The Outstanding Young African Achievers (OYAA) Awards is an initiative of Achievers’ Group; a personal development oriented organisation that seeks to empower young people to discover, pursue and realise their full potentials. OYAA Awards seeks to identify, celebrate and motivate young African achievers in order to encourage them to do more and also inspire others to start working on their dreams or ideas.
This initiative was launched on 11th February, 2017 at Auditorium 900, University of Cape Coast (UCC). In attendance were some notable speakers such as Mr Albert Kusi (CEO, LEC GROUP), Dr Isaac Newman Arthur (Founder, Premium Clinic), Mr Dennis Appiah Larbi Ampofo (UCC SRC president), Mr Desmond Edem Eklu (CEO, Achievers Group) among others. Also in attendance were student leaders, student entrepreneurs and staff from tertiary institutions across the country.
Mr Desmond Edem Eklu in his address, made it clear to the audience that the award targets only tertiary students in Africa and African students in the diaspora. “This initiative aims at empowering tertiary students in Africa and those of African descent in the diaspora. The goal is to encourage students to create employment opportunities for themselves by developing their potentials so we can reduce graduate unemployment and its impact on the African economy” he noted. He also encouraged students to fully participate in order to see their lives transformed. He ended his speech by calling on government agencies, enterprises and individuals to come on board and support this initiative.
Nominations for the maiden edition are opened from the 1st to 31st of March, 2017. Over 30 categories are open to the public for nominations this year. All applicants must be registered students of any tertiary institution in Africa. The actual award ceremony comes off on the 27th May, 2017 at the British Council in Accra. This year’s event is under the theme “The role of tertiary students in reducing graduate unemployment” and it promises to be a breath-taking event.
Please follow the link below to see the categories and complete a nomination form online.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSclnUdLFDoUWI8j_3dm6gJiwgk6YTPO2ckzHphACGRjdnVFsA/viewform
Credit Gabla Kwame
