By Dipo Olowookere
It has been revealed that eight schools from Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania will feature in the 2023 edition of the Sahara STEAMers programme.
The first edition of the initiative of Sahara Group Foundation, the corporate sustainability vehicle of the Sahara Group, saw Igbobi College, Yaba, Lagos, emerge as the overall regional champions, while St Peter’s Naalya Secondary School in Uganda, and Olympic High School in Nairobi, Kenya emerged as the first and second runners-up, respectively.
The Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths (STEAM) educational initiative is designed to inspire, equip and empower young African students with the practical knowledge, skills and innovative mindset required to proffer sustainable solutions to the communal and societal problems affecting Africa.
It was created by Sahara Group Foundation in partnership with STEMCafe, a non-linear learning centre, to create an opportunity for young people to have access to world-class maker labs, participate in a deep-dive learning experience and get immersed in a practical classroom that would inspire them to tackle prevalent challenges within their communities.
Participants of the programme will engage in a series of practical workshops, vision boarding exercises and mentoring sessions involving STEMCafe trainers and Sahara Foundation staff volunteers.
“The Sahara STEAMers programme aligns with the Sahara Group’s commitment to promoting sustainable development in Africa by helping to raise a new generation of social innovators capable of accelerating Africa’s development,” the Director of Sustainability and Governance at Sahara Group, Ms Ejiro Gray, said at the unveiling of the second edition recently.
“At Sahara Foundation, we believe in the potential that Africa’s young generation has in shaping the continent’s development. And through STEAMers, we can help them tap into that potential because they possess the ideas, creativity and great energy to generate widespread positive social change in Africa,” Ms Gray added.
Also speaking, the founder of STEMCafe, Mr Bosun Tijani, said, “This partnership has given us the opportunity to expose more young secondary school students across the continent to STEAM education and its application towards solving real-life problems. Thus, helping us to raise a new generation of changemakers across Africa.”
Mr Tijani challenged the students to take advantage of this opportunity, as it has the capacity to set them on an inspiring and ambitious pathway.
Modupe Gbadeyanka