Olusola Owonikoko, who graduated from the Institute of Development Studies in 2018 has been recognised by the British Council as a Study UK Global Finalist for the Social Impact Award 2021. The award recognises alumni who have made an exceptional contribution and commitment to creating positive social change and improving the lives of others.
Olusola is a Nigerian entrepreneur and development practitioner who is passionate about the achievement of development outcomes for vulnerable populations and marginalized communities. His MA in Globalisation, Business and Development at IDS was supported by the IDS Graduate Scholarship.
He is the founder of Project Enable Africa, a charity in Nigeria that connects disabled people with job opportunities, entrepreneurial and employability skills. It delivered training to more than 2,000 disabled people and supported more than 1,000 disabled people to access job opportunities, start and grow their businesses.
On being a 2021 Study UK Global finalist for the Social Impact Award, Olusola Owonikoko, said:
“I am glad that our work at Project Enable Africa is being recognised. I will always be grateful for the opportunity I had to study at the Institute of Development Studies through the IDS Graduate Scholarship. Beyond the knowledge and skills that I gained, IDS afforded me the network, and strategic perspectives in development that I needed to scale the reach and impact of our work at Project Enable Africa across Nigeria, and to other African countries.”
Linda Waldman, Director of Teaching and Learning at the Institute of Development Studies, said:
“It is so important to recognise and celebrate the talents of ed international students who that come from all over the world to study in the UK and with us here at IDS. We are pleased to have had the opportunity to learn with Olusola during his time at IDS.
“IDS is incredibly proud of Olusola’s achievement of being selected as a finalist for this prestigious British Council award and of the impact he is achieving through Project Enable Africa.”
Watch the Study UK Social Impact Award Finalist video here.
Three winners of the British Council Study UK awards will be selected by the global judging panel in the final stage of a judging process of the 21 global finalists. All 21 finalists are UK university alumni with outstanding success stories, representing 27 UK universities and 16 countries.
In 2018 Olusola also secured ‘The Google Impact Challenge Nigeria’ prize for Project Enable Africa – awarded in recognition of its work to promote the access of persons with disabilities and their caregivers to information and communication technologies (ICTs) skills and opportunities. The prize meant Project Enable Africa could extend its reach to support people with disabilities access jobs, support them to start and run their own enterprises, and promote digital inclusion for persons with disabilities across Nigeria. Olusola is actively driving disability inclusion in organisational policies and processes in workplaces across Nigeria towards bringing the demand-supply gap for talents with disabilities.