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James Mwangi, a 2009 Tutu Fellow and the Executive Director of the Dalberg Group, has been appointed to the Board of the Skoll Foundation. Mwangi has dedicated the last 20 years to building the Dalberg Group into an organisation that fuels inclusive growth globally.  He started in New York, building Dalberg’s first business, then expanded through Africa.

Throughout this time of growth, Mwangi says he has looked to the Skoll Foundation for inspiration. The Skoll Foundation was founded in 1999 invests in and connects social entrepreneurs and innovators to help them solve the world’s most pressing problems.  It has invested approximately $530 million worldwide.

A third of the medicines available in parts of Africa are fake. People have as much as a 50% chance of getting the wrong drug. Patients can’t tell if they are getting the real thing and counterfeit drugs are manufactured in dangerous conditions. 2010 Tutu Fellow Bright Simons outlines in this TEDx talk in Hamburg and how the aim of his company is to use technology to determine the authenticity of medicines. Counterfeit medicines are a real issue in Africa, where near-perfect copies of pharmaceuticals and medical supplies can jeopardize the recovery of patients, or worse, lead to the deaths of people.

Recorded in 2012, Gbenga Sesan begins his TEDx talk about his time at Obafemi Awolowo University. He arrived at the gate to the university and told the cab driver to let him out. The road that goes into the campus is quite long. Despite the cabbie’s protests, Sesan got out of the cab. It was then that he learned that he still had quite a way to go to walk to get to the dorm. His first lesson as a new student was that old knowledge and a new environment could lead to embarrassment - especially with four bags!  He learned more along the way that had little to do with his formal education.

The CEO of All On, 2015 Tutu Fellow Wiebe Boer is helping to build access to affordable sustainable energy for low income households, small business, and communities.  All On is an independent impact investing company.  As part of its approach it has also provided a grant to the acclaimed Nigerian tech incubator, Co-Creation Hub, to challenge Nigeria’s innovators on energy. Co-Creation Hub is run by 2017 Tutu Fellow 'Bosun Tijani.

2017 Tutu Fellow Natalie Jabangwe was a panelist in a high-level panel discussion on Innovation and technology at the United Nations General Assembly on 18 September.  The discussion formed part of the UN's attention to a range of Sustainable Development Goals that it hopes to see implemented by 2030. The goals include inroads into poverty, hunger, health, education, gender equality, clean energy, responsible consumption and others. Innovation and technology are seen as mechanisms by which the goals can be reached.

Back in June of this year, we shared news of how two Fellows were selected to participate in the final one thousand at UNLEASH 2017.  One of them, Jon Kornik, led the team that won the water solutions' challenge.  UNLEASH sets up global innovation labs and gathers some of the top minds of a generation in a kind of open source solution based approach to subject themes such as water, food, sustainable consumption and others. 

2012 Tutu Fellow Dr. Andrew Mude has won the 2016 Norman Borlaug Award for Field Research and Application.  He and his team are also receiving a USAID award for scientific excellence.  The recognition is for their work developing the innovative use of satellite technology and community outreach to develop livestock insurance for vulnerable herding communities in the Horn of Africa.  The program uses satellite data to help protect livestock herding communities in the Horn from the devastating effects of drought.