ALIU TOLUWANI VICTOR (TOLUWANI)
NIGERIA, 20
Project: Upsurge Global
Basic Human Needs: Education
Toluwani’s educational experience growing up was extremely discouraging. He faced shame, poor treatment and even physical harm from teachers because he lacked sufficient funds to pay tuition. These experiences negatively impacted his self-worth, until he began engaging in community development when he was 16-years-old. Spurred by service work, he sought to help others develop personally and professionally, as opposed to the treatment he received as a student. In October 2013, Toluwani launched Upsurge Global (UG) – a nonprofit organization committed to raising a new cadre of value-driven African leaders. A community of young Africans dedicated to solving Africa’s challenges, UG leads entrepreneurship and leadership summits, school workshops, community development projects and online leadership trainings with experts, and hosts UG’s TeenExpressions Radio Show which showcases students. Upsurge Global has trained 3,500+ young people to use design thinking to positively develop their communities, and supported 200+ students to start their own social initiatives. Between 2014-2017, UG partnered with 20+ secondary schools in Ogun State in Nigeria to train 1,500+ students in leadership and self-development, and partnered with global organizations like Global Shapers Community, World Economic Forum and Guardian Nigeria to host a Leadership Summit at Covenant University in 2017. Since its inception, UG has impacted 10,000+ youth in more than 5 countries in Africa and the United Kingdom. Toluwani hopes to inspire young people to work towards solving a problem in their community, no matter how small the effort starts.