18 Year Old Ghanaian Wins $100,000 Zayed Sustainability Prize In Abu Dhabi, UAE

An eighteen-year-old Ghanaian Entrepreneur Wuntia Osman Gomda and his friend Jesse Forrester of the African Leadership Academy have won the Zayed Sustainability Prize for Sub-Saharan Africa with their water treatment machine called, ”The Living Machine”.

The Living Machine is a machine that treats grey-water. It come out of the need to fill a gap as a result of the South African government shutting down the taps in Cape town making it virtually impossible to get access to water for a period.

Therefore, Jesse and Wuntia decided to come out with an innovative and technological means to get water for their school and community. Although the innovation may not be new, this is the first time it’s been done in Africa.

So when these young men heard about the Zayed Sustainability Prize, they decided to jump on it and give it their best try defiling all odds to put in a bid for the grant.

Asked what this dream has been for him, Wuntia said, ” initially it was something we couldn’t believe it, because I think it all started when we heard we were finalists, I remember we were in school then, and Jesse came and he had heard the News and and he was literally screaming, you can imagine the excitement in both of us and for a moment I couldn’t believe it, and now we are here as winners. I think it’s been very exciting because we’ve seen that our hard work has actually paid off and it’s been a real boost for us because, we see no matter how young we are, Jesse is 20, I am 18, we have gotten the confidence basically from everyone that no matter how young we are we can do a lot, because most people whether in Ghana or anywhere else are not really endeavoring or risking that too much but then taking a step forward it has shown that we can achieve a lot and has shown us the believe 18 Year old Ghanaian wins $100,000 Zayed Sustainability Prize in Abu Dhabi, UAE. the Zayed Sustainability prize has in the youth.”

The African Leadership Academy is also looking to implement solar power that will cut electricity costs and increase savings to fund additional renewable energy projects across the continent. Student learning at ALA is Agricultural Innovation and Waste Management.

The Zayed Sustainabity prize is an Evolution of the Zayed Future Energy Prize, is the UAE’s pioneering global Award in sustainability and a tribute to the legacy of the UAE’s founding father, the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan.