FATE Foundation has announced the awardees of the 2020 FATE Foundation Annual Awards. The award categories are FATE Model Entrepreneur Award (FME), FATE Alumni Model Entrepreneur Award (FAME), SME Journalist Award, Volunteer Faculty of the year, Volunteer Advisor of the year, Volunteer Mentor of the year, and Volunteer Content Contributor of the year.
The FATE Model Entrepreneur (FME) Award 2020 goes to Tayo Oviosu. The award is to recognize and celebrate ethical Nigerian men and women who have successfully established a fast-growing business, created employment as well as contributing to the fostering of other businesses in the country. Tayo Oviosu founded Paga, a mobile payments company in 2009 to enable universal access to financial services for Nigerians with the vision that the ubiquity of mobile phones can be leveraged to bring financial services to all Africans.
The FATE Alumni Model Entrepreneur (FAME) Award goes to Adetola Adebowale. This is a yearly honour in recognition of an alumni member (graduate) of FATE Foundation who has built a successful business with high integrity standards and has consistently inspired and supported other entrepreneurs as an active FATE Foundation volunteer (e.g Facilitator, Mentor, Consultant) as they build their own businesses. Adetola is an alumnus of the FATE Foundation Aspiring Entrepreneurs Programme (AEP 34 Class of 2010) and the Emerging Entrepreneurs 24 class of 2019. He is the Lead Tailoring Consultant of Wapa Apparel Manufacturing Company. He started his fashion business in 2006 with NGN12,500. Adetola developed the business plan for his business from FATE Foundation and has since grown his business from a single employee to 26 full-time staff. He won a business plan competition for NGN20million which helped him expand his product line and establish his sewing factory in Ogba, Lagos.
The SME Journalist of the Year Award goes to Chukwuemeka Fred Agbata Jnr. The award is given to an SME Journalist who has showcased the Nigerian MSME/Entrepreneurship space by telling the story of Nigerian entrepreneurs while also providing insights into opportunities and challenges within the ecosystem. Chukwuemeka Fred Agbata Jnr., popularly called CFA, is a multi-award-winning media professional visible in some of Nigeria’s most respected broadcast, print, and digital platforms. In developing and producing high-quality weekly content, CFA demonstrates his passion for helping entrepreneurs and professionals connect the dots leveraging digital technology to either grow their businesses and/or advance their careers. He has conducted over 250 interviews on his weekly TV show, Tech Trends on Channels Television, and written over 400 articles on the weekly column (ICT Clinic) in the Punch Newspaper.
The Volunteer Faculty Award goes to Bambo Adebowale. The award aims to celebrate a volunteer faculty member who has invested significant amount of time and resources in teaching and guiding FATE entrepreneurs as they build their businesses. Bambo Adebowale was the former Head of Business Development at Mitsubishi Corporation Nigeria. He is a council member at the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and is the chairman of the Automobile Group. Bambo is a committed individual for empowerment and SME growth. He has been a volunteer lecturer on entrepreneurship and is a trustee and director of an empowerment NGO. This award was given in particular recognition of his role as the Emerging Entrepreneurship Programme (EEP) 26 Course Director. Bambo joined the faculty of FATE Foundation in 2003 and has since been a mentor, faculty, and trainer to the Aspiring Entrepreneurship Programme (AEP) and EEP classes.
The Volunteer Advisor Award goes to Olumide Lawson. The award aims to celebrate one of FATE’s volunteer advisors and consultants who has invested significant amount of time and resources providing business and growth advisory support to our entrepreneurs as they build their businesses. Olumide is the Executive Director at Sahel Agribusiness Managers. He began his career in the Commercial Banking Group of Guaranty Trust Bank Plc. Since mid-2013, Olumide has been one of the fund managers and a member of the investment committee of FAFIN (Fund for Agricultural Finance in Nigeria. Olumide holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA®) and the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA®) designations and an Associate Chartered Accountant (ACA). This award is being given in particular recognition of his role as an Advisor during our 2020 ScaleUp Agribusiness programme.
The Volunteer Mentor Award which celebrates volunteer mentors who consistently inspire and support FATE entrepreneurs in building their own businesses goes to Pat Diaku. She is the CEO of Oakhill Business Consults. Pat is a very passionate Social Entrepreneur and the Co-founder of The Family Tree House Initiative; an NGO that works with teenagers and youth in various Nigerian schools. Pat is recognized as she has given many hours of her time to mentor entrepreneurs across different programs in FATE Foundation.
The Volunteer Content Contributor Award celebrates a volunteer content contributor who has invested significant amount of time and resources in supporting our content development needs. This award goes to Busola Boyle-Komolafe, a Data Analyst, Market Researcher and Consumer Behaviour Specialist with over 8 years of experience planning, designing and conducting research in Finance, Real Estate, FMCG, Healthcare, Education, Retail, Sustainability and Telecommunication sectors. This award is being given in particular recognition of her content contribution role for the msmehub.org platform.
