In Kano State, a shortage of skilled healthcare workers meant that expecting mothers were having their babies delivered by unskilled traditional birth Attendants (TBAs) who used the wrong tools and adopted unhygienic practices that put both the mother and baby at risk. After identifying the challenges and trust that the rural women had in these unskilled TBAs, they created a program that involved the training of these TBAs and the facilitation of linkages between them and primary health care centres in case of complications arising during delivery.

The COVID-19 pandemic led to a shift in the program’s focus as ACT Foundation wished to address resultant impacts of the crisis and empower students demonstrating leadership in implementing projects that responded to the pandemic with a view of reducing its spread or impact on vulnerable communities. In Kaduna state, 15 students and 3 teachers responded to the crisis by developing the project titled HyHeals and producing safe and affordable hand sanitization products, made from biodegradable bamboo, for beneficiaries in Kaduna, Kano, Abuja, and Jos.

Since 2021, the Leadership Challenge has re-focused in response to the rise of the 4th Industrial Revolution, with the aim of supporting Enactus students that implement science based and technology-driven innovations which sufficiently generate wealth amongst unemployed Nigerians.

ENACTUS students from the Federal University of Technology in Owerri developed an online ordering and delivery management platform known as RunAm which enabled bicycle riders in the community to earn money by granting local markets, supermarkets, and restaurants easy access to their suppliers and customers. Through ACT Foundation’s initial seed funding in 2021, they onboarded 11 businesses in the community and enabled over 2100 deliveries of products worth 2.3 million naira.

The ACT Foundation Leadership challenge continues working to transform Nigerian communities by improving the leadership skills of students. Furthermore, these students benefit from non-academic outcomes such as goal-setting, basic leadership skills and the application of basic ethics in life. Most importantly, with each call for student innovations, young people are forced to conduct research to identify the greatest challenges within their communities, and think up ways to proffer local, innovative solutions.