Laureates Science Innovation and Education Initiative
Also known as Ebonyi Laureates. A community of Ebonyians bridging the human capital gap in Ebonyi.
The Laureates Science and Innovation and Education Initiative (Ebonyi Laureates) was created in 2019 to combat poverty in Ebonyi State through human capital development.
Ebonyi State has come a long way since its creation, but there is still room for improvement. The State still grapples with low literacy, poverty, unemployment, and child labour. Created in 1996, the 29-year-old State still lags behind neighbouring South-Eastern States and other States in Nigeria.
The 2019 National Bureau of Statistics report lists Ebonyi as Nigeria’s fourth-poorest State, with a poverty rate of 79.76%. The 2022 Nigerian Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) survey results by the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics showed the same grim statistics for Ebonyi, with an MPI of 0.320, above the national average (0.257) and the 10th highest in the country. Poverty is a vicious cycle. The poor can't fund their education, business ideas, nutrition, or even health. All of this perpetuates poverty and passes it down to generations.
We are aware that Ebonyi cannot wish its current economic realities away. The only way out is to make deliberate efforts to turn around the fate of our people. This inspired a group of Ebonyians to come together and make it their responsibility to achieve the “Ebonyi dream”.
This led to the creation of the Laureates Science and Innovation and Education Initiative (Ebonyi Laureates). We had very humble beginnings. We were simply a Telegram group for sharing self-development opportunities with Ebonyians. When Telegram was slow, we migrated to a Facebook page and a WhatsApp page, which grew into a community.
The 2022 Serenze Global Education Grant showed us how powerful sharing opportunities could be. One of our STEM club members shared the application link on our WhatsApp page, and when the results arrived, out of 100 people selected from the whole world, 7 were members of our STEM club, with one person joining us after the grant, making a total of 8 out of 100.
The Serenze Grant provided the mentorship that gave our organisation the competence to apply for the DataCamp Donates partnership. In 2022, we became DataCamp Donates partners, a partnership that has been renewed for three consecutive years. We are currently in our fourth year of partnership. We have empowered over 500 Ebonyians and Nigerians, including persons with disabilities, with free Data Skills. We have reported jobs, promotions, and increased earnings, with one of our scholarship recipients winning two international DataCamp Competitions (3rd Place and first place).
Our Community is home to over 400 members, spread across our five clubs
STEM Club - Empowering members with information to gain open-access STEM education
Book Club - Improving reading culture and literacy. Encouraging creativity through open mics and sharing opportunities for literary competitions and careers. Holding conversations surrounding culture.
Scholarship Club - Empowering members with information to gain access to free education and scholarships
Research Club - Driving a culture of research through mentorship
Blood Donor Club - Creating a culture of voluntary blood donation. Dispelling myths and cultures that discourage blood donation. Mobilised 4 blood donations in 2025.
All our programmes are free, and we are able to do this through an amazing core team and a supportive community.
Follow us on social media and subscribe to our Substack.
The Ebonyi Laureates team
@Uchechukwu Chinonyelum,