully crafted from biodegradable banana fiber and enriched with natural healing herbs, the kit offers gentle, restorative care for those experiencing bacterial vaginosis, yeast infections, and the lasting effects of trauma from female genital mutilation.
Uatshila Munenyiwa – South Africa
A Stanford-bound innovator from a low-income community, Uatshila has created multiple award-winning solutions like WatStemEncy and LumiVolt, addressing sanitation and energy access. As a STEM mentor and debate club founder, she’s uplifted underserved learners across South Africa. She has tutored over 50 hours a month, mentored 30+ students into fully funded scholarships. Her goals include expanding LanonTech – her security startup – and launching a nationwide university access initiative.
Yohannes Bimrew Simegn – Ethiopia
From a remote Ethiopian village with no electricity, At just 12 years old, Yohannes began weaving dreams from discarded wires and shards of broken solar lights. With bamboo stalks as his scaffolding and salvaged scraps as his palette, he crafted his own gleaming beacon a handmade lighting system born not in a lab, but in the quiet genius of a child determined to chase away the dark.
Yohannes co-founded HuluSolar, delivering affordable solar systems to 5,000+ people. Now a scholar at EARTH University in Costa Rica, he is pioneering agrivoltaic systems for African farmers. Through his nonprofit CARED, he mentors youth across the continent, building Africa’s renewable energy future.
A Rising Force in Global Education
These African finalists represent a continent bursting with talent, resilience and innovation. Whether working in coding, clean energy, education, or menstrual health, their stories are proof that youth-led solutions are driving Africa’s transformation.
With over 60% of Africa’s population under the age of 25, the continent’s destiny lies in the hands of its youth. These 13 changemakers are not exceptions they represent a broader trend of young Africans leading on the frontlines of climate justice, education reform, tech innovation and gender equality.
If selected as the overall winner, each finalist plans to reinvest the $100,000 prize into scaling their social impact, amplifying access to education and changing millions of lives.
The winner will be announced later this year. Until then, Africa and the world will be watching.
