In December, the Islamic Development Bank held the official Transformers Summit 2019 in Senegal’s incredible capital, Dakar. Working with the government of Senegal, IsDB hosted a week-long Academy for 30+ hard-working innovators and entrepreneurs, shortlisted by the Scientific Advisory Board to win part of the $500M Transform Fund. 

The Transformers Academy invited Transformers to a whole host of workshops and talks on subjects like finance, communications, capacity building and leadership in order to help them enrich and develop their projects for the future. 

Transformers heard from inspiring visionaries including Founder of Girl Child Africa, Bukky Shonibare, CEO of Leverage Science, Dr Fil Randazzo, Founder and CEO of Africa Consulting and Trading, Ibrahima Cheikh Diong, Executive Director of the Africa Leadership Transformation (ALT) Foundation, Daniel Kamanga and many more! 

After a week of absorbing knowledge from the finest minds in their fields and a boat trip to Gorée island, Transformers finished their time in Senegal by attending the day-long Summit where they were announced winners of the fund. 

Attendees at the Summit heard from the likes of Chief Scientific Advisor to the President of the Islamic Development Bank and the person who has spearheaded the launch of the $500M Transform Fund,  Dr. Hayat Sindi, President of Senegal, H.E. Macky Sall, President of Islamic Development Bank, H.E. Dr. Bandar Hajjar, Actor and Director, Forest Whitaker, Director of Information and Communication Technologies, Ministry of Economy, Government of Senegal, Achime Malick Ndiaye and Associate Professor, American University of Nigeria, Dr. Jainaba M. L. Kah. 

There were Transform fund entries from all over the world, however just 34 lucky innovators were selected to win the $500M. We are so excited to announce all the winners below.

Abdullah Butt

Adi Utarini

Ammar Abitalib Mussaji

Anisuddin Ahmed

Asep Muhamad Ridwanuloh

Athalia Mutiara Laksmi

Ayah Dajani

Azman Senin

Burak Polat

Christelle Kwizera

Christian Hirwa

David Bogere

Dennis Wall

Emrah Mercan

Faria Hossain

Farjana Jahan

Fatimata Cisse

Firdaos Khidir

Gary Darmstadt

Habtamu Giday Gebraegziabher

Hajji Sulaiman Walugendo Kyesa

Hichem Jomâa

Hira Irshad

Katherine Clayton

Kawtar Belrhiti Alaoui

Manuel Lelio Gungulo

Mohammad Faizal Ahmad Fauzi

Mohammed Zerara

Muhamad Shirwan Abdullah Sani

Muhammad Ayub Khan

Muhammad Hamza Ikram

Nabilah Ramli

Nada Zubcević

Nadya Sahara Putri

Rajashree Chowdhury

Ruweida Aljabali will

Saad Aman Chaudhry

Sarker Masud Parvez

Shakhlo Miralimova

Sharipov Oybek

Taha Kumosani

Yuliya Levitskaya

Zahra Hoodbhoy

2019 also set a new precedent as 58% of the grant fund was awarded to women scientists, innovators and thinkers! 

We are really excited to bring you a series of blog interviews with the Transformers from the Summit so that you can hear about how their amazing projects are tackling the Sustainable Development Goals head-on! Please look out for these in the coming weeks.