Africa is the forward that the world needs to face | Pius Adesanmi | TEDxEuston

PIUS ADESANMI is a Professor of English and African Studies at Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada. A widely cited commentator on African affairs, he has lectured widely in Universities in Africa, Europe, and North America. One of Nigeria’s contemporary leading public intellectuals and celebrated columnists. Adesanmi is also a writer. He is the internationally acclaimed winner of the inaugural Penguin Prize for African Writing (2010) in the non-fiction category with his book, You’re not a Country, Africa. His first book, The Wayfarer and Other Poems, won the Association of Nigerian Authors Poetry Prize in 2001.

Adesanmi, the last speaker of TEDxEuston 2014, did not disappoint and eloquently rallied the audience to consider this: “Africa is the forward that everyone else must face"

Be ready for a beautiful journey to the past and to the future. Watch it HERE.

To build a country | Patrick Ndimubanzi | TEDxEustonChange

PATRICK NDIMUBANZI was recently sworn in as Minister of State in the Ministry of Health in charge of Public Health and Primary Health Care in Rwanda. Ndimubanzi’s beautifully woven TEDxEuston 2014 talk shed a bright light on the immense progress Rwanda’s Health Ministry has made since 1994.  The statistics are impressive with 90% of Rwandans covered by health insurance. Ndibumanzi’s showed that the determination of the Rwandan government to put people first is a real testament to the present government’s desire to move on the narrative from 1994.

But his talk was not really about data - but about the relativity of different narratives - which he summed up in this memorable quote: ‘beyond the numbers, beyond the statistics, we are improving people's lives.”

Thanks to TEDxChange, we were able to put this story of hope and progress on the TEDxEuston stage.

Watch his talk here and share this with everyone working in the health space in Africa.

Empowered women will change our world | Fatima B Muhammad | TEDxEustonChange

FATIMA B. MUHAMMAD has over 20 years working experience in Maternal and Child care as a midwife and midwife educator in Northern Nigeria. She has served as the head of Family Planning division and the project Director for a Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation funded project with the the Society for Family Health where she works. She is currently on secondment as the Demand Side Advisor for DFID supported Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (MNCH2) project being implemented in 6 states of Northern Nigeria.

Thanks to TEDxChange, Fatima Muhammad was able to share at TEDxEuston 2014 her incredible journey and unfailing desire to giving women choices at all ages because: “It is not enough to have money. You have to be empowered in the mind and then you are able to negotiate.”

Watch her talk HERE....it will remind you of the danger of the single story.

Its time to give back | Dolika Banda | TEDxEuston

DOLIKA BANDA began her career with Citibank and the then Barclays in Zambia. She joined the CDC from the International Finance Corporation (IFC), where she worked for 16 years, most recently as its Director, Financial Markets, with full managerial responsibility for the IFCs financial markets activities across sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean. In her role as Regional Director, Africa, Banda works with CDC’s Investment Teams to ensure that CDC’s capital is being invested to meet the demands of the African market. The audience at TEDxEuston 2014 had the privilege  of following Dolika on a journey through her history. A standing ovation from the TEDxEuston community reaffirmed Dolika’s conviction that: “it is her time to give back” after a long and successful career in the diaspora.

We watched this again and realised why we do TEDxEuston.  Find out why HERE.

Occupying the office of the citizen | Chude Jideonwo | TEDxEuston

CHUDE JIDEONWO has a master’s degree in Media and Communication from the Pan-African University. He is a lawyer and an award winning journalist whose career is centred on using the media as an active tool to galvanise a generation of Africans to action. In 2010, he convened friends and colleagues to hold the historic EnoughisEnough protests and co-founded EnoughisEnough Nigeria, which has become the country’s foremost good governance group for young Nigerians. He is a Global Shaper with the World Economic Forum and sits on the boards of the Oando Foundation and Microsoft 4Afrika. Jideonwo took the stage TEDxEuston 2014 stage with a clear message: “In a democracy, the most important office is not that of the government, but that of the citizens.” Listening to Chude, you cannot help to believe that his story is at its beginning.

Watch his talk HERE. Send it to every young African you know, it may be the best present that you have ever given.