By Gabriel Ewepu
A Nigerian woman, Fatima Ademoh, has emerged winner of ‘Young Energy Leader’ award in Cape Town, South Africa.
Ademoh who is Founder & CEO, Ajima Youth Empowerment Foundation, Nigeria, bagged the award at the ‘2017 African Utility Week Industry Awards’ that was announced at the CTICC in Cape Town.
She is an energy and finance specialist and currently serves as the Project Developer in the United States African Development Foundation, USADF, funded off-grid Renewable Energy project being implemented by Ajima Farms, which over 500 residents of in Reji village of Kuje Area Council in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, have been connected to a 20 watt Biogas Digester Off-Grid uninterrupted power supply, and commissioned by USADF, led by its Regional Director, Tom Coogan, along with Reji Village Head, Ibrahim Kuyagwa.
She is currently on a 10-Watt Biogas Digester off-grid power project at Kuwizhi village of Kuje Area Council and son to be completed and comissioned. In this capacity, she led the preparation of funding proposal that secured US$150,000 grant in the USADF Power Africa Off-Grid Energy Challenge.
Three of the awards, namely Lifetime Achievement, Outstanding Contribution to Power as well as Young Energy Leader Award, were won by women. In her short remarks, she said all young people are to be agents of change in their communities, and appreciated the fact that her effort to transform waste to power was being recognised.
She said: “I want to thank all those who have believed in my quest to extend electricity access to off-grid communities, especially in the Waste-2-Watt (W2W) Project. And for all the young people out there, let’s keep being the agents for change in our communities.”
Meanwhile, the Lifetime achievement award was won by Helen Tarnoy, Co-Founder and Managing Director, Aldwych International Ltd, United Kingdom, an engineering company that has been involved in some of the most successful independent power projects on the African continent, including the successful construction of the Ebute Power Project in Lagos.
Successful construction
The Outstanding Woman of the Year in Power/Water award was won by Rose Kaggwa, Director, Business and Scientific Services, National Water and Sewerage Corporation, Uganda. Kaggwa said, “Women must aim to be the best they can be, because at the end of the day, the best multi-tasker is a woman.
“In order for us to create change, when we say ‘water for all’ and we say ‘sanitation is a right’ it cannot be done without women. So women must rise up and begin to speak.”
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