Author: PositiveNaija
Seattle Sounders MVP
Anzisha Prize
Electrical Engineering
Obi Brown & Chijioke Ezegbo Win 2015 Etisalat Innovation Prize
Obi Brown and Chijioke Ezegbo have won the 2015 Etisalat Innovation Prize.
Obi Brown won five million Naira in the most innovative product or service category, and Chijioke Ezegbo winning the two million Naira cash prize attached to the most innovative idea category.
They were also rewarded with high-end mobile devices, Etisalat Mifi bundle with free data for one year as well as In-house Business Development Mentoring and product promotion using the Etisalat Online Platforms.
To clinch the 5 million Naira, Obi Brown created an application called ‘Study Lab Math’, a repository of over 1300 videos solving math problems in over 49 topics in the NERDC curriculum for senior secondary school students. The problems are solved by a team of Math teachers led by WAEC Chief Examiner.
Chijioke Ezegbo, created a Dedicated Traffic Mapping Device (DTMD, which emerged the winning idea in the most innovative idea category. It’s a GPRS enabled traffic navigation device with voice over interface which is affixed to a vehicle windshield to help users navigate their way through traffic by accessing real-time traffic data and suggesting shorter or alternate routes.
The Chief Executive Officer of Etisalat Nigeria, Mr. Matthew Willsher, noted that the Prize for Innovation initiative which aims at discovering and growing young Nigerians with innovative products, ideas and solutions using mobile broadband technology, reflects the company’s commitment to nurturing talents and promoting creativity that will have invaluable impacts on individuals and organisations.
In his words on the 2015 Etisalat Innovation Prize:
“As a company, innovation is at the core of our business; it is the strength on which we thrive. The world is driven by innovation and Nigeria needs innovators whose ideas and products can drive development and help people live as they should.
We at Etisalat are glad to provide a platform to mobilise the nation’s teeming crop of young and undiscovered innovators to impact all areas of the society.
Festus Dauda Chairs World Radio Communications [2015]
Engr. Festus Dauda of Nigeria has officially assumed duty as the Chairman of World Radio Communications (WRC) in Geneva, Swizerland.
Festus Dauda, becomes the first African to assume the exalted position in the 150 years of the Council. Nigeria had earlier in the week became the first African country to head the World Radio Communications (WRC) Council, an arm of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU).
Otobong Nkanga Wins Yanghyun Foundation Artist Award [2015]
A Nigerian fine artist, Otobong Nkanga, has emerged the first African to win the Yanghyun Foundation Artist Award in Seoul, Korea.
Ms. Nkanga was selected for her outstanding creativity in media and motivational photography, drawing, painting, sculpture, installation and video.
While selecting Ms. Nkanga’s work, the panel declared:
“In Nkanga’s work, the landscape is a sounding board for ideas, stories and memories, evoking an awareness of our connection with natural resources and its challenging histories.
Her installations are imaginative and emotive, but also earthly: they represent our relationship with the world. We are greatly impressed by the intensity, depth and variety of Nkanga’s body of work.”
Announcing the award, the foundation’s director, Eunyoung Choi, noted that Mrs. Nkanga’s trans-categorical artistic practice was defined by her ability to pervade the complex layers of human and natural traces left in material objects and landscapes.
The foundation awards its winning artist with a cash price prize, and the opportunity to hold a full solo exhibition at one of the world’s most renowned galleries or museums as chosen by the winner within three years of receiving the prize.
The Yanghyun Prize was established in 2008 as the first international art prize by a Korean institution.
Its key aim is to acknowledge and support outstanding mid-career artists by offering a global stage for exhibiting their work.
Past recipients are Cameron Jamie, an American (2008), Isa Genzken, from Germany (2009), Jewyo Rhii, a South Korean (2010), Akram Zaatari, a Lebanese (2011), Abraham Cruzvillegas, a Mexican (2012), Rivane Neuenschwander, Brasil (2013) and Apitchapong Weerasethakul, also a Lebanese (2014).