Meet the Winners of 1st Michael Taiwo Annual Scholarships

In 2019, we started the Michael Taiwo Scholarships to become a refuge of hope, the light in the tunnel, from those aiming to make something of their lives. We specifically aim to do this by financially assisting and providing mentoring for motivated and bright students from poor societies (starting with Nigeria) to pursue world-class graduate education.

The seven winners were chosen from a pool of over 1,000 applicants, they represent the best of the best of Nigerian college graduates who need help. Their number is more than double what we had in mind when we started this. That's the power of a team. Thanks to the following mentors who continue to share their time, talent and treasure to make this happen: Olu'toyin Aseeperi, Akinbiyi Akindoyin, Muyiwa Olaosun and another who wish to be anonymous. A special thanks to Suraj Tunji Oyewale, his JarusHub consulting firm did a commendable job from start to finish.

Now, let's meet the winners...

Adenike Adelakun is a 24 yr old graduate of the University of Ibadan where she completed her undergraduate studies, earning distinctions in Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Pharmacognosy and Pharmaceutics, and bagging a First Class degree along with the 2018 award for the best graduating student with a CGPA of 6.8/7.0 in the Faculty of Pharmacy. 

Born and raised in Ibadan, Oyo State in Western Nigeria, she is the first child in a family of six. She is currently on her one-year National Youth Service Corp practicing as a pharmacist and enjoys travelling, playing board games, reading, learning and participating in new adventures- ranging from the familiar – volunteering for health outreaches in her professional capacity as a pharmacist and the unfamiliar – a new passion and interest in volley ball. 

Dare Ogungbemi is a 26 yr old native of Ibadan, Oyo State. The second born in a family of three kids, he enjoys reading and meeting people and is currently employed as a graduate engineer in Ove Arup and Partners, Nigeria. A First-class graduate of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, he graduated as the best student in the department of Civil Engineering and was the recipient of the Ifedayo Akintunde Geotechnical Engineering prize for the student with the best overall performance in Geotechnical Engineering in the B.Sc. degree examination in Civil Engineering for Dec 2018.

Dare loves challenges as he sees them as the opportunity to learn new things. He is interested in specializing in water resources/hydraulics engineering and plans to gather substantial level of experience from the high level of technological know-how available in the US before coming back to Nigeria to apply the knowledge learnt. 

Firdaos Khidir, 22 years, female Nigerian from Oyo State is an impact-driven innovator and entrepreneur with interests in bridging developmental gap between Africa and the rest of the world. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics from the University of Ibadan and was awarded the prestigious Best Graduating Student, International Economics, for her exemplary knowledge of international and cross-national trade, finance and economics. She is a Tony Elumelu Entrepreneur, a YALI RLC and United States Academy of Women Entrepreneurs fellow.

Firdaos is an avid researcher, constantly seeking out-of-the-box ideas to better the world and create a company of the future. She learnt about the Michael Taiwo GMAT Scholarship from a WhatsApp group “First Class Leaders”. She currently runs a Real estate crowdfunding business with a huge growth potential and therefore wants to pursue an MBA to hone her business skills, and learn soft skills needed in building and scaling a successful business.

Mariam Adefowoke ONABANJO is 24 years old, born and raised alongside 10 siblings in Iyana-Ipaja, a surburban area of Lagos, Nigeria. Fluent in English and Yoruba, she can read and converse in basic French and has lived most of her life in Lagos apart from a one-year stint at the Benin, Edo state for her National Service year. She currently works as the financial secretary for Eko Youth Agricultural Cooperative.

She holds a first-class Bachelor of Science degree in Botany from the University of Lagos, Nigeria; having graduated as the best student in her class with a CGPA of 4.67/5.00 and winning the University Prize for the Best Graduating Student in the Department of Botany (2017). She intends to pursue a PhD in Bioenergy/ Sustainable energy studies and join other research scientists on their quest to create clean energy to meet the world’s transportation and industrial needs by 2030.

Mbanefo Chibuike Cornelius – the second child of a family of six – was born and raised in Awka, a commercial city in Anambra state. Coming from a humble background, he learnt early the virtues such as hard work, self-confidence, empathy, and time management as the necessities of one who wants to realize his dreams. He attributes his determined, passionate and strategic approach life to the practical applications of these virtues and graduated from the Federal University of Technology Owerri with a Bachelor of Technology in Biomedical Technology in 2018 with full funding from the Addax Undergraduate Scholarship.

He currently works as a graduate teaching assistant at the Niger State School of Health Technology Minna as part of the one-year national service for graduates. He is passionate about Biomedical Engineering and wants to get a PhD in order to fulfill a dream of a research and teaching career.

Opeyemi (Ope) SOREMEKUN is a 27 yr old graduate of Ladoke Akintola University Ogbomoso (LAUTECH) where he completed his undergraduate studies bagging a First-Class degree in Chemical Engineering. Having scaled through what he considers the hurdle of pain, discomfort and stress of studying in Nigerian Universities and working in the country, he learnt about the Michael Taiwo scholarship from Facebook posts and saw it as an opportunity for a relief in the ongoing cost of applications into a PhD program in US universities. His dreams are to complete his PhD and work in an energy start-up or established company.

AGBAJE Kafilat Omoshalewa was born 24th March, 1994 in Ilesha, Osun State, the first of five children composed of two females and three males in a nuclear family of seven. A trained Pharmacist by profession, she is currently pursuing her Masters degree program, having graduated from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife with a distinction (Grade point of 4.83/5.00), and being the recipient of eight different awards. 

Kafilat’s interests is in Pharmacognosy, with a view to developing new lead drug molecules from the vast resources available in nature. Also, she wishes to address a major challenge in alternative /complementary medicine which bothers on lack of standardization by working with decision makers in organization such as the WHO and Centre for Disease Control to initiate and advance policies on standardization of herbal medicines.

PLEASE NOTE:

?Announcement for the 2020 award cycle will be made in due time. Please check www.mtscholarships.org for more details