Celebrating Ndi-Igbo

Justus Nwaoga is among ten 2013 African innovators who were nominated for developing practical solutions to some of the continent’s most intractable problems. They were chosen from more than 900 applications from 45 countries.  The finalists for the Innovation Prize for Africa, IPA, 2013 provided practical examples of Africa’s investment potentials. Nwaoga was nominated for developing a new way to collect renewable solar energy by using the mimosa pudica weed, an organic African medicinal plant.  With this breakthrough, it was possible to construct a functional mimosa solar panel with the Mimosa plant extract. The solar panel is designed in such a way that the electrical potential of the cells can be restored on exposure to direct sun rays, after they have been discharged. The Innovation Prize for Africa is an award founded by the African Innovation Foundation and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa.  It mobilises African innovators and entrepreneurs...

Dr. Kanayo F. Nwanze has more than 30 years of extensive experience in international agricultural research, research management, and development work in Sub-Saharan Africa (Anglophone and Francophone countries) and Asia with the centers of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). Nwanze is a member of several scientific associations and a board member of several Africa-based institutions. In 2001, he was conferred with the title Commander of the National Order of Merit of Cote d'Ivoire in recognition of his outstanding leadership of WARDA and service to the West African subregion. Nwanze holds a B.Sc. in agricultural biology from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, and an M.Sc. and Ph.D. in entomology from Kansas State University, USA. In 2009 the Governing Council of International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) chose Kanayo F. Nwanze as its next president during its annual meeting in Rome today. Nwanze, a Nigerian national, was the Vice-Presi...