In a super-cool hero-themed announcement last week, The Future Project (TFP) named the 50 nominees for this year’s Future Awards Africa. The awards are meant to “celebrate young people between the ages of 18 and 31, who have made outstanding achievement in the year under consideration,” and recognize young Africans for contributions across ten categories, including Advocacy & Activism — the category under which our own Olumayowa Okediran was nominated!   

It’s a great honor to have an SFL staffer listed among such “an inspiring mix of superstars like television host Trevor Noah (South Africa), singer Yemi Alade (Nigeria) and change makers such as Botswansian Queen Baboloki and Segawa Patrick (Uganda).” Here’s what The Future Project had to say about Olumayowa:

Olumayowa Okediran leads a crop of young people across Africa dedicated to promoting human rights and individual liberties as well as market-based solutions to Africa’s problems. He founded African Students For Liberty in Nigeria in 2013 and the organization quickly expanded to 10 African countries networking and training thousands of young Africans. With hubs in several Universities  across  Africa, Okediran  travels extensively giving lectures  in Universities and conferences around the world.

Through African Students For Liberty, Okediran has reached thousands of young Africans from Tanzania, Malawi, Kenya, South Africa, Ghana, Nigeria, The Gambia and Uganda. Okediran has trained these young people on the use of entrepreneurial based approaches in developing their advocacy programs. These efforts have led to the establishment of advocacy and research think tanks in Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi and The Gambia.

Olumayowa co-authored the book “Why Liberty” with an extensive focus on the development of private enterprise in Africa. 350,000 copies of the book have been distributed in English across the globe and the book translated to Russian, Portuguese, French, Spanish and Greek.

With over 100 volunteers engaging over 4,000 students in 18 African countries, Olumayowa has built African Students For Liberty into the largest free-market and human rights youth movement on the continent. Asides from his role building the youth movement for liberty in Africa, Olumayowa in 2014 became a Policy Analyst with the Independent Entrepreneurship Group based in Cape Town and also a mentor for Refugee students studying at Kiron University in Berlin via Kwantum Mentoring Ltd.

The 10th annual Future Awards Africa will take place this December after touring through ten major cities across the continent to host town hall events. This year’s theme is Imagine Africa! which TFP says was “chosen to highlight young Africans who are fulfilling the promise of the continent by conquering the unlimited frontiers of imagination. TFAA is proud to demonstrate the richness and variety of positive change catalysed by these young ideas.”

Congratulations to our dear colleague Olumayowa on his well-deserved nomination!  #‎BecauseSuperheroesdonthavetobefictional‬