Vitalik Buterin, Mo Ghoneim and Kwame A.A Opoku debate the Value of Web3 to Africa at the inaugural Africa Web 3 summit in Accra

The maiden edition of the Osei Mensah Joseph (OMJ) Foundations’ soccerfest at Akuapem south records a huge turnout.

OMJ soccerfest is a soccer festival instituted by the OMJ Foundation. The purpose of this initiative is to help young individuals within rural communities to exhibit their talents competitively and to introduce them to bigger platforms.

For the maiden edition, hundreds of the Akuapem south youth came out to compete and to cheer their favourite sides to victory.
In all, six (6) towns battled for the big prize.

Konkonuru, the host town emerged as champions after trashing finalist Berekusu by 4:2 on penalty shootouts after clinging to a 2:2 drawn game. The remaining towns that participated were Aburi, Oboadaka, Ahwerease and Kitaase, all within the Akuapem South Municipality.

In an interactive session with the C.E.O and founder, he said, “In the long term, the foundation aims to harness young talents who have the desire to pursue a career in the area of football and connect them to professional football teams/clubs for their carrier development.”

He continued saying, “Aside from identifying and developing young talents, this Soccerfest initiative will largely promote and foster unity among communities and serves as a platform to engage the youth on social issues”.

He rounded up by saying the OMJ SoccerFest will be a calendared annual event and is just one of the many projects and programs earmarked to develop and empower the youth within the municipality in diverse ways with the help of benevolent individuals, firms, corporate Ghana as well as governmental agencies.

The event was climaxed with an award presentation to winners and soccer talents who put out outstanding performances during the competition. A trophy and a set of jerseys were presented to Konkonuru as winners. Footballs, football boots, and goalkeeper’s gloves were presented to Berekusu as the 1st runner-up’s, the highest scorer, and the best goalkeeper respectively.

The player select committee by a simple majority judged the following as players with great talents and recommended they are given the needed push to enhance their career progression.

1. Isaac Gyan (Goalkeeper) – age 16

2. Samuel Pobi (Central Defender Samuel) – age 18

3. Carrick Frimpong (Midfielder) – age 20

4. Theophilus Ofosu (Striker) – age 17

The C.E.O, Mr. Osei Mensah Joseph, a former SRC president of GIMPA has therefore appealed to the general public, especially those in the football fraternity, to reach out, adopt and support these talents to develop their professional football careers.

He said the next SoccerFest will be bigger as he anticipates it will involve all the towns within the municipality.

Animal welfare campaign organization, World Animal Protection, is teaming up with artists and young people in Kenya to raise awareness about wildlife protection. The collaboration aims to build a movement of people to protect Africa’s wildlife from being exploited as commodities of trade. This year’s World Wildlife Day, which is being marked on 3rd March, is celebrated under the theme “Partnerships for Wildlife Conservation”.

African governments need to take a pre-cautionary approach on wildlife trade. They need to be aware of and address the health dangers of the wildlife trade. They also need to realize that wild animals are much more valuable alive than when they are dead. There is a need to recognize the intrinsic value of wild animals, as well as their contribution to the ecosystems and the planet.

Some progressive governments in Africa such as Kenya have been praised for being champions at CITES and getting species up listed for better protection. However, there is still much more to be done. African governments are urged to address extractive practices, such as reptile farming for export for pets and traditional medicine. Kenya is encouraged to do more to strengthen enforcement to ensure that the country is not used as a hub for pangolin and other wildlife trafficking.

“On this World Wildlife Day, let us remember that wildlife trade is just cruel and subjects animals to tremendous pain during capture, transit, slaughter and in homes and commercial venues where some live the rest of their lives in misery. We need to work together to ensure that we protect them from commodification. Wildlife have a right to a wild life.” Said Edith Kabesiime when addressing attendees at the art even held at the Kenya National Theater.

Africa Rising 
South African amapiano star—and Apple Music’s latest Up Next: South Africa artist—Toss is the latest artist featured from Apple Music’s Africa Rising playlist, a campaign which shines a light on the next generation of African superstars, and this week’s show features his singles, the Young Stunna and Tyler ICU collab, “Tetema,” and the 9umba and Mdoovar collab, “Umlando (feat. Sir Trill, Sino Msolo, Lady Du, Young Stunna & Slade)”. ListenHERE.

When I was creating the project, it was coming from a place of just having been through stuff in Nigeria, just being through streets of Lagos, especially with everything that’s happened in the last 12, 18 months, and I just wanted to express that.