Theme: Uleash the Dragon

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized (subject to certain rules and regulations).

Mayfair Suites
Plot 40 Egbu Road
Owerri, Imo, 460001
Nigeria

Chibueze Ikedi

Software Engineer, Initiator EmBED

Chibueze Ikedi has passion for tech, education and poetry. His quest to serve humanity by providing solutions to people’s problems led to his foray into technology and later, entrepreneurship. He is the innovator/pioneer of EmBED, an educational platform to improve the outcomes of children and young people using technology, bridging the gap between the public and private education systems. In line with his passion for children and education, he hosted the Africa Code Week 2015 and 2016 in Aba, with 110 children from two schools in 2015 and 347 children from 11 schools and one church in 2016. The focus is to introduce children to software coding and computers at a tender age.

Chibụìhé Obi

Teacher/Writer

Chibụìhé Obi is a professional educator, poet and memoirist. He teaches Literature at St. Maria Goretti Catholic College Obowo, Imo State. He is one of the winners of the BABISHAI NIWE POETRY prize (Hiaku category) and the 2016 joint winner of WRR Nigerian Teacher of the year. He has been nominated for the 2017 Pushcart award for his creative nonfiction essay "Of War, Photographs and Memory". His Children story "Emelda" won the Splendid Literature Foundation Prize and will be published soon. He hosts a weekly book club for secondary school student's at their various institutions where he advocates for books and reading culture. Chibuihe has spoken at various educational fora and conducted professional development seminars for students.

Chioma Ukonu

Co-Founder and COO, RecyclePoints

Chioma Angela Ukonu is Chief Operating Officer at RecyclePoints Limited; She is a Social Entrepreneur with focus on waste management and environmental sustainability. Her company operates a door to door system using a solar-powered tricycle, to collect wastes materials including PET plastic bottles, Used Beverage cans, Glass bottles, Old Newspapers, Brown Corrugated Cartons and LDPE films and sachets (pure-water sachets). This is an incentive-based scheme which collects recyclable materials from post consumers and in turn rewards them with “Points” which they can accumulate and use to redeem/shop for household items. The system has significantly helped in reducing the amount of waste in Nigeria's largest city. Chioma has won numerous accolades including the Chivas Regal’s Venture global Award and the Best Waste Recycling Innovation Award.

Confidence Odionye

Founder, BeatTraffik

Confidence Odionye is an optimist; he is passionate about technology and believes he can use technology in solving problems. He suspended his tertiary education to start up his company Tranzelu Technology, which has Beat Traffik and Beat Drone as it's current Project; in 2 years after launch his company is worth over $200,000 and is expected to reach over $1,000,000 by 2018. His big dream is to impact in humanities quest for astronomical exploration and development. He was awarded by the Barack Obama Yali African Leadership Initiative Achievement for his daunting impact on road congestion through his Beat Traffik app and is currently establishing Africa's first drone service project Beat Drone.

Kennedy Ekezie-Joseph

Activist/ Executive Director CYCWR

Kennedy is 18years old, and lives in Calabar, Nigeria. He is the founder of the Calabar Youth Council for Women Rights, a non-profit that advocates for gender rights especially in the areas of Female Genital mutilation and gender-based violence in Nigeria, and is also a Debate Champion who was the Best Debater in Nigeria in 2015 and was the Best African Speaker at the 2016 Harvard College Debate Championship in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He has trained and spoken in 7 countries on 3 continents at 26 Universities. He is a 2017 GLOBAL TEEN LEADER, and is a Senior Student at the Department of Philosophy in the University of Calabar. In the long term, he aspires to be the President of Nigeria.