Rarebirds

Business and social change is a family affair for YaAdam Fye. Alongside her mother Lucy and two sisters—Anna and Jainaba—the activist created The Fye Network, the premier producer and provider of African-inspired literature for Gambian children of all ages.

The Fye family began writing a series of children’s books that aim to give Gambian youth hopeful, empowering images of themselves and encourage literacy among young readers. In “Princess Halima and the Kingdom of Affia,” readers follow the adventures of a princess in an ancient African kingdom to learn more about the continent. “When my niece Halima was born, I knew I wanted a better world for her,” Jainaba tells OkayAfrica. “She inspired us to write the Princess Halima children's book. At the time, there were no mainstream Black princess books.” But getting this material to children has its roadblocks. As YaAdam detailed in this Quartz interview, the recent transition in government after the exile of President Yahya Jammeh has left a struggle between those who are coming back to rebuild and locals who remain steadfast in Jammeh’s rule. “There is that power play between the diaspora coming back and the locals who have been there,” she said.

Still, the group of literacy advocates believe that youth will be the wave of change their country needs. And that’s why they are investing in young people. “They are shaping the future,” Jainaba tells OkayAfrica. “They define the culture and push us to do more and go further, especially in the work of diversity and inclusion.

For their unwavering commitments, Fye Network has received notable honors  and nods; YaAdam was named a fellow by the Obama Foundation for her activism in literacy and education and the Network is listed in the Quartz Africa Innovators series. Despite the “lack of responsiveness and engagement from our government,” YaAdam hopes imagination and persistence will begin the process of reform “and the desired changes start to become reality.

With a commerce background through and through, meet this chance graphic designer who has been building her niche in the field for the past 3 years with her brand GraphicsQue.  She received her schooling from MHS, college JDBI, Masters from Lancaster University, UK.  She is an active participant of the Modern High School for Girls Alumni and has worked with over 100 clients with popular clients such as Haldirams, Rotary, Goodwyn Tea, Whooppee and BNI.  She is actively engaged in fulfilling her responsibility towards the society by participating in events such as Agapi (Curated by Paint our World, Director- Dr Priya Virmani), Colours of Innocence (Curated by Sonali’s Cubo, Founder- Vayjayanti Pugalia).  

Evou Lawrence Mendy is a Software Engineer by profession and young Gambian Entrepreneur. He is the Founder and Lead Software Engineer of Kameko - a start-up that provides customized software solutions (web and mobile apps) for businesses in Gambia and beyond. In October 2018, Evou Lawrence introduced Ryde Africa Technologies - a platform that allows you to request for the nearest taxi by using Ryde Africa Taxi App or by calling one of our dispatcher lines.

Evou Lawrence pitched Ryde Africa at the maiden edition of the Seedstar World Banjul Pitching Competition in November 2018 and was the 1st Runner-up. He was the 2nd Runner-up of TAF Start-ups Competition in December 2018. He was part the 1000 Entrepreneurs selected for the Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Programme 2019. He's also documented by AfricaX (africax.org) as one of the 100 most inspiring stories in Africa for 2019.  He is part of EU Africa Start-ups - a network of 100 Digital Entrepreneurs in EU Member countries and Africa.

Evou Lawrence Mendy is a YALI RLC Ghana alumnus (Cohort 8) where he studied Leadership in Business and Entrepreneurship. He's also the founding secretary of GAM-MINDS Foundation - non-profit organization that Motivates, Inspires, Nurtures, Develops and Support the next generation through Education, Innovation and Entrepreneurship.
He is currently the Hub Lead for Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Programme Alumni, Gambia Chapter.

Before he started his business in 2017, he had work with InSIST Global Gambia Limited as a software engineer and Team Lead for ERP. He also worked as an offshore software developer for alaTest.com based in Sweden and Xanda.net based in London. He also graduated from the University of The Gambia with a BSc in Computer Science in 2013.

