Akon to receive award for humanitarian efforts
American R&B and hip hop star Akon with participants at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit at the United Nations offices in Nairobi after giving a speech on July 24, 2015. PHOTO | JOHN MUCHUCHA |
What you need to know:
- He started out the humanitarian effort in 2007 with the establishment of the Konfidence Foundation, dedicated to providing Senegalese youth with educational resources and access to health services.
- Seven years later, alongside partners and sponsors, Akon co-founded “Akon Lighting Africa“, which is currently bringing solar-powered electricity to the homes of over 600 million people in more than 11 countries in rural Africa.
American TV network BET has revealed that multitalented singer Akon will be honoured with the Global Good Award at the 2016 BET Awards ceremony slated for this Sunday.
World-renowned actor and film producer Samuel L. Jackson will also be honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award. Actor and activist Jesse Williams will also receive the Humanitarian Award.
The Global Good Award is part of the BET Awards and honours individuals championing causes around the world. The award aims to highlight those who have positively made an impact and heightened awareness in different parts of the world.
SECOND RECIPIENT
This is the second annual Global Good Award to be awarded, with the first going to former Miss Tanzania Millen Magese, who received it in 2015, in its inaugural year.
Magese was feted for her tremendous efforts in raising awareness about the endometriosis disease.
Akon, 43, a Grammy and BET Award-nominee, two-time multi-platinum musical artiste, producer, entrepreneur, and philanthropist, will be the second recipient of the prestigious award for his involvement in a Lighting Africa campaign that is aimed at providing electricity is various parts of rural Africa.
LIGHTING AFRICA PROJECT
Born in the United States to Senegalese parents, Akon developed a love for Senegal and deep desire to help the nation’s youth.
He started out the humanitarian effort in 2007 with the establishment of the Konfidence Foundation, dedicated to providing Senegalese youth with educational resources and access to health services.
Seven years later, alongside partners and sponsors, Akon co-founded “Akon Lighting Africa“, which is currently bringing solar-powered electricity to the homes of over 600 million people in more than 11 countries in rural Africa.
The release by BET also acknowledged his other efforts: “He also helped launch the Solar Academy in Bamako, Mali, where engineers will be taught how to develop solar power, and has expanded his impact beyond Africa by teaming up with government officials in several Latin American countries, including Brazil, to bring electricity to needy homes.”
