Bios of the OneAfrica Awards winners: 1. Cultural Influencer Award recipient - Burna Boy Damini Ebunoluwa Ogulu, best known as Burna Boy, is a Nigerian born singer and songwriter. Ogulu grew up in southern Nigeria and began making his own beats using FruityLoops. He rose to prominence in 2012 after releasing "Like to Party", the lead single from his debut studio album L.I.F.E (2013). The album sold 40,000 copies on the first day of its release. His third studio album Outside marked his major-label debut. In 2019, he won Best International Act at the 2019 BET Awards and was announced as an Apple Music Up Next artist. His fourth studio album African Giant was released in July 2019; it won Album of the Year at the 2019 All Africa Music Awards and was nominated for Best World Music Album at the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards. Burna Boy describes his music as Afro fusion, a genre that blends Afrobeat, dancehall riddims, reggae, American Rap and R&B. August Brown of The Los Angeles Times said Burna Boy's sound is "savvy and modern but undistracted by obvious crossover moves". 2. Research in Healthcare Award recipient - Prof Salome Maswime Salome Maswime is a South African clinician and health expert. She is an Obstetrician and Gynecologist and Professor of Global Surgery at the University of Cape Town. In 2017, she was honored with the Trailblazer and Young Achiever Award. Maswime is from Limpopo and graduated in medicine from the University of KwaZulu-Natal in 2005. During her medical internship, she saw two deaths in Greytown, KwaZulu-Natal. She secured a PhD position supported by the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the South African Medical Research Council finding ways to improve the lives of mothers and infants. She completed her Masters and PhD theses at the University of the Witwatersrand. In 2017, she was named by the Mail & Guardian as one of the Top 200 South Africans. Before joining UCT, Maswime was also granted the prestigious Discovery Foundation MGH Fellowship Award to further her training and studies at the Massachusetts General Hospital’s Center for Global Health in Boston, in the United States. In 2018, she launched the South African Clinician Scientists Society. She was awarded a Discovery Foundation Harvard University, Massachusetts General Hospital Fellowship in 2018. In 2019 she was appointed as a Professor of Global Surgery at the University of Cape Town. “I did a study across 15 Hospitals and that is when I really realized how health systems affect surgical outcomes.” 3. Social Media Award recipient - Zari ‘The Boss Lady’ Hassan Zarinah Hassan (born 23 September 1980), commonly known as Zari Hassan, is a Ugandan socialite, musician and businesswoman, who resides in South Africa, where she runs businesses. Raised in Jinja, Uganda she started singing while in primary school. After high school, she moved to live in Kampala, where she made money by performing karaoke in different hangouts. Finally, the young star took a break from music and dance performances, but for a good course. The young Zari decided to move to London to pursue her tertiary education, where she earned her diploma in cosmetology. She didn’t spend much time overseas and later came back to her motherland to pursue her musical career and focus on building her business empire. In 2007, Zari the Boss Lady recorded her first single titled ‘Oliwange’, Ugandan for ‘you’re mine’. The hit track was successful and subsequently earned a nomination for the Africa Channel O awards as the Best East African Video of the Year. 4. Keepers of Traditional and Local Knowledge Award recipient - The Karoo Development Foundation The Great Karoo is a vast arid region located in the centre of the country. This region is generally underdeveloped, particularly lacking in manufacturing. The economy is dependent on extensive farming, which has shed a great deal of labour during the last twenty years. At the same time, many of the Karoo towns have shown some developmental potential, in terms of tourism and crafts. The project to create a Karoo Development Foundation is part of the Arid Areas Programme, which examines the economic potential of the Greater Karoo, so that it can influence future government planning and expenditures. This is a new endeavour, as there has never been a coherent attempt to investigate the economic potential of the Karoo. The purpose of this project was to motivate for the creation of a development institution to represent and promote the interests of the Karoo. The Northern Cape has a fascinating new heritage route, covering everything from a famous archaeological site and historic towns to amazing architecture and a vast nature reserve known for its unusual white sand dunes. 5. Outstanding Person in Sport Award recipient - Tendai ‘The Beast’ Mtawarira. At the age of 15 while attending Churchill School in Harare, Zimbabwe-born Mtawarira (affectionately known as the beast) was spotted by Zimbabwean coach Joey Muwadzuri who invited him to join the Under 19 side at the National Schools Festival. Mtawarira (affectionately known as Beast) survived a spirited effort earlier in his career to block him from playing for the Springboks because he was not a South African citizen. He made his professional with the Sharks XV, before his great potential become apparent. After strong performances during his first two seasons at Vodacom Super Rugby level, the Beast progressed to the national set-up, making his Springbok debut against Wales on 14 June 2008. Mtawarira earned 117 Test Caps over the course of 11 years in the green-and-gold and is the third most capped Springbok player of all time behind only Victor Matfield and Bryan Habana. As well as being the most capped Springbok prop, the Beast is also the fifth most capped prop in the history of the game. 6. Innovation in Agriculture and Farming Award recipient - Dr Brylyne Chitsunge After completing her primary and secondary schooling in Zimbabwe Dr Brylyne Chitsunge moved to the United Kingdom where she furthered her studies. On her return to Africa she noticed the many opportunities but also the challenges faced by the continent in terms of food security. There were many symposiums meetings and paperwork but no real action on the ground. Deciding to detach from the big world she considered farming so she would be able to speak from a farmer’s perspective. Dr. Brylyne Chitsunge is a farmer by day, and also the Pan-African Parliament’s ambassador for food security – a superwoman who has not only changed careers from medicine to agriculture but is also well on her way to receiving her pilot’s license. She is also all about empowering, especially women. “Let’s start investing in them and rather than just empowering them. By investing in them, they have a future. It’s best that we start investing in them now.” As part of her own investment in youth, Chitsunge plans on establishing an agricultural institution. Alongside the iconic President Nelson Mandela, she is the only other African to have received the Legion of Honour Bronze Medallion which is the second highest accolade given by The Chapel Of Four Chaplains (Philadelphia, USA) in recognition of her service to all people regardless of race or faith. Furthermore, she is the first ever Pan African Ambassador for Food Security in Africa. 7. Excellence in Education Award recipient - Fred Swaniker Fred Swaniker was born in Ghana but has lived and worked in about 10 different African countries. He is an entrepreneur with a passion for solving social problems, believes that many of Africa's predicaments boil down to a lack of adequate leadership. To help change that, during the last nine years he has focused his energy on the creation and development of a pan-African high school aimed at fostering the next generation of leaders. The African Leadership Academy (ALA) opened in January 2008 on the outskirts of Johannesburg, South Africa, and currently has around 200 students from 40 countries. Fred was recognized by Former US President Obama in 2010 and again in 2013 for his work in developing Africa’s future leaders. He has been recognized as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum, by Forbes Magazine as one of the top ten young ‘power men’ in Africa, and by Echoing Green as one of the fifteen ‘best emerging social entrepreneurs in the world’. He is a Fellow of the Aspen Institute’s Global Leadership Network and was a TED Fellow in 2009. Deeply passionate about Africa he has founded the African Leadership ‘Group’—an ecosystem of organizations that includes African Leadership Academy, African Leadership Network, Africa Advisory Group, and of course, ALU. Collectively, these institutions aim to transform Africa by identifying, developing, and connecting three million game-changing leaders for Africa by 2060. /ends .