| Nnaemeka Ikegwuonu | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1981 Imo state |
| Citizenship | Nigeria |
| Alma mater | Imo State University |
| Occupation(s) | Entrepreneur and radio broadcaster. |
| Awards | Rolex Award, WISE Award, Yara Prize for Green Revolution in Africa |
Nnaemeka Chidiebere Ikegwuonu (born 1981 or 1982) is a Nigerian entrepreneur and radio broadcaster. He founded the Smallholders Foundation, which informs on sustainable farming through a radio station, and is CEO of ColdHubs, which rents solar-powered cold storage to food producers.
Early life and education
Ikegwuonu is from a farming family in Imo State, Nigeria. He earned a bachelor's degree in history and international studies from Imo State University and, in 2009, a master's degree in cooperation and development from the Institute for Advanced Studies at the University of Pavia, in Italy. He also holds certificates in subjects including water resources management, poverty and human rights, and environmental education from various European universities.
Career
After finishing school, Ikegwuonu worked for an NGO dealing with HIV among farmers. In 2003, when he was 21, he founded the Smallholders Foundation, to provide information to farmers on sustainable practices; he later added an interactive radio show, with farmers using solar-powered handsets with a Wi-Fi connection to communicate with the broadcasters. By 2010, it had approximately 250,000 listeners a day.
In 2012, Ikegwuonu travelled to Dresden, where he met with scientists to discuss a cold storage system they had designed. After initial implementation in 2014 of food coolers based on their design at markets, in 2015, he launched ColdHubs, a company that rents solar-powered chilled storage space to farmers and fishers, reducing food waste and increasing their profits.
He has also designed a trolley that prolongs the shelf life of cassava. In 2018, he became a Biodiversity fellow of the Interdisciplinary Centre for Conservation Science at the University of Oxford, England.
Awards
Ikegwuonu became an Ashoka fellow in 2008. He also received the Rolex Award in 2010, the WISE Award in 2010, and the Yara Prize for Green Revolution in Africa.
References
- "The 'Global Diplomacy Lab' tackles migration". Deutsche Welle. 2015-11-07. Retrieved 2021-12-27.
- "Energy Storage Solution Wholesale, Solar & Energy storage Price". www.everexceed.com. Retrieved 2022-08-09.
- ^ Cairns, Rebecca (2021-07-23). "ColdHubs: How solar-powered cold storage is keeping food fresh in Nigeria". CNN (with video, 4 mins 10 secs). Retrieved 2021-12-27.
- ^ Monks, Kieron (2015-12-22). "A radio show host may have fixed Nigeria's worst problem". CNN. Retrieved 2021-12-27.
- ^ "A rural radio service for small scale farmers". Appropriate Technology. 37: 68. Dec 2010 – via ProQuest.
- ^ "Nnaemeka Ikegwuonu". Interdisciplinary Centre for Conservation Science. Retrieved 2021-12-29.
- ^ Tran, Mark (2011-12-20). "Airwave agriculturist: the smallholder farmer who became a broadcast pioneer". The Guardian. Retrieved 2022-01-02.
- ^ Hodal, Kate (2017-12-28). "How the sun's rays can keep food chilled: fighting waste in Africa". the Guardian. Retrieved 2021-12-27.
- "Rural radio helps Nigerian farmers". Deutsche Welle (video, 3 mins 2 secs). 2016-08-20.
- El Ebrashi, Raghda; Menatallah, Darrag (January 2017). "Social entrepreneurs' strategies for addressing institutional voids in developing markets". European Journal of International Management. 11 (3): 335 – via ResearchGate.
- ^ Johnson, Mahmud (2011-09-07). "Africa: Surfing the Radio Waves for Sustainable Agriculture". allAfrica. Retrieved 2022-01-02.
- ^ "Radio changes rural lives in Nigeria". Qatar Tribune. 2010-12-10 – via Free Online Library.
- Pollard, Lawrence (2018-01-02). "Harnessing the sun to power cold storage". Newsday (video, 1 min). BBC.
- Crabbe, Nathaniel (2020-08-19). "Talented African man invents giant solar-powered refrigerators to help farmers". Yen.com.gh. Retrieved 2021-12-27.
- ^ "Rolex Awards: Nnaemeka Ikegwuonu: Farming by radio". Rolex. 2010. Retrieved 2021-12-27.
- "Nnaemeka Ikegwuonu". Ashoka. Retrieved 2021-12-28.
