THISDAY, Solution 17 Group Partner Covenant University To Unveil 17 Global Solutions On Post COVID-19
SOLUTION 17, supported by THISDAY Group, in collaboration with Covenant University, will be unveiled on Tuesday. The initiative, which is also backed by the United Nations Information Centre, is exploring creative and innovative capacities of students and recent graduates to proffer solutions to global challenges post Covid-19.
The 2020 session of Solution17 began on February 18, 2020, with registration and submissions of project ideas. This was followed by a rigorous selection process, which involved the interviews of hundreds of Covenant University students and alumni in May 2020.
Successful candidates were tasked with generating uncommon, but practical solutions to different problems ravaging the world, including climate change. At the end of the qualifier stage, 47 teams from the university came up with 47 incredible solutions. The solutions will be presented to a global audience in a virtual live event on June 2 and 3, 2020.
One of the hosts of the event, Ms Foluke Michael, who is the CEO of CYCDI- Solution 17, said the project ideas would be judged based on sustainability, innovation; adaptability to the immediate environment; and alignment with the current global threats due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“The aim is to present ideas and solutions that will help shape the future we want through the application of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals,” Ms Michael said.
Also, Ayo Arowolo, Editor at Large, THISDAY and Executive Director, THISDAY Conferences, speaking on behalf of THISDAY, co-host of the event, said that the outcomes from the exercise so far indicated that solutions to problems could sometimes come from unusual quarters.
Arowolo added: “I am simply thrilled by what I have seen and THISDAY is happy to put its brand behind the project”.
At the two-day event, the teams will pitch their projects to the Refiners and Advisory Team, and 17 participants would emerge as finalists.
The finalists would be admitted for training, project development, and sustainable business creation at the Solution17 Reality Innovation Hub later in June 2020.
“The project will train, showcase, and empower the 17 successful participants to frontally confront the challenge of climate change, and incorporate lessons learnt from Covid-19 to provide solutions to the climate crisis.
“The solutions will be presented to world leaders in September 2020 at the UN General Assembly in New York. And this will be followed by product development and project replication in other nations around the world. Each participant is expected to train 17 young innovators across Nigeria under the train-the-trainer Entrepreneurship Network Marketing Module,” Arowolo said.
He added that through the model, Solution17 for climate action is expected to grow from 17 to at least 5 million direct and indirect beneficiaries by September 2030.
Register to attend here:cycdi.com/register