WEBSITE: http://www.kamekogambia.com
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/lawrencevou.mendy
LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ebou-lawrence-mendy-b4162610a
TWITTER: https://www.twitter.com/mendy1188

Advisory Board Member at Kinesis Money, Caymans, and formally Regional Director for Africa at Paxful Inc., Founder/ Coordinator Blockchain Nigeria User Group, protem Chairman Organization of Blockchain Technology User (OBTU), Africa Lead, Technology & Innovation at Blockspace Africa Technologies and CEO of both Techbuild Innovation Partners and Lagos Drupal Varsity.   The Fintech Connector Community Partner for Nigeria.
Author of a series of books including; Seizing Opportunities in Blockchain and Digital Currency Revolution: A Handbook for Enthusiasts, DeFi Handbook, and The Building Blocks of Blockchain StartUP Entrepreneurs.

A regular speaker at various blockchain, cryptocurrency, and technology conferences both locally and internationally. As a Certified Technology Innovation Expert, I play a key roles in organizing Nigeria's biggest Blockchain and Cryptocurrency events in Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt for three consecutive years.   With my involvement as a community lead organizer, i’m also involved in a number of industry- government projects working towards technology innovation. This includes being a member of Fintech Roadmap Committee of The Nigeria Capital Market, set up by SEC Nigeria, Blockchain, Virtual Financial Assets Regulations Working Group also set up by SEC Nigeria, and NITDA National Blockchain Strategy Team.

A Member of Government Blockchain Association (GBA), member Blockchain Group, Africa Progress Group (APG), ISSAN, Fintech Association of Nigeria etc. I regularly feature as a tech commentator and innovation subject matter expert on CNBC Africa, Channels TV and BBC UK, to mention a few.  Find me on Twitter @mezie16.

Lesleigh Joseph is a citizen and a resident of St. Kitts and Nevis and a graduate of New York’s John Jay College of Criminal Justice where she attained a Bachelor of  Arts degree in Forensic Psychology and Anthropology.

Having studied Psychology, Lesleigh was afforded the opportunity to vastly improve her intrinsic understanding of the human mind. She hails her decision to focus on Anthropology in tandem with Psychology as one of her most important  life decisions as her work is heavily influenced by and entirely dependent on the dominant cultural influence of the social space in which she is present. Despite having chosen a career field that most believe is best utilised in the criminal justice system, she has had the privilege of utilising her skills and qualifications in the public relations, multimedia management and marketing arenas.

Lesleigh became immersed in her country’s political arena in 2015, working first unofficially then officially for the St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party (SKNLP). From 2015  to early 2017, she was a volunteer public relations, social media management and messaging liaison for the SKNLP. In late 2017, the Party officially employed her as one of its two Public Relations managers with responsibility for four of its eight candidates, one of whom was the Party leader and former Prime Minister. In December 2018, she resigned her position and six months later, started her own consultancy, Ensō Consulting.

In addition to providing much-needed intellectual freedom, Lesleigh’s consultancy  is unique in every way. ‘Ensō’ is a Japanese concept that refers to the achievement of a level of mental clarity and calm that allows one’s creativity to blossom without restriction, giving way to the transcendence of mental barriers, biases and constraints. For her, ‘ensō’ speaks to the escape from learned intellectual limitations or the ordinary and the typical that enables the mind to engender innovation, thus bringing to life her business’ tag line “Innovation Sans Limitation.”

Lesleigh wishes to utilise her psychological training to analyse markets, industries, media trends and consumer behaviour in order to develop accurate and precise strategies for revenue generation and also to foster a comprehensive understanding of social evolution. She believes that this understanding, once achieved, will clear the path for small developing nations, especially, to develop an unbiased and thorough understanding of their people. She holds firm to the view that the inevitable positive ripples of attaining such a level of sociocultural and socio-economic clarity are bound to be astounding.

Most days, Lesleigh works from her home in New Road, St. Kitts. Early mornings and late afternoons find her puttering about good-naturedly in the little vegetable garden she started with her partner a few months ago.

