Institute Galvanises Support For African Scientific Excellence

The African Institute for Mathematical Science is galvanising support for African scientific excellence through a short film premiere titled, ‘Wajenzi’, a science in Africa movie.

The movie featured Prof Emile Chimusa, Dr Hind Ahmed and Dr Augustina Frimpong and was sponsored by the International Development Research Centre (Canada), Facebook and Google.

The movie produced by AIMS and filmed by TAP Magazine forms a part of the advancement efforts of AIMS to engage the general public and galvanise support for African scientific excellence.

The event also doubled as the first ever alumni meet-up in Nigeria and was held at the Impact Hub, Lagos.

In his welcome address, senior outreach manager at AIMS Global Secretariat, Sampson Kofi Adotey, stated that, “we are excited to be here in Lagos, Nigeria as this marks the first of our community events taking place outside our network sites. We are thrilled and inspired by the change our alumni from Nigeria are making in their industries and communities.”

He added that, “we created this community event for two reasons: to showcase the impact of our alumni; and to connect our alumni to industry. At AIMS, we are raising leaders who embody excellence, respect, integrity and care deeply about Africa. We will continue to invest in enabling them tackle the mega challenges on the continent.”

Following the premiere was a discussion session about the movie which led to insightful discussions about what role young Africans passionate about science and development can play to shape the Fourth Industrial Revolution in Africa.

Speaking at the spotlight session during the event, Country manager for Nigeria at Hewlett Packard (HP), Mr. Emmanuel Asika, shared about his personal journey into tech and the opportunities available at HP.

Over the last 19 years, AIMS has trained over 2,500 young Africans, with up to 10% being Nigerians. AIMS is a key supplier of talent within the STEM ecosystem directly linked to industry. Students admitted at AIMS benefit from full scholarships and close interaction with tutors and professors worldwide, including Nobel Prize and Fields Medal laureates.