On Saturday, November 9, it was the turn of Ibadan to host environmentalists and recognise them for a job well done at the official launch of the Eleven Eleven Twelve Foundation, at an event tagged, “EETF 2019 Green Awards,” the first of its kind in the city.
The foundation which has been in existence since early 2018, was not launched until now because, according to the founder, Adetunji Lam-Adesina, “We wanted to have a track record of achievements and show people what we have done at the launch.”
One of such achievements was made earlier this year when the foundation organised a boot camp to support and empower young entrepreneurs in the environmental sector who have innovative ideas to solve problems within this sector.
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At the boot camp, participants were required to pitch their ideas to judges and an audience. From this, a winner would be selected and a grand prize of one million naira will be awarded alongside mentorship and access to other opportunities.
And at the awards night, Yetunde Fadeyi of Rees Africa emerged winner of the 2019 Green Grant Award, with cash value of N1 million.
Other award winners are: Adebola Sobanjo of RecycleGarb Hub Ltd, winner of the 2019 Under 40 Green Award; Elizabeth Wanjiru Wathuti from Kenya, winner of the 2019 Africa Green Person Award; Tolulope Aina of Tolulope Foods and Farms, winner of the 2019 Female Green Award; and Iyke Anungba of Louisville Girls High School, Ijebu-Ode, who won the Green Essay competition.
The young Lam-Adesina told Ecoscope that the foundation was borne out of a passion and genuine desire to do something positive for the environment. According to him, the foundation was out to preach best practices and encourage people to do the right things; it would do research related to the environment, and strive to discover, nurture and promote young brilliant minds in the environment sector.
In her response to winning the award, Miss Sobanjo of RecycleGarb, tweeted: “The entire RecycleGarb team won, not just me. Thank you EETF for this award. It means a lot. It only proves that consistency and value creation surely rewards.”