Merv-Ann Thompson is the founder and Managing Owner of M.A.S.T. Productions, a multifaceted media company, and Conch Shell, an event-listing app in St. Kitts and Nevis newly launched on July 1st, 2020.  Prior to becoming an entrepreneur, Merv-Ann was employed in the field of Broadcast Journalism for the past seven years, a job she thoroughly enjoyed. She began her career in Nevis at the St. Kitts-Nevis Observer after a short stint as a secretary’s assistant in 2012. Yearning for a change in mental scenery, Merv-Ann transitioned into the prolific offshore industry while still on the island of Nevis.

Returning to “home base”, Merv-Ann picked up her writing pad again, this time in the employ of the Nevis Island Administration. Following a bout of homesickness where St. Kitts beckoned, she began a new job at WINNFM. While working as a broadcast journalist, she was introduced to the world of talk show hosting and in short order, became the main host of the station’s weekday radio programme Voices. After culminating her tenure, she transitioned laterally to FreedomFM as one of the hosts for its weekday talk show, Issues.

Outside of Journalism, Merv-Ann has strutted her way down many cat walks entering local pageants across both islands, and in one regional pageant from 2016-2018. Additionally, she enjoys dabbling in mixing music as an amateur DJ, creating beats, gardening, exercising, reading and researching. She intends to pursue a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations/Affairs and Journalism in 2021.

Ajay Mittal in his current role is a Director, India and South Asia (Climate Change Programs) for Earth Day Network, Growing out of the first Earth Day, Earth Day Network is the world’s largest recruiter to the environmental movement, working with more than 75,000 partners in nearly 192 countries to build environmental democracy.  Ajay is a member of the Global Shapers community an initiative of the World Economic Forum and also part of the Climate Action Steering Committee of Global Shapers Community.

He was trained to be a Climate Reality Leader at Brisbane, Australia in June,2019 and has also been recognised as one of the EE 30 Under 30 leaders 2019 cohort by North American Association for Environmental Education (NAAEE). The award recognises young leaders using environmental education to build sustainable communities.  In 2017 he initiated the movement called Kolkata Clean Air (KCA). Kolkata Clean Air started as a campaign has slowly taken shape into being a fast growing organisation by the name of Active Citizen For Sustainability (ACTS) that works towards building a model for citizen state partnership towards building a sustainable city.  Ajay still volunteers his time as Co-founder and board member at ACTS.

Ajay is also a voluntary director at Project Life Force (PLF) which is the largest organisation working on voluntary Blood donation in Kolkata, India. Ajay has played a significant role in growing the organisation since its inception 6 Years ago. PLF has organised over 300+ Camps, with 180+ Organisations and has Facilitated over 60000+ Units of Blood via camps and city's only 24/7 Helpline touching 1,50,000+ Lives Positively. Over 800+ Volunteer have been part of this movement.

He is also on board of several city based NGOs that includes HIVE India, Y-East , SwitchON to name a few. He is passionate about scaling social solutions using technology, innovations and simplicity.

A Tea drinker by birth and a Tea-Taster by profession, Anamika Singh has introduced new infusions with a mix of natural flowers and herbs to the Indian market. Having launched her own brand « Anandini Himalaya Tea » she conducts Tea tasting ceremonies, conferences & events in Delhi. Her real love is Tea. ‘Identifying, understand and tasting tea we celebrate the very event of sipping tea ! Sharing this knowledge with hospitality professionals & clients of real tea is a far bigger challenge‘. Anamika brings on the table knowledge and passion in a delicious Infusion.

Anamika Singh has spent over eighteen years in the tea industry. Starting in Darjeeling as an apprentice under her father, Mr.Abhai Singh (a world renowned tea specialist), she now invests a greater part of the year in the family owned tea gardens in Himachal Pradesh. Research & development in her workshop helps bring out the finest nuances of tea manufacturing and blending. Anamika’s expertise extends to food pairing as part of the sensorial journey to culinary ecstasy.

