Bukky George. CEO Healthplus pharmacy
I can't really remember the first time I came across the name, Bukky George, but I know it was sometime during Pharmacy school and it was also during that time I became a great fan of HealthPlus Pharmacy.
Bukky George is a woman with great passion for what she does. She set up HeathPlus pharmacy very early on in her career and has with hard work, persistence, a great drive for success and the grace of God seen it through to becoming the success it is. HealthPlus Pharmacy has a great number of outlets around the country and is undoubtedly "one of Nigeria's most successful retail chain pharmacies."
Bukky George could as well be described as one of the pioneers of the changing face of pharmacy in Nigeria.
She's a real hard worker, an avid reader and a great mentor for those coming behind her. She enjoys speaking at conferences, seminars and basically imparting her knowledge.
Chimamanda Ngozi adichie. Award winning writer.
I think by now it's no news that I'm the number one fan of Chimamanda... lol.
I first saw Chimamanda/heard about her on Funmi Iyanda's show 'New Dawn', sometime in the early 2000s. I really don't know what drew me to her and her work by just listening to her discuss with Funmi about her first book, Purple Hibiscus. But I just remember telling my dad, "I have to get that book". I was in JSS3 and at a point in my life when I was wondering if this 'writing thing even makes sense' and here was someone, a Nigerian like me, talking about how she had just written a book and she had actually published it. My dad did get me that my first copy of Purple Hibiscus not too long after that and I was enthralled from the beginning to the end and made the decision to start taking writing seriously. I wrote so many good and not so good pieces after that. But at least I wrote more.
What I like about Chimamanda's story is how she followed her passion and decided it was writing she wanted to do. Leaving Medicine and Pharmacy behind at University of Nigeria, Nsukka she followed her passion and has become such a great success. I like the amount of research that goes into her writing, which is so evident and the way she goes on with her work with a very positive outlook and a 'no, I can't be drawn back' attitude. She is a prominent figure in the growth of contemporary Nigerian literature. She was the first encounter I had before reading other amazing contemporary Nigerian authors after her.
She is definitely a great inspiration.
Mosunmola Abudu. Talk show host, TV Producer and entrepreneur
Mo, as she's popularly known, first made her appearance on out TV screens with her amazing show, Moments with Mo on which she addressed various topics and interviewed a great number of people, including Hilary Clinton and Ngozi-Okonjo Iweala.
Moments with Mo is a purpose-built vehicle designed to enable Africans and the rest of the world to come to an appreciation of our very rich and diverse culture and our achievements, as well as to know and understand us as a people.
Over the years, Mo has realized that the ultimate task facing us as a continent is to build and promote world class personas and brands, as well as to “showcase” the achievements of Africans within a global setting and economy. Our challenge is to credibly debunk the tendency of the western media to constantly and relentlessly portray us as the Dark Continent that can only be defined by what can be aptly described as the“6 D’s”: Disease, Despair, Destruction, Disaster, Destitution and Deceit.
She went on to produce other great shows such as 'The Debaters' and 'Naija Diamonds'
Then this year Mo wowed us and moved on the greater things by setting up her own Television Station, EbonyLife TV on DSTV Channel 165 which is targeted at the youth especially. The station is a month old now.
Forbes has named Mo the First woman in Africa to launch a Pan-African TV channel.
We'll just stay watching for what next Mo will do.
And like she likes to say, "If you can think it, you can do it"
:D
