THE 2018
UIULA AMBASSADORS
THE UIULA AMBASSADOR PROGRAM
"The Power of the Original Story"
Africans and more so Igbos are known for storytelling. Unfortunately, we have not done a decent job in recent times in telling those stories that count; in highlighting those original stories. An original story captures the uniqueness of our character, both the defining moments and those we may not even consider, in the past, present and dreams of a future. It is what makes us who we are. The UIULA Ambassador Program aims to first identify, then amplify these amazing original stories while ensuring that we continue to tell them for as long as possible, to help insure a brighter future. Chimamanda Ngozi-Adichie in a 2009 TEDTalk spoke about ‘the danger of the single story’; where a narrow viewpoint can create negative perceptions of a people or system. The Ambassador Program will expand these viewpoints; wherever narrow, and help tell a more complete story, a truly beautiful story, an original story. As we identify top performing and under-served Nigerians of Igbo heritage, we will combine the art of storytelling with providing financial relief towards school. We will also provide mentorship through intentional personality and career-based matching. Telling the original story has the power to recreate narratives, change lives and impact multitudes.
Gwacham Five Foundation
Thank You to our Sponsors!
Help Tell A Story Today!
To help tell these stories, we build advocates who support our Ambassador Program. They provide financial support and strategic guidance to ensure that our Ambassadors' stories last the distance. If you are interested in being a program sponsor, please contact us at losangeles@umuigbounite.com. You can also support the program through donations by following the link below. All donations and sponsorships are tax deductible under the IRS 501(c)(3) code.
African Technology Foundation
MEET OUR 2018 AMBASSADORS
The 2018 Technovation Challenge Winners:
The Story of Team Save-a-Soul
Our 2018 UIULA Ambassadors are six Nigerian teenagers who won first place in the junior division of the Technovation World Pitch Summit held in San Jose, California. They presented an app that has the potential to save thousands of lives. The girls, also known as Team Save-a-Soul, consist of six amazingly brilliant girls: Promise Nnalue, Jessica Osita, Nwabuaku Ossai, Adaeze Onuigbo, Miracle Igboke and Vivian Okoye. They have now become "Africa's Golden Gilrs." They are from Regina Pacis Secondary School Onitsha, Anambra State and were mentored by a 2017 Mandela Washington Fellow, Uchenna Onwuamaegbu-Ugwu. Uchenna founded a STEM Center focused on implementing STEM education in schools for children and youth of ages 3-18, especially girls in rural communities in eastern Nigeria.
UIULA hosted an Awards & Recognition reception on Friday August 17th at the offices of African Technology Foundation (ATF) in Silicon Valley to commemorate the efforts of these young ladies. Stephen Ozoigbo, CEO of ATF provided welcome remarks and led an inspiring discussion with the girls and their mentor on the impact of their recent achievement. Kingsley Ufere, President of UIULA spoke about the goals of the Ambassador Program and how UIULA aims to utilize the art of storytelling to amplify their stories and bring attention to the remarkable journey they just begun. He then awarded the certificates, acknowledging their achievement. UIULA pledged to cover the entire tuition, feeding, and book costs for the 2018/2019 academic year. The financial support will continue until all six young girls graduate from Secondary School in 2020. Mentors from UIULA's mentor pool, the UIULA Mentorship & Community Outreach Committee, as well the program's patrons (Adaobi Gwacham and Stephen Ozoigbo), will also be assigned to track the girls’ progress, as well as make periodic visits to their home location in Anambra State.
Team Save-a-Soul's Winning Solution (FD-Detector App)
Iridescent’s 2018 Technovation World Pitch Summit is the world’s largest tech entrepreneurship program for girls. The program invites girls from ages ten to eighteen from all over the world to identify a problem in their community and then challenges the girls to solve it. Team Save-a-Soul was selected from 2,000 mobile app developers to represent Africa at the pitch competition. Their winning mobile app, FD Detector (Fake Drug Detector), tackles the problem of counterfeit pharmaceutical products in Nigeria. The team won ahead of rivals from the US, Spain, Turkey, Uzbekistan and China.
The girls’ app addresses a real life-and-death issue in Nigeria. The regulator, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), has struggled for years to close in on the rampant fake drug market. Though the exact number of counterfeit drugs is contested, many malaria deaths in Nigeria have been linked to the use of fake medicines. African countries are the dumping ground for 40% of the world’s recorded counterfeit drugs. The girls plan to partner with NAFDAC to create a database of certified pharmaceutical products. Once authorized by the agency, a pharmaceutical company can upload its drugs onto the platform and be admitted to the database. Consequently, anyone with a smartphone camera, both health professionals and consumers, can scan the barcode of a drug and the app will let them know if the drug is real or fake and also display its expiration date. The app also allows users to report cases of fake drugs directly to NAFDAC.
