Forbes Africa magazine dedicated their June’s edition to the youth in Africa making major strides in
their various fields and impacting their societies positively. Chris Bishop, Managing Editor of Forbes
Africa said that in a interview that the June 2015 issue makes history with its first ever homegrown 30
under 30 list. That is the young and gifted, burning stars on the horizon; the billionaires of tomorrow
who will create the jobs and wealth that this continent needs. The list was heavily dominated by East
and South Africans but two Ghanaians namely Sangu Delle and Raindolf Owusu were named amongst
the pack. The question swelling your mind by now is who are these young men and how did they land
on the list.
I first heard of Sangu Delle when he was named a Ted 2014 Global fellow. Sangu Delle is entrepreneur
and investor who founded Golden Palm Investments to fund promising start-ups and build world-class
businesses in Africa. Raindolf Owusu on the other hand was in 2013 awarded the Ideas awards by
Albert and Comfort Ocran’s Legacy and Legacy in 2013 for championing a cause that they need not have
pursued, but which ultimately proved beneficial to the wider society.Raindolf Owusu is a software engineer
and founder of Oasis Websoft a technology solutions company based in Accra. He was recently named
a Mandela Washington fellow by the US Embassy which gives him an all access pass to meet President
Barack Obama in Washington later this year. These are two great Ghanaians worth celebrating for
championing a great course to put Ghana on the map. See below their profiles I gathered online.
RAINDOLF OWUSU: Raindolf Owusu is a Ghanaian born Entrepreneur and Software Developer
with a proven track record of successful projects. He is also the Founder and CEO of Oasis Websoft.
A Ghanaian based technology startup. He is a strong advocate for Free and open-source software
(FOSS) and this led him to be awarded by the Free software and Open Source foundation for Africa
(FOSSFA) as a Guido Sohne fellow in recognition of his continuous use and support for open source
technologies in March 2012. His software projects include deploying Africa’s first web browser called
Anansi web Browser, Anansi Calcpad and Dr Diabetes a simple web application that allows uses
a predictive model
to give you an idea about your status online. Anansipedia an educative platform that allows the
seamless sharing of educational resources to help less privileged students in environments
with little Information Technology infrastructure to have ubiquitous access to better quality academic
content. Information is power and we believe in sharing the banquet of knowledge with the world.
When Ebola hit the West African continent last year, he came together with other change makers
and key holders to develop and deploy Ebola Ghana Alert.
The aim of the Ebola Alert Ghana initiative
is to provide people in Ghana and beyond with a reliable and easy-to-use application for the tracking,
training and disseminating of information to the general public about the Ebola virus. His most recent
project is called Bisa which means ask in twi. Bisa is a mobile application that allows users to ask
doctors doctors questions, guidelines, information and tips for managing their health. Users can
also send a clear snapshot of the area they’re concerned about and medical professionals will
review and respond to their query with a short report. His company Oasis Websoft provides
IT solutions for businesses , nonprofits and individuals. Their specialization is big data / server
technologies ,
Software as a service, innovation and high end mobile technologies. His company organizes
IT training programs to train the next generation of software developers.
He was won many awards and accolades from Ghana and beyond. He was dubbed the
“Mark Zuckerburg” of Accra by Forbes Africa magazine in 2012. In August 2013, he was
honored as one of the three award recipients of Ideas Awards 2013 by Legacy and Legacy.
The US Embassy named him a 2015 Mandela Washington Fellow in June which will allow
him to meet President Barack Obama in August and also study for short course in the USA.
He believes technology is powerful tool to boost economic growth , poverty reduction and
solve most of Africa's problems. He writes about technology during his leisure time.
He has written for the worldpolicy.org in USA , iAfrikan.com in South Africa and General
Telegraph news paper in Ghana.
REF: http://oasiswebsoft.com/
SANGU DELLE: Born in Ghana, Sangu’s childhood home was a refuge for victims of
torture and violence from neighboring Liberia and Sierra Leone. Sangu was fortunate
to have been awarded a full merit scholarship to attend the Peddie School, a boarding
school in New Jersey. He then went on to Harvard University, where he was inspired to
pursue social and economic entrepreneurship. Sangu graduated from Harvard with highest
honors in African Studies and Economics, where he was awarded the Thomas Hoopes Prize,
the Reverend Peter Gomes Prize, the Philippe Wamba Prize, the Deshaun Hill & Harvard
Stephens and the Maurice Sedwell Prize among others.
At Harvard, enrolling in the Social Engagement Initiative program that bridged the academic
study and practical service gap, Sangu co-founded cleanacwa (formerly the African Development
Initiative), which embarked on a five-year project to bring sanitation and clean water to Agyementi,
a village in Ghana. Today cleanacwa is working in underdeveloped regions to make sure that water
and sanitation, basic human rights, are provided. Starting in Ghana, Sangu and his team have
rallied academics, non-profits, businesses, and local government to help find and spread effective
solutions for water and sanitation access. Cleanacwa is currently working to bring clean water and
sanitation to over 60,000 people in 120 villages in the Ayensuano and Suhum districts in Ghana.
Sangu has previously worked at Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Valiant Capital Partners.
Convinced that the real needs of communities can best be met through entrepreneurship,
in 2008 he founded an investment holding company, Golden Palm Investments (GPI) to fund
promising start-ups that can have social impact and generate jobs. GPI has backed startups
such as SOLO Mobile in Nigeria, mPharma in Ghana and Zamsolar in Zambia. Sangu serves
as the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of GPI.
When he’s not working on wells in Suhum or meeting startups in Nairobi, Sangu works on his coursework.
He is a current Soros Fellow pursuing a dual Juris Doctor of Law and MBA at Harvard Law
School and Harvard Business School. Sangu loves the outdoors and trekked Mount Everest in
2013 and is currently training to summit Kilimanjaro during the summer of 2015.
REF: https://www.ted.com/speakers/sangu_delle
Others named on the list are Rupert Bryant , 29 , South Africa , Arthur Zang , 27,
Cameroon ,Clinton Mutambo , 25 , Zimbabwe and many more. The magazine is
currently in major newspaper stands. We say Ayekoo to Sangu Delle and Raindolf Owusu.
By Kwadwo Tenkorang Nkrumah
ktnkrumah@gmail.com
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