Gems on Earth

My name is Olivia Oguadinma. I am a Storyteller, social Entrepreneur and budding Chemical engineer. I am using the power of Storytelling to inspire positive action youths at Gems on Earth.

I represented Nigeria at the 2019 World youth forum held in Egypt. I and my team were the finalist at the 2018 Unilever idea trophy and the emerged as winners at the Hult prize On Campus challenge.

I am leading a fast growing community of youths at Gems on Earth where we inspire positive action through Storytelling and social impact.

We are committed to bridging the gap between the youth with a dream and their journey to actualizing those dreams. We understand that it's not enough to have passion. We understand that on the journey to actualizing your dreams that one faces a lot of hurdles. We also know the importance of communities in giving support to Visions.

Our community, Gems on Earth is a safe place for youths to hear each other's victories,struggles and lessons in life. A place to gain better understanding on how to access opportunities. Gems on Earth is elevating humanity by sharing stories of hope. We are changing lives one story at a time.

According to the United Nations population fund,my country Nigerian a has over 60 million youths living in the country.

Every year,one out of four youth leaves the high school with no sense of purpose is or adequate knowledge of how the world works. Most of them still end up graduating from the University with no adequate exposure to possibilities and personal/Professional skills.

Sadly,the school system or the environment have not sufficiently prepared these youths. This affects their perspective towards life. A lot of them even though they graduated with good grades still do not have good jobs. They need directions. This perspective can be changed with the right story and this is what we are committed person doing at Gems on Earth.

Gems on Earth inspires positive action through Storytelling. We used the different forms of Storytelling including: Podcast,Public speaking,Webinars,Spoken words,books to share information,teach and inspire youths in the world.

We also engage the youths to impact their work through social impact: Online/offline campaigns, random acts of kindness. We are also working towards partnering with institutions that will support these youths financially as well.

I am dedicated to inspiring every youth in Africa through the power of  Storytelling which inculdes: Writing,public speaking,podcasting. I am also training people to be better Storytellers themselves through intensive online classes on Storytelling and Podcasting. This will go a long way to increase the implementation of the sustainable development goals in country's,communities and individuals.

Gems on Earth serves the youth. We have an online group were we meet weekly to organize webinars. There are also rooms for polls that will help us understand better ways to improve the community.

Gems on Earth is building awareness for the youth in the areas of opportunities yet to be harnessed. We are also inspiring youths to take up the courage to impact the world around them.

We are also elevating opportunities for all people, especially those that feel left behind through our stories from people who were once like them that have succeeded.

Gems on Earth started after I had lost my admission to study at the University of Regina,Canada as a result of insufficient funds. I had written a lot of essay based scholarships bases on: noise pollution, accident caused by phone and many others. It showed me another dimension of Storytelling. Storytelling that can teach and inspire action.

Although,I was not able to go. I wanted to create a community for youths seeking to be better. At that time,I could not find any story of people like me that will help ke navigate that phase. I talked to my mom about it and she has encourage me to start with what I have. This led me to create a WhatsApp group. I had no idea what I was doing but one thing was sure I wanted to create a community where youths regardless of their background can grow.

I later got admission a year later to study Chemical Engineering in Nigeria. In school,I joined Enactus,a student body inspiring positive action by engaging students in entrepreneurial action. I had the opportunity to engage in projects that helped my community and right there the love to impact my world grew a lot.

This is so important to me because I know that youths are important in driving positive change. I also live in a state in Nigeria where the youths have not been adequately exposed. The few times,I shared my experiences as an Enactus student. They were amazed and really wanted to be a part of a community that will help them grow into being their best self.

At Enactus,students were able to have a feel of what live after school felt like. This was a feeling that a lot of youths here have not yet am experienced. Although,not everyone may be interested in Entrepreneurship but I believe that sharing personal experiences can go a long way in inspiring hope and change.

This need in the environment that I had experienced myself led me to start Gems on Earth.

As an Enactus student,I have served as a project lead in our team. I have led team who's vision were to provide quality education for children in need,provide environment sustainability. I was able to carry out all these projects along side tue academic demands of studying Chemical engineering.

I have also helped co- organize events on campus geared towards equipping the youths with the necessary knowledge. I have served as the Campus director of the advantage group,Teams Coordinator for Hult prize. Hult prize is a global competition held every year to inspire students to build business that solve a social need.

