Niniola Williams, Managing Director of Dr. Ameyo Stella Adadevoh Health Trust has emerged winner of the 2022 GEDA Digital Skills Fellow Pitch Competition.
Donors for Africa Foundation, a non-profit organization that works actively with social impact leaders, private sector companies and government announced Niniola Williams as this year’s winner.
GEDA digital is a six-month intensive professional leadership development program, that offers a unique opportunity to learn how to transform the community by acquiring new skills, increasing brand visibility and accessing funds.
It provides solutions to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by increasing the human capacity of leaders who desire to understand how to play in the development sector, and want to deep dive into how to build a thriving sustainable social impact organization.
Williams, who came tops out of the five finalists who pitched their ventures from a pool of 30 fellows shortlisted, was rewarded with a prize of ₦700,000.
Other winners, who were announced at the graduation ceremony of the 80 fellows in Lagos are, Yolo Bakumor Smith owner of De-Rabacon Plastics; Onyinye Omenugha, Founder/Team Lead – Lawsanaid, Sarah Ugbana, Founder AZAR Initiative, and Ernestina Muulikaa, Founder, Tina Reports on YouTube based in Ghana; who also received prize money.
Chidi Koldsweat, Founder/Executive Director of Donors for Africa, while speaking at the graduation said that the program was fully funded by Meta, stating that the 80 fellows were drawn from Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and The Gambia.
She stated that the fellows were trained in digital skills in addition to core topics impacting their sustainability over three months, and were also connected to mentors to also continue to support their work.
In the words of Chidi Koldsweat:
“Today, we are extremely proud of our fellows, it’s been an intense journey filled with exceedingly difficult sessions, many of them sacrificing and investing their time, and efforts to attend sessions and participate in the program fully.
She said since the launch of Donors for Africa Foundation in 2018, it has served over 3000 non-profits in 24 African countries, supporting them to raise over $ 30 million in funding.
These funds have been used to launch local community projects that directly address sustainable development goals and while we are excited to witness this progress, we are aware of the huge leadership gap that exists with new partnerships like Meta, and we hope to do more.”
Also speaking at the event, Ireayomide Oladunjoye, Head of Startups (Lagos Innovates) at Lagos Employment Trust Fund (LSETF), who spoke on the theme ‘Repositioned For Real Impact” charged the fellows on the need for continuous practice of all that they learned during the training.
