Billionaire businessman, Femi Otedola, has emerged winner of the 2019 African Leadership Magazine Person of the Year award for Philanthropy & Charitable Contributions to Society.
Otedola made history in December 2019 when he donated N5 billion to charity, the highest donation made by an individual in Nigeria.
The Publisher of the Magazine Mr. Ken Giami, who unveiled the list of winners at the UK Head Office of the group, said the winners shall be decorated and presented with their awards on February 28th in Johannesburg, South Africa, at an event that will attract a wide spectrum of African policy, diplomatic and business leaders. The award, which is largely via voting, had over 300, 000 entries in the keenly contested polls for the 7 different categories.
The final winners are:
African of the Year 2019:
Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, Nigeria – Winner
African Female Leader of the Year 2019:
Rawya Mansour, Founder, RAMSCO Company – Winner
ALM Person of the Year 2019-Educational Development
Dr. Yusuf Karodia, Founder, Regent Business School and MANCOSA – Winner
ALM Person of the Year 2019 – Employment Generation
Ashish Thakkar, CEO, Mara Phone – Winner
ALM Person of the Year 2019 – Political Leadership
Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, President of Egypt – Winner
ALM Person of the Year 2019 – Philanthropy & Charitable Contributions to Society
Femi Otedola, Founder, Femi Otedola Foundation – Winner
ALM Young Person of the Year 2019
Ayodeji Ibrahim Balogun, Wizkid, Music Artist – Winner
In addition to the winners, a special ALM Commendation citation shall be presented to the most distinguished runners up, which includes:
African of the Year Commendation Award:
His Majesty King Mohammed VI, King of Morocco
African Female Leader of the Year Commendation Award:
Helen Oritsejafor, MD/CEO, Eagle Heights Group, Nigeria
ALM Person of the Year -Educational Development Commendation Award
Afe Babalola, Founder Afe Bablola University Nigeria
ALM Person of the Year Employment Generation Commendation Award
Abdulsalmad Rabiu, Chief Executive Officer, BUA Group, Nigeria
ALM Person of the Year – Political Leadership Commendation Award
H.E. Sahle-Work Zewde, President of Ethiopia
ALM Person of the Year – Philanthropy & Charitable Contributions to Society Commendation Award
Patrice Motsepe, Motesepe Foundation, South Africa
ALM Young Person of the Year Commendation Award
Isaya Yunge, Founder, SomaApps Technologies Ltd, Tanzania
The African Leadership Magazine Persons of the Year, which is in its 8th year, is an annual award reserved for distinguished Africans, who are considered to have blazed the trail in the year under review. A shortlist of nominees are selected from results gathered via a Call for nominations, traditionally promoted via paid online and offline campaigns across the continent, Europe, and the Americas. The call for nomination is the first step in a multi-phased process, which is then followed by the voting process and the eventual announcements of winners.
This year, the selection committee retained the four broad themes, from the previous year, which resonated with Africans and they include – Africans whose activities, policies and actions have contributed to ‘Investments into Africa’s young people, jobs & wealth creation; promotion sustainable peace & development, delivering of democratic values; & the promotion of Africa’s image globally’; in arriving at their decisions. Sustainable peace is a precursor to development in the continent, hence the need to encourage state and non-state actors to contribute towards the pursuit of sustainable peace on the continent.
