Tonye Rex Idaminabo, a 29 year-old Nigerian lawyer and entrepreneur, is the founder of African Achievers Awards, a set of annual awards bestowed on Africa’s most accomplished achievers in politics, diplomacy and entrepreneurship. Now in its fourth year, the African Achievers Awards recognizes individuals and organizations that selflessly devote their time and talents toward improving Africa’s international profile and building stronger, integrated communities in Africa. Previous recipients of the award have included Nobel Prize winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Zimbabwean businesswoman Divine Ndhlukula, the Kofi Annan Foundation and Nigerian media mogul John Momoh.
The fourth edition was recently held in Ghana at the Presidential Banquet Hall of the State House under the patronage of Ghana’s President John Mahama. It was attended by several prominent African businessmen, celebrities and members of the diplomatic corps. I caught up with Rex, who spoke to me about the African Achievers Awards, his journey so far and his plans for the future.
<>Rex, tell me a bit about your background and why you decided to start this annual award.</>
It has always been my strong belief that people accomplish more when they are properly motivated. The work task on Africans with the building and restoring of Africa is one that demands a great many effort and sacrifice. Africa more than ever needs to be motivated in order to exceed her challenges. Celebrating the Achievers among us is one way of doing that. It not only encourages them carry on the good work, but it also inspires the young to dare to do even more. Growing up in Africa before I left its shores in pursuit of my studies, I saw many wrongs that I needed to make right. I also found that no matter how deep a person’s passions ran, one man cannot build a nation. So this is just one of many platforms to try and unite African icons for the purpose of her progress.
How do you fund these awards?
Well, like every other enterprise, funding is always a challenge. Initially, the first award was sponsored by King’s College London and other organisations who shared in the vision of the Awards. But as you can imagine, donations can only get you so far. Besides, fundraising for a sensitive thing as this could raise many questions with regards the integrity of the enterprise itself. We realized that African Achievers Award needed a self-sustaining source of funding. This realization largely birthed the Achievers Media Company. Most people who witnessed the quality and integrity of the Award ceremony began to approach us to manage and host their events too. At first we started very small, managing events for as little as £500 and gradually we grew to managing projects worth well over £50,000. The more successful events we held, the more people wanted our services. The projects got bigger and bigger, till date we’ve hosted over 30 events across the world. Soon we were approached by clients who wanted more from us than managing their events, they wanted re-branding and profiling. Those weren’t services we originally offered but when the demand for it subsisted, we started adding those services to our packages. And it paid off handsomely. This is how African Achievers Awards has overcome its financial challenges and is now independently sustained by it Media Business branch which spans across six countries.
Do you think the African Achievers Awards is making any impact at all?
I think we’ve made significant progress in identifying, encouraging and rewarding exceptional Africans individuals and organisations that are advancing Africa’s cause. Our awards are a tap in the back, spurring them to do more. When people get recognized and rewarded for playing their role in our continent’s renaissance, they will be inspired to do more and in turn, inspire others to play their own roles. This is what we intend to achieve, and when we see it happening with every annual event, we are content. We do still have a long way to go, that goes without saying. But Africans are resilient, and we will see Africa restored in due time.
Five years from now, where do you envision African Achievers Awards?
the African Achievers Awards has recently made some changes with the Advisory board bringing in the likes of notable Africans such as Dr. Rilwanu Lukman (Former OPEC Secretary General and Former Minister of Petroleum Nigeria), Honourable Thokozani Khupe (Former Deputy Prime Minister of Zimbabwe) , Mrs. Divine Ndhlukula (She was named one of the most successful women in Africa by Forbes and recently named the ‘Queen of the security industry in Zimbabwe’ by BBC World) and Sir Celestine Omehia (former Governor of Rivers State). We hope that these changes and the infusion of these experienced and seasoned African entrepreneurs and leaders will drive the organisation to greater heights, in terms of innovation, integrity and otherwise.
Particularly, African Achievers Awards has set its sights on empowering the young and creating a better platform for them, as they are the future. This has led to a new initiative IMI (Investors Meet Inventors) where young Africans with innovative ideas can present their ideas to possible investors. This new initiative in Africa is aimed at bringing to life Africa’s Science and Technological creativity to the world.
5 years from now, we hope to have taken the event across more African countries and tocollaborate with The African Union. Next year for instance, we have our eyes on South Africa. We look forward to making the platform of African Achievers Awards bigger, with more opportunities to attract both African and foreign investors to the great continent of Africa. We are looking forward to the calibre of names and deeds that will grace this platform.
