FROM ‘Eco-Friendly Business Education’ to ‘Turning Waste into Gold’, full details of the winners of the 1st Pan African Prize for Entrepreneurial Teachers were announced today by UK based education charity Teach A Man To Fish.

In addition to a top prize of $10,000, three winners were flown to an international conference in South America to receive their awards and share their experiences.

The competition was established earlier this year to recognize and reward entrepreneurship in education - acknowledging those remarkable teachers across Africa who ‘go the extra mile’ to find creative ways to bring education to their students.

The First Prize was awarded to Akwany Leonard of Ecofinder Youth Movement, Kenya in recognition of his work combining entrepreneurship and environmental education in Western Kenya. The two grass-roots organizations founded by Akwany have worked with over 100 schools and many more community groups on a diverse range of innovative educational projects from tree nursery businesses to wetlands conservation schemes

Receiving his prize Akwany commented:
“Africa has the answers to the challenges of Africa today. When we teach our children how they can protect the environment and make money at the same time, we can be confident that their children will in turn share a brighter future.”

Nik Kafka, Managing Director, Teach A Man To Fish said:
“This competition has confirmed what we already knew - that there are indeed extraordinary educators across Africa who transcend their limited resources to achieve astonishing results.

“It is right that we celebrate their work, hold them up as an inspiration, and learn from their success.”

The top three prize winners were:

1st Prize: Akwany Leonard, Ecofinder Youth Movement, Kenya – “Eco- Friendly Business Education”

2nd Prize: Pamela Akinyi Nyagilo, Ojere Primary School, Kenya – “Satellite Farms for Schools”

3rd Prize: Martin Tabifor Atanga, Paradise On Earth, Cameroon – “Turning Waste into Gold”

Full stories on the education work carried out by the winning entries is available at www.teachamantofish.org.uk/c ompetition/winners.php Entries were assessed against four criteria of innovation, impact, leadership & creative use of limited resources with winners selected by an independent panel of African judges.

In addition to the top three prizes there were also awards of $1,000 for the best entry from other countries across Africa where judges felt real entrepreneurship in education had been demonstrated.

The country prize winners are as follows:

Sifiso Jubillie Buhlungu , Matsheng Brigades Development Trust, Botswana

Cisse abdoulaye , Actions Internationales des Volontaires pour le Développement Economique et Social, Burkina Faso

Dominic Tetteh , Hope for the Future Training Centre, Ghana

Ahmed Babatunde Popoola , Abuja Enterprise Agency, Nigeria

John Jkamwengu , Official Technical School, Kibungo, ETO Kibungo, Rwanda

Mariétou Seydi , Tostan, Senegal

Christian Mason , Conforti Primary School, Sierra Leone

Steven Carver , Karatara Trust, South Africa

Donath R. Olomi , University of Dar es Salaam Entrepreneurship Centre, Tanzania

Mike Kironde , PEAS, Uganda

Rosemary , Business Environment Services, Zimbabwe

In view of the success of the competition in 2007 an even bigger and better competition is anticipated for late 2008.