I was recently accepted to be a part of 2020 Watson Institute Summer Accelerator in Colorado. This is a  four(4) months accelerator programme geared towards proving social Entrepreneurs with the knowledge they need to unleash a lifetime of positive impact. Through mentoring session,master courses and so much more.

I am currently the institutional representative of the National student association of Nigeria (NSAN). A sub unit of the Common wealth student association. I was nominated as the 2019 woman advocate of the year by the PALEC Awards. I am serving as a content creator for TedxSuleja. I am dedicated in making sure that youths like myself are always in the best positive to be their very best.

I can remember when I had to organize an event during my exam period. I had met my team before exams and everyone was excited to carry on this project. As the exams were approaching,the enthusiasm was reducing.

I could not blame them because I understand how the week prior to exams can be. We have one week after exams to the scheduled date of the event. I had lost all hope myself. After listening to a podcast by Tyler Perry,I had gathered courage to finish the project. I called everyone on my team and I encouraged them and reminded them of what we started. I let them know that I understand the stress of the exam period. We were able to divide the task amongst ourselves which led to a successful event.

As an Enactus student,I have served as a project lead in our team. I have led team who's vision were to provide quality education for children in need,provide environment sustainability. I was able to carry out all these projects along side tue academic demands of studying Chemical engineering.

I have also helped co- organize events on campus geared towards equipping the youths with the necessary knowledge. I have served as the Campus director of the advantage group,Teams Coordinator for Hult prize. Hult prize is a global competition held every year to inspire students to build business that solve a social need.

I am currently the institutional representative of the National student association of Nigeria (NSAN). A sub unit of the Common wealth student association. I was nominated as the 2019 woman advocate of the year by the PALEC Awards. I am serving as a content creator for TedxSuleja. I am dedicated in making sure that youths like myself are always in the best positive to be their very best.

We currently serving 1000 youths through our Podcast and social media platforms.

In the next year, we will grow to 5000 youths.

In the next five years, we want to reach over 200,000  youths through our website,email list, podcast and physical workshops/hangouts.

In the next year,we will be working towards to reaching out to high school students as well as organize workshops.

In the next five years, we want to be able to create a podcast academy that shares stories from across the world. We also want to be able to translate these messages into various Nigerian languages and African languages.

The barriers that we may face as organization include:

Technical support: we need resources to able to create websites and invest in technology that would be able to translate podcasts to different languages. This will go a long way in reaching many people with language as a barrier.

Access to Mentors: Gems on earth is a fast growing community of youths. We understand that passion is not enough to achieve ones goals. one needs people that will teach them,people that will support them and people that will believe in the vision. with a large number of youths, this raises concerns on how each youth in our community can be reached effectively.

Access to funds: We understand that our goal is to inspire youths into positive action through storytelling. We also understand that funds are needed to support goals. we do not just want to spark the fire of positive action in youths. we also want this fire to keep on burning.

We plan on overcome the barriers stated above with the following strategies:

Technical support: In the future,we will be organizing competition that will bring software developers together to brainstorm on ideas to build tech app.

Access to mentors: We will be using the concept of circular economy but this time the thing of value is not money but people. We will find the best minds in our community and get them to be of help to growing members. I strongly believe that every stage of our lives. we have people to learn from and people we can teach.

Access to funds: We will be solving this by creating a podcast academy that teaches people how to tell stories. Thereby,empowering people to share their stories to the world.

We are currently working with Forward Africa,an organization geared towards improving lives through partnerships. We are going to be working with them with our secondary school project.

We will be raising funds for our work through the following medium:

1)Premium Membership:

2) Podcasting Academy:

3)Applying for grants:

4) Paid partnerships:

The Elevate prize will help us solve the barrier of in funding and access to mentors/organizations.

With the tailored media campaign and marketing campaign, our organizations will be able to get the trust of brands willing to support youths in order to create a better world.

 After the Elevate Prize foundation two year programme, Our organization will be able gain leadership skills and access to influencers whose stories will create opportunities and learning channels for young people in our community.

Ford Foundation: I will love to partner with Ford foundation to organization practical learning opportunities for youths. As we do not just want to inspire them but channel this new found zeal into a posiitve cause.

Anchor/ Google podcast/Afrotivity: Gems on Earth is an organization that inspires posiitve action in youths through storytelling. We need parnerships with podcasts hosting sites to publicize our stories to the world.