Competition: Google Africa's Young Minds

Google Africa is giving the chance to 12 young people (aged 18-24) the chance to take part in their annual Zeitgeist event. Here's more information from their blog:

Young Minds is a competition supported by Google and hosted on YouTube, seeking the pioneers, change-makers and leaders of tomorrow. They will take part in a special programme of masterclasses and workshops run near London in May 2011.

From February 1st till March 21st, the search is on at www.zeitgeistyoungminds.com to find 12 exceptional, motivated and inspiring 18-24 year-olds from across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, who are making a positive impact on their world.

Winners will be invited to participate in Google’s annual Zeitgeist event, where previous speakers have included Archbishop Desmond Tutu, former US President Bill Clinton, Black Eyed Peas superstar Will.i.am and global entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson.

Zeitgeist Young Minds is an incredible platform for future world-changers to meet some of the most powerful and inspiring people on the planet today.

For a chance of winning a place at Zeitgeist 2011, applicants simply need to upload a video telling their story, explaining what matters to them, and showing how they’re making a positive impact on the world to www.zeitgeistyoungminds.com

ONE Africa Award

Do you own or work with a company that works to advance the Millennium Development Goals in Africa? If so, you might want to consider applying for the ONE Africa Award for a chance to win up to $100,000. From ONE's website:

"Throughout Africa, there is amazing progress to end extreme poverty and preventable disease. New ideas and exciting approaches are transforming lives one day at a time. The ONE Africa Award seeks to highlight the dynamism and achievements of African individuals and civil society organizations who are building a better future for their communities, countries and continent."

Applications must be submitted by Friday 24th September either via their online application form or an uploaded Microsoft Word or PDF document. Applications should be sent to oneaward@one.org. You can also send any questions you have to this address.

Click here for award criteria and here for eligibility requirements. Best of luck!

Young Entrepreneurs Competition 2010

Morning all! Hope you've had a great weekend. I'd like to draw your attention to Sukuma Afrika's Young Entrepreneur's Competition. Here is some information about Sumuma Afrika from their website:

Sukuma Afrika (Zulu for “Stand Up”) is a forum to facilitate networking, dialogue, information, mentoring and access to finance for entrepreneurs with projects in Africa that impact the millennium development goals – the 8 UN goals to half poverty worldwide by 2015.

Sukuma Afrika, was established in support of the UN Stand Up Campaign in recognition of the critical role young entrepreneurs and the Diaspora will play in the fight against poverty as the generation that will be responsible for reaching the Millennium Development Goals in 2015.

Sukuma Afrika works with young entrepreneurs interested in Africa’s development and achieves this through partnerships with the United Nations’ Millennium Campaign, corporate partners and investors committed to supporting the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals in Africa.

The competition encourages African youth (up to 35 years of age) to come up with a for-profit business model that would contribute to achieving one of the Millennium Development Goals. The deadline for submissions is Monday the 28th, so you'll have to hurry if you want to enter. For more information, see here.

Thanks to David Agbenyega, one of our senior mentors, for the heads up.

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Don't forget to show your support for ONE's campaign and encourage the G8 leaders to commit to train 3.5 million health workers by 2015 in order to prevent maternal and child mortality. Click here to sign up!

Go Black Stars!!

ImagineNations Network

One of our senior mentors, David Agbenyega, has just come across the ImagineNations Network. It's an organisation that links up young entrepreneurs to a network of like-minded groups, mentors and supporters, as well as providing information, tools and resources.

As well as helping you to find a support network, ImagineNations Network (INN) can also help you to grow your business, save time, make an impact, and cultivate your skills. You can read more about how it works here.

You might be interested to know that INN is hosting a $10,000 Business Plan Competition for entrepreneurs, for which there will be prizes for those coming in 1st, 2nd and 3rd place. More details here, or check out their website.

Thanks for your contribution David!

Go Black Stars!!

Deadline approaching: CIPE Essay Contest

If you were thinking of entering the 2010 CIPE Youth Essay Contest that I mentioned earlier last month, you might want to start working on it now if you haven't done so already. The deadline is coming up in 5 weeks time.

To remind you, the titles are:

1. Democracy that delivers
2. Entrepreneurship and society
3. Women and participation

You can click here for more information as to how to go about answering each title. All entries should be between 2000 and 3000 words in length, and should be submitted online via the official submission page on their website by the 18th of June.

All the best!

CIPE 2010 Youth Essay Contest 2010

The Centre for International Private Enterprise (or CIPE) has recently released the categories for its annual Youth Essay Contest. The categories are:

1. Democracy that delivers
2. Entrepreneurship and society
3. Women and participation

The competition is aimed at students and young professionals aged between 18 and 30. All entries should be between 2000 and 3000 words in length, and should be submitted online via the submission page on their website by the 18th June, 2010. CIPE will publish winning essays, and first, second and third place authors in each category will receive an honorarium of $1000. You can see more detailed essay guidelines (including brief discussions and suggested questions for each topic) and judging criteria here. All the best to those entering!

CIPE aims to strengthen democracy around the world through private enterprise and market-orientated reform. As you might already know, the CIPE Development blog features on our 'Interesting Blogs' widget on the right hand side of our pages, where you can always find the latest updates on their work.