« Navigating between Dharamsala and Gurgaon has allowed me to keep in touch with my traditional ‘purist’ roots as well as the rapidly evolving international market of demanding expats and the Indian tea ‘connoisseurs’. Working in collaboration with exclusive Spas, Star hotels and top restaurants Anandini Himalaya Tea has helped me be part of this taste revolution.

» Anamika fires the mindset of « chaiwallahs » with her dynamic personality and persistence in quality products and presentations.

Abiodun Anani is a Professional Marketing Strategist with over nine (9) years of cross-cultural experience in marketing, Branding and events. With outstanding achievements in delivering innovative solutions, and facilitating efficiency.  She began her marketing career at Oracle in 2011, an experiential marketing company as a Marketing Executive. Where she hosted several product demonstrations, activation and events. Abiodun then moved to Holidays and Host in 2018 where she served as Head, Public Relations and Marketing a luxury lifestyle company.  During her stay at Holidays and Host she played a lead role in the success of The AMTF Trade Fair which had over 20,000 participants, she’s also the creative director of Mainland Children Funfair.

She’s currently a Growth Marketer at PML Advisory Limited, where she oversees marketing, sales and business development departments and works directly with the management group to help ensure continued growth.  She’s known for sharing professional marketing content to help marketing enthusiasts and business owners accelerate in today’s competitive market.  Abiodun holds an accounting degree from National Open University of Nigeria.

Kimberly King is the Founder and Chief Initiator at Consulting Services by King and Associates Limited.  She has over 17 years’ experience within Sales, Marketing, Business Development, Customer Service  and Tertiary Education for international, local and regional organizations. Her academic qualifications are BSc. Hospitality and Tourism Management and MSc. Marketing Management.

Having worked extensively with multi-national companies; Kimberly envisioned her business as helping micro, small, and medium businessowners (MSMEs) by scaling her technical know how to fit their specific business challenges in the areas of sales and branding. 

Dr. Ismail D. Badjie  was born in Banjul, The Gambia and raised in New York in his early childhood before returning home to complete his schooling at Ndow’s Comprehensive leading up to graduation from Gambia Senior Secondary School in 2003. He retuned to the U.S to continue his education earning a Bachelor’s Degree in Chemistry in 2008 from Tennessee State University and then his Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm.D; 2013) from Purdue University (Lafayette, Indiana USA).

Sunshine is a company committed towards bringing empowerment through employment to the underprivileged men & women. In this journey we have been doing our bit in West Bengal for more than a decade & now in Karnataka we have restarted the journey.

WHY SEED!

The ecological system is going haywire in India and worldwide.  Madikeri where we are housed had seen its worst flood in some I think  50 years last year, & it saw an earthquake tremor a region NEVER known for earthquake. It made me think why do we have to add to landfill lets add value and leave the planet a better place so the idea of creating SEED PAPER Products came into inception.  At Sunshine we are already upcycling paper and fabric and other materials which are made in products. UPCYCLING is a very big part of our journey & NOW SEED. Seed paper can be planted once used.

Benedicta Chukwuyem Uweru-Apuamah  is a Bachelor of Pharmacy Degree holder who is passionate about working the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).  She was a ONE Champion (2017 & 2018) at ONE.org in Nigeria. She represented ONE in Nigeria & Africa at the ONEYouthSummit in Brussels where her presentation earned her a standing ovation from ONE CEO &  President, Gayle Smith & other Youth Ambassadors across Europe. Her dream work place is the UN, she considers this a platform to impact her community better. She is the Founder, Girls for Development Goals Foundation [Formerly Girls Health & Education Foundation (GHeF)] where she enlightens girls on Sexual Reproductive Health (SRHR) utilizing the SDG templates especially SDGs 3, 4 & 5. Her projects include "A Love Letter to Myself" & "Advocacy Against Teenage Pregnancy" amongst. She continues to impact lives by volunteering with other organizations such as the medical outreach (May 2018) with the Moses Lake Medical Team (from the US) in Kebbi State, Nigeria. She's a 2019 WYSE ILP Brazil Alumni being the only Nigerian Delegate at a training that gathered 26 participants across 16 countries of the world in Sao Paulo, Brazil (Jan 6th to 17th 2019). She was a Chairperson at the just concluded Tanzania International Model UN Conference 2019 and continues to develop herself. She is the Director on the board of Benny&Freddy, a Private Liability Company that produces Reusable Sanitary Pads & offers a variety of services.

