2025 Second Edition

• Purpose: This award recognizes and celebrates a businessperson or leader that has made significant positive impact in their communities through giving to benefit others as a result of their success in business. This ranges but is not limited to giving back to the community in the form of; building schools, clinics, sending hundreds of children to school, looking after orphans, the elderly, building roads, mitigating climate and environmental degradation amongst other impacts a wealthy or success person in business can give to their community. The impact or investment should be of high value.

• Criteria: high investment in community activities that can be easily quantifiable, community engagement, sustainability, financial investment, innovation, and social impact.

• Purpose: Honors individuals or organizations that have made extraordinary contributions to humanitarian efforts, providing aid and support to those in need. This is about a person’s extra ordinary effort to mobilise resources alone or to mobilise others to pull up aid for their community or country. They should prove that they had a highly influential role in mobilising significant resources worth more than $50 000 to help community in times of crisis. Crisis includes moments like cyclones, draughts, pandemics etc.

• Criteria: Scope of humanitarian work (how big the contribution was and the role they played in mobilising the resources), impact on affected populations, leadership, and dedication.

Thina Mpofu – Winner

• Purpose: Celebrates individuals whose initiatives have created meaningful social change, addressing critical issues like education, health, the elderly, people with disabilities, and community development amongst others. The person should have mobilised demonstrable resources which they contributed to their community.

• Criteria: Measurable social impact, innovation, scalability, and sustainability.

Albert Chikuni – Winner

• Purpose: Celebrates individuals in the entertainment industry who have used their platform to drive social change and raise awareness on important issues. They should have clearly led a critical issue that is traceable and whose impact is also clear. They may have championed for a certain social cause raising awareness of social ills, human rights, a cause beyond their own comfort. They should also possess a clean image around issues of all human rights including women’s rights and should be progressive in their engagement with social issues.
• Criteria: Influence, reach, advocacy, and contribution to social causes.

David Kanduna – Winner

• Purpose: Celebrates young individuals between the ages 18 to 35, making significant contributions to their communities because of their influence. Beyond their own comfort, they have caused measurable impact that shows their selflessness with their own resources, time and passions. Their contribution must be measurable, and in any social issue that include but not limited to advancing education, sport, including creating jobs so long as they can show the number of people including youths while advancing gender equality, employed.

• Criteria: Innovation, leadership, community involvement, and measurable impact.

Yeukai Otillia Munetsi – Winners

• Purpose: Honors efforts by an individual aimed at reducing poverty through sustainable development, economic empowerment, and community initiatives. The person must demonstrate personal efforts they carried out to contribute to the alleviation of poverty. Their efforts must be quantifiable.
• Criteria: Effectiveness, sustainability, innovation, and reach of poverty alleviation programs.

Muziwandile Dube – Winner

• Purpose: Celebrates the significant efforts made by an individual to contribute to environmental conservation and climate change mitigation. The person must demonstrate their impact by showing significant efforts that they carried out to impact the environment or climate. It can also include leading a group of people to carry out an initiative or initiatives that are significant for the preservation of flora and fauna. The person’s role, however, must show their passion, selflessness in preserving the said issues.

• Criteria: Environmental impact, innovation, sustainability, and scalability.

Mathias Begede – Winner

• Purpose: Celebrates individuals that have made significant contributions to the promotion and protection of human rights. The individual should demonstrate a selfless devotion to any of the broader human rights that include women’s rights, children’s rights, the elderly, people with disabilities, universal rights, democracy, governance and accountability, and has made significant strides to advance the cause. They should show the impact of their efforts at a good scale and how they have made this happen even working with an institution.

• Criteria: Advocacy, implementation, impact on human rights issues, leadership, and dedication.

Henry Chitsenga – Winner

• Purpose: Recognizes an athlete that have either been successful in sport and have come back to their community to use their wealth, resources and talent to advance their community either investing in education, sports or any other cause. They should have spent significant money or resources either directly investing in children, community or built infrastructure that benefits community. It can also be a person who has used sports as a tool for social change, promoting health, gender equality, unity, and development, but their efforts must be significantly quantifiable.

• Criteria: Sportsmen-ship, community impact, advocacy, and achievements.

Wilfred Manenji Mashaya – Winner

• Purpose: Honors journalists or storytellers who have made a significant impact through their reporting and storytelling, shedding light on critical human rights and development issues. The journalist or storyteller must demonstrate a sustained coverage of a key issue that they care about to the levels that it impacts on policy change or societal behaviour change. The journalist/ story teller must show a sustained concentration on an issue or issues; at least 10 articles for one issue or 20 for no more than 3 issues, it can also be a significant body of works (film/s, documentaries/docu-series, skits (skits have to be unsponsored) over the last two years.

• Criteria: Investigative excellence, impact of stories, ethics, and dedication to truth.

Calvin Manika – Winner

• Purpose: Celebrates African artists whose creative work has had a profound impact across Southern and East Africa, addressing various social issues such as human rights, inequalities, promoting positive culture, democracy, governance, accountability amongst others. The artist must be apolitical, working with everyone in the community or country to promote their messaging. The eligible arts include music, poetry, painting, theatre, painting, sculpture, photography and film. The individual must be able to prove that the work is theirs and must demonstrate a substantial body of works to show their dedication and commitment to their cause.

• Criteria: Artistic excellence, consistency, influence, advocacy, and cultural impact.

Zwelihle Banks Nsiiwa – Winner

• Purpose: Celebrates an individual who has served as an exemplary role model in Southern and East Africa, inspiring others through their actions and achievements. This honours role models both youthful and mature, who demonstrate Pan Africanism, unifying the region in their demeanour shining the light that Africa is one, and that united we can elevate and advance our people. This person can be working in uniting Southern & East Africa on any of the issues that span human rights, education, politics, business, etc.

• Criteria: African Leadership, influence, achievements, and contributions to society.

Susan Lubambe Mwape – Winner

● Purpose

This award honors a social activist, business leader, or entrepreneur who has championed the use of emerging technologies to drive transformative and measurable impact in Southern and East African communities. For business leaders or entrepreneurs, the recognized work must be undertaken beyond their routine business operations. To qualify, nominees must have demonstrated consistent commitment over a span of at least five years, with clear and sustained impact. Whether through direct innovation, in fields such as fintech, AgriTech, edtech, Healthtech, AI, or renewable energy—or through advocacy and resource mobilization for digital inclusion, this award celebrates individuals advancing community well-being through technology. It also recognizes efforts to expand basic technological access, particularly in underserved or marginalized areas, helping to bridge the digital divide and foster inclusive growth.

● Criteria:

• • Demonstrated use or sustained advocacy of innovative and emerging technologies to solve real community challenges, including improved digital access and inclusion.
  • Proven, quantifiable impact on communities through tech-based solutions, skills development, and digital literacy over a minimum of five years.
  • Mobilization of financial, policy, or community support with a focus on sustainability, scalability, and relevance to Zimbabwe’s and the region’s development priorities.

John Zhuwao Arufandika – Winner