Sampling of 2018 Aspen Institute New Voices Alumni Achievements
These are examples of what the amazing alumni of our program achieved in 2018!
Awards and Recognitions and Big Achievements
2013 Class
Debbie Ahenkorah was recognized at the African Entrepreneurship Awards 2018.
Kennedy Odede was selected for the Obama Foundation Leader Africa Programme.
Kennedy Odede’s organization received the $2 million Hilton Humanitarian Prize from Conrad N. Hilton Foundation!
Ola Brown wrote an e-book, Fixing Healthcare in Nigeria: A guide to some of the key policy decisions that will provide better healthcare to all Nigerians.
Ola Brown received the Business Achievement Award at the 2018 Silverbird Man Award.
Ola Brown was given the “Spirited Versatile Africa Clinician of the year” award by Health Legendary Honours Africa.
Ola Brown was included in a list by Naija, “Independence Day: Nigerian women who were pioneers in their field.”
Regina Honu won the AFS Global Citizen of the Year at their first-ever awards ceremony.
Regina Honu’s organization is one of four women’s organizations from Africa to win the Ashoka, Open Society Foundations and UN Women “Challenging Norms, Powering Economies.” They each receive $125,000 and Regina spoke at an event at UN Women on 6 December.
2014 Class
Bisi Almi was listed 40th on the Pride Power list.
Bisi Alimi and his husband became the first gay couples to do an interview on any Nigeria platform on Nigerian soil when they did an interview together for LITV.
When Kenya Airway Boeng 787 Dreamliner flew from Nairobi to New York for the first direct flight in October, Evans Wadongo was one of the selected passengers due to his innovations.
Jacqueline Muna Musiitwa was accepted into the New America Cybersecurity Policy Fellowship.
Jensi Sartin started a new position as a National Project Manager for Global Sustainable Supply Chain for Marine Commodities (GMC) with United Nations Development Programme, Indonesia.
Kassaga Arinaitwe gave the commencement keynote address at his alma mater Tallahassee Community College.
Kassaga Arinaitwe spoke about Teach for Uganda at President Bush’s Leadership Forum, alongside global leaders such as Condoleezza Rice, Bono, and Jeff Bezos.
Sisonke Msimang’s memoir came out in the US and Australia this year and she wrote The Resurrection of Winnie Mandela, that was released in October
Sisonke Msimang’s memoir was “highly commended” as part of the Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards.
Sisonke Msimang was named as a 2017 AIR Bellagio Center Winner.
Sisonke Msimang was named by MSN as one of “South Africa’s powerful female celebrities.”
Utibe Effiong got his board certification. He started a position with MidMichigan Health and he was appointed Clinical Adjunct Professor at both Central Michigan University and Michigan State University.
2015 Class
David Kuria received a Presidential Appointment, as Director, Board of Directors, Geothermal Development Company, a government corporation win charge of exploration and management of geothermal resources in Kenya for a 3-years -an
Elsa D’Silva was accepted into the Yale Greenberg World Fellows Program, class of 2018. She was also selected as a Reagan Fascell Democracy Fellow next spring at the National Endowment for Democracy in Washington, DC.
Elsa D’Silva received the “Excellence in Women’s Empowerment” award from Global Thinkers Forum.
Elsa D’Silva’s organization Safecity is one of the Laureates for the 2018 Edition of the Public Peace Prize for being an “Initiative of Peace.”
Elsa D’Silva hosted TEDxVersovaWomen on the theme “Showing Up.”
Elsa D’Silva was named by Women’s Web as one of “12 Famous Feminists Whose Work Has Made Life Better for Ordinary Indian Women.”
Emma Naluyima received an award for her work from Uganda Biotechnology and Biosafety Consortium.
Esther Ngumbi received the Society of Experimental Biology President’s Medal in Florence,
Esther Ngumbi was selected as a Clinton Global University Initiative Ambassador.
Esther Ngumbi was selected to receive the 2018 President’s Medal from the Society for Experimental Biology.
Esther Ngumbi started a job at the University of Illinois.
Rubayat Khan and his team at Jeoon were finalists of Frontier Innovators!
2016 Class
Anjali Sarker started an MSc in Inequalities at the London School of Economics as part of the Atlantic Fellowship for Social and Economic Equity.
Carl Manlan was selected as a Harvard Kennedy School Alumni board member.
Ed Mabaya started a job as the Manager of Agribusiness Development Division at African Development Bank.
Folake Kio-Olayinka was invited to be a mentor for the UNA-NCA Graduate Fellows Program.
Garba Abdu moved from Clinton Health Access Initiatives to Save the Children International as the National program manager, Child development Grant Program being implemented in two Nigerian States.
Ify Aneibo was selected as a research Takemi fellow at Harvard University (the youngest in the program’s 37-year history).
Julia Corvalan’s organization Fundación Paraguaya was awarded first place in the Juscelino Kubitschek ‘Visionaries’ Award by the Inter-American Development Bank.
Oluseun Onigbinde was a nominee for Junior Chamber International (JCI) Nigeria’s 2018 edition of the annual JCI Ten Outstanding Young Persons (JCI TOYP) of Nigeria Awards.
Oluseun Onigbinde and Omezzine Khelifa were both selected to be among 12 of the inaugural Obama Foundation Scholars at Columbia University this fall.
Oluseun Onigbinde was honored by Junior Chamber Nigeria as an Outstanding Young Person in Nigeria.
Rasha Jarhum addressed the UN Security Council on a session about the “Situation in the Middle East (Yemen).” Her remarks begin at minute 45:40. Her brief is available in Arabic and English here. It got coverage by several media outlets.
Rasha Jarhum was appointed as the Executive in Residence Fellow at the Geneva Center for Security Policy (GCSP).
Renzo Guinto was appointed member of the Board of Trustees of the Harvard Club of the Philippines.
Sathya Raghu’s organization Kheyti signed a historic MoU with StreeNidhi to give loans to smallholder farmers without any land mortgage. This is the first time in the history that loans up to $4000 are becoming available to smallholder farmers on such terms.
Sitawa Wafula was named the African region head to the Global Mental Health Peer Network.
2017 Class
Dixon Chibanda’s work was featured by many outlets, including CNN, “How a wooden bench is starting a revolution in mental health,” BBC, “How a bench and a team of grandmothers can tackle depression,” and World Economic Forum, “How a wooden bench and grandmothers are tackling depression in Zimbabwe.”
Dixon Chibanda became a Mulgo fellow.
Janet Midega started a new job at Wellcome Trust.
Out of 20,000 applicants from 191 countries, Koketso Moeti was selected as one of 20 inaugural Fellows for the Obama Foundation Fellowship.
Koketso Moeti was named as this year’s Waislitz Global Citizen Award grand prize winner for her advocacy in making technology more accessible to marginalized communities in South Africa!
Koketso Moeti was named to Quartz Africa’s list: “Quartz Africa Innovators 2018: A list of 30 pioneers.”
Phyllis Omido was featured in a CNN.com article, “The woman risking her life to save a village from lead poisoning.” It was syndicated at CW39, Western Mass News, and Latest Nigerian News.
Phyllis Omido was recognized at the Kenyan Human Rights Defenders Awards ceremony in Nairobi on 30 November.
Minda Dentler was named as one of three Brand Ambassadors to the 2018 Women for Tri, a program of the IRONMAN Foundation.
Ngozi Erondu won a UK District L Impromptu Speaking Toastmasters Contest.