She organized the Youth Voices Conference in commemoration of the 68th United Nations Civil Society Conference in Kebbi State, August 28th, 2019.  She also spoke at the Youth Empowerment and Development Conference in Abuja, Nigeria where she engaged young people on how to Access International Platforms. She is currently the only female Nigerian ambassador for the Young Political Leadership School Africa representing Nigeria at the 6th semester in Monrovia, Liberia, October 2019. She was the youngest speaker at the just concluded "Our Girls Our Pride" project organized by the Ministry of Women Affairs, Delta State. She is currently the Program Manager at JDPC Iseleuku, FASTER Project in Delta State.

Modou NSZ Njie is the Founder of Farm Fresh, the #1 online food store and delivery service in The Gambia, with a focus on promoting local produce and thereby securing income for local farmers and food processors. Farm Fresh has allowed Gambians from the diaspora to easily order fresh and healthy food for their families at home, earning the venture a nomination in the ‘Emerging Businesses in The Gambia’ by the Gambia Chamber of Commerce Business Gala Dinner in 2015. Current growth plans include a regional expansion to Sierra Leone, Senegal and Nigeria, and also a franchise system that would allow expatriates to become shareholders.

In 2019 he won the Seedstars Start Up competition in The Gambia where he pitched on behalf of his new start up company called Money Farm.  Money Farm is the Gambia's first agro-tech crowd funding platform linking farmers to investors.  Modou is also a Tony Elumelu Entrepreneur and EMPRETECO alumni.  He won the audience award on behalf of his company Farm Fresh at the Future Agro Challenge Global competition held in South Africa in 2019.

Juliet Ukpabio Archibong is the quintessential lady on a mission to build a nation where economic and human capital development thrives.  A visionary fore-runner who believes in driving development and has spent most of her life expressing her purpose in the various sectors as an entrepreneur by creating businesses driven by purpose to make an impact.

Juliet is a certified brand communications manager specializing in international trade promotions and has practical working experience spanning over 10years in retail, experiential marketing, advertising, procurement, supply chain management, export trade and business management. When she is not on the forefront of trading exchange, she is writing and speaking on nation building, purposeful businesses, mindset for global growth as well as consulting for individuals, government and organizations; helping to highlight, package and sell opportunities for economic development.

She is an advocate for Made-In-Nigeria brands and strongly believes in the potential of Africa to sustain itself. Juliet believes in entrepreneurship for impact and is at the hem of affairs at Adiaha trading Limited, Exclusively Owanbe party services and SLJ services also businesses setup to meet specific needs in their various sectors.  Juliet truly means business as she is on a mission to make sure every single being, government, nation all understand their highest potential, are accepting their purpose and are living from the highest version of themselves.

Jason Kraus has been described as a "serial entrepreneur" by his friends and family ever since he opened his first business while still in college. He's always been intrigued by how companies got their start and how products that are now household names came to be. This led him to found startup consulting firm Prepare4VC, to cofound an alternative investment group Equity Venture Partners and to later join as a partner on a micro-VC, EQx Fund. To help others who share his passion, Jason is actively involved in Startup Grind and NextGen Summit, two notable startup communities developed to aid entrepreneurs in their endeavors.

His passion for business and the knowledge he's accrued has made Jason a sought-after authority by those interested in entrepreneurship and innovation. Over the years, he's been featured in Entrepreneur magazine, All Business Media, Boston Voyager, Radio entrepreneurs and more to share his expertise. His hope is to help new founders get a strong foothold in their industry and increase their chances of success. His book Venture Forward uses stories from well-known entrepreneurs to show these new founders that they can find success through their trials and failures.