18 Feb 2014 Three Nigerians have made it to the semi-finals of Google’s Africa Connected Competition. This report from Ventures Africa, tells us that the competition, with 20 semi-finalists in total, aims to reward a proper media demonstration of how to leverage the web to promote business and humanitarian ventures.
The competition was launched in August last year, calling entrepreneurs, creatives, innovators and web-lovers to share their stories of how the web has transformed their lives and work. The semi-finalists were selected from over 2,200 entries from 35 countries.
Eric Obuh, used media streaming platform, Youtube and Google+ to raise awareness for underprivileged youngsters in LAGOS, thereby attracting philanthropic aid for scholarships.
EseogheneOdiete, founder of local fashion brand Hesey Designs, made the cut for using Google+ to successfully promote her label, while MayowaAdegbile has managed to use Youtube to grow her initiative Ashake foundation, a business school focused on providing business tools and financial assistance to widows and mothers.
Country Manager Google Nigeria Juliet Ehimuan is quoted as saying “We see the stories of these three lives of Eric Obuh a.k.a. Vocal Slender, EseogheneOdiete, and MayowaAdegbile, as representative of the resilient nature of Nigerians to achieve their dreams. We can only but wish them well in the competition.”
Google will reward the final 5 in the competition with a $25,000 prize each as well as the opportunity to work with a Google sponsor, over a six-month period, to further grow their initiatives.