Oladiwura Oladepo Is The 2022 Waislitz Global Citizen’s Choice Award Winner!

Global Citizen and the Waislitz Foundation have named Oladiwura Oladepo, co-founder and executive director of Tech4Dev in Nigeria, as the winner of the 2022 Waislitz Global Citizen Choice award.

Naom Monari, Founder & CEO of BENA Care Ltd. in Kenya, and Kristin Kagetsu, Co-Founder & CEO of Saathi in India, were awarded the 2022 Waislitz Global Citizen Award winners and Disruptor Award winners, respectively.

The Waislitz Global Citizen Awards are annual cash prizes totalling $200,000 that recognise the excellence of individuals in their work to end extreme poverty. The grand prize is $100,000, with two additional prizes of $50,000 each. All of the applicants were judged on their own merits in five key areas; global citizenship, proof of concept, disruption, scalability, and adaptability.

Presented by the Waislitz Foundation and Global Citizen, the award is supported by a leading U.S. and Australian-based cellular medicine company, Mesoblast Ltd.

Oladiwura Oladepo is the co-founder and executive director of Tech4Dev from Lagos, Nigeria. Oladiwura’s inability to secure a job post-university graduation in her suburban town of Ibadan, Nigeria, fuelled her passion to create a platform that democratises access to economic opportunities through technology skills for young Africans. She is the co-founder and executive director of Technology for Social Change and Development Initiative (Tech4Dev), a non-profit that creates access to work and entrepreneurship opportunities through digital skills empowerment and advocacy.

Over the last six years, Tech4Dev has directly impacted over 41,000 Africans and 10 million Africans indirectly through her programs, with beneficiaries from 15 African countries. Winning the Waislitz Global Citizen Award will accelerate her cause and Tech4Dev’s mission of empowering more young Africans with digital skills, especially women in underserved communities—reducing poverty lines across Africa.

Liza Henshaw, President of Global Citizen, said;

We congratulate this year’s remarkable group of courageous and determined Waislitz Award winners who persist in their fight to End Extreme Poverty NOW. Given the urgent need for innovative solutions, we need grassroots leaders like our awardees that create a positive impact in their local communities. We are proud to continue our partnership with Alex and the Waislitz Foundation and champion these changemakers in building a better future.

Since 2014, The Waislitz Foundation has committed more than $2 million to the Waislitz Global Citizen Awards and the organization’s efforts to End Extreme Poverty NOW.

Alex Waislitz, Founder of the Waislitz Foundation, said;

Since the Waislitz Foundation and Global Citizen initiated these awards in 2014, we have honoured 20 young leaders in 14 countries who are not only changing thousands of lives in their local communities for the better but also inspiring people around the world to take action and create impact, at a time when the world needs it most. I am very proud that the Waislitz Global Citizen Awards have grown from strength to strength, becoming one of the world’s leading philanthropic initiatives that recognises and supports those who are making a real difference towards ending extreme poverty at a grassroots level. I congratulate this year’s winners and look forward to continuing to champion grassroots leaders in the years to come.

Naom Monari is the founder and CEO of BENA Care Ltd. in Nairobi, Kenya. As a student nurse, Naom was confronted by the harsh realities of chronic illnesses: expensive healthcare, coupled with the impoverished economic and emotional effects this had on patients and their families. Determined to narrow the gap, she founded Bena Care. For five years, Bena Care assembled a network of more than 9,800 healthcare workers to provide affordable preventive, therapeutic, and rehabilitative care to over 4,000 people with life-limiting illnesses in the comfort of their own homes.

Their online platform connects families in need of homecare equipment (like hospital beds) to families with used equipment, hence the affordable access, saving them over 50% in healthcare costs. This award will help build their health technology to scale in other countries.

Kristin Kagetsu is one of the co-founders and CEO of Saathi, a social enterprise based in Ahmedabad, India. Saathi is a purpose-driven manufacturing company that makes eco-friendly hygiene products. The company is an innovator in the use of alternative materials and zero-waste production, with the mission of creating hygiene products that are good for the body, environment, and community. Kristin has worked on multiple projects, including plastic recycling, waste management, and natural product development with MIT Design Lab (D-Lab) in Brazil, Nicaragua, and India. Saathi aims to drive systemic change around how menstrual hygiene is addressed, thus driving the shift to a circular economy.

The team creates pads from renewable materials, making them accessible to women no matter where they live, and they collaborate to ensure products get upcycled. The company measures their impact according to the nine UN SDGs: increasing farmers’ income by $97.2K; employing 350 women in manufacturing & distribution; providing access to pads & education to 40k+ women & girls; measuring 50MT of plastic waste eliminated & 58MT of CO2 emissions reduced. This award will enable Saath to fulfil its aim, over the next 5 years, to reach 10 million women and eliminate 18 MT of plastic waste.

Global Citizen has grown into one of the largest and most visible platforms for people all over the world to call on world leaders to fulfil their commitments to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and end extreme poverty NOW.