Sierra Leonean innovator, Jeremiah Thoronka has been named winner of the Youngster Green Award for 2023.
Mr Thoronka, a renewable energy expert and climate change advocate, was picked from among eight brilliant nominees from the world of innovation for the coveted prize at the ongoing Green Tech Festival in Berlin, Germany.
The Green Tech Festival is an annual global event that provides a platform for pioneering sustainable ideas. The event is usually convened in Berlin, Germany. But it has also been hosted in New York and London.
The Green Tech Festival entails a conference, exhibition and the Green Awards, which is meant to celebrate the most innovative projects and minds and honors outstanding personalities, institutions, companies, start-ups and innovators.
Youngster is one of three categories of the awards and it looks at the most aspiring junior innovators (16 – 25 years old) who are making lasting efforts for sustainability. The other categories are Innovation, which looks at the most recent, promising and surprising cutting-edge innovation in the field of Greentech; and Start-Up, which looks at the most promising start-up that contributes to environmental protection and resource conservation.
In all, there were eight nominees for the 2023 edition of the awards. The UK-based Brilliant Planet, a company that devised an innovative way of producing algae to remove carbon dioxide in a larger scale, emerged winner for the Innovation award; while Concular, a German based construction company, won the award for Start-up.
Jeremiah was nominated alongside two young female innovators from North Macedonia and Israel.
Jeremiah is the founder of “Optim Energy”, a devise designed to provide clean energy to energy-deprived communities using recycled, locally sourced energy harvesting technologies and piezoelectric materials.
A native of Makawo in the northern Tonkolili district, Jeremiah grew up in Kuntoluh in the eastend of Freetown. His device was reportedly motivated by his experience with challenges posed by the increasing energy demand, environmental impact, and rapid market changes.
“The technology is a sustainable, affordable, and robust energy harvesting system for energy-deprived communities,” the awards jury noted in their citation of his entry.
By capturing kinetic energy from moving objects such as humans, cars, and animals on various road surfaces, Optim Energy generates electricity that can be used by low-income communities.
With only two devices, the device was able to provide electricity to households and schools in both Kuntoluh and Kuntoluh, at no cost.
The 22-year-old Sierra Leonean innovator celebrated his latest win on Thursday with a social media post praising his family, mentors and “village people” for their support.
“This award is a testament to the power of collective action and dedication towards sustainability and climate action,” he wrote.
An alumni of the African Leadership University in Kigali, Rwanda, Jeremiah in 2021 made global headlines when he won the Global Student Prize, a US$100, 000 award, for his technology.
On Thursday, the US Embassy named him among 11 finalists from Sierra Leone for this year’s Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African leaders.
