During the 2024 YouthMADE Festival, 10 teams across six countries received a YouthMADE Festival Amplify Grant, a $500 stipend sponsored by Ciena to help students expand and amplify their projects. Among the grantees are a group of students in the Young Innovator’s Club at Edgba Odeda High School Junior in Odeda, Nigeria who also received a Ciena Solutions Challenge Sustainability Award. In this story, student Raphael shares how the team repurposes waste, the progress they’ve made since receiving the Amplify Grant in 2024, and their plans for the future.
Our community faces challenges like irregular electricity supply and pollution from plastic and electronic waste. These problems inspired us to start our project titled “Household Appliances Innovation Powered by Solar and Biogas Energy Solutions.” In this project, we upcycle and recycle damaged and discarded appliances, plastic, and electronic waste to create useful devices like torches, fans, and blenders. We also repair damaged electrical appliances to give them new life and reduce waste.
In addition, we create biogas (a renewable fuel that comes from the breakdown of organic matter) using animal dung and food waste, which litter our community. This clean energy source can be used for cooking and lighting, offering a sustainable alternative to expensive and harmful fossil fuels.
Young Innovators’ Club after the official inauguration of the club.
Since receiving the grant in May 2024, we have made significant progress on our project. We established a mini innovation tech hub in our school, fully equipped with work tables and stools, and wired it in preparation for a solar energy installation. Through a partnership with Tunde-Ben Global Solar Power Installation Company in Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria, we have started training students and local youths on solar power installation and repair.
To date, we have repaired more than 70 damaged electrical appliances and created more than 50 new devices, including solar-powered torches, rechargeable lanterns, blenders, and fans. In addition, we constructed a locally-made biodigester for green cooking technology, offering a sustainable energy solution for our school. Our project has also focused on raising awareness about sustainability, inspiring our rural community to embrace eco-friendly practices and innovative solutions.
Students in the Young Innovators’ Club undergoing training on solar power installation and repair by our training partner, Tunde Ben Global solar power company.
We also plan to scale up our innovations by creating more advanced solar-powered devices and biogas systems. We intend to partner with organizations to secure resources for mass production, making our solutions accessible and affordable to families and businesses in need.
Furthermore, we hope to organize community outreach programs and workshops to increase awareness about sustainability, waste recycling, and renewable energy. Our long-term goal is to establish a regional center for green technology and innovation, empowering young people across Africa to solve environmental challenges and create a cleaner, greener future for all.
Young Innovators Club students in the hub creating a vegetable blender and repairing damaged torches.
It’s important that students have learning experiences where we can develop skills that we can use beyond the classroom. When we get to be creative and problem solve to work on projects we care about, it makes learning more meaningful and exciting. It also teaches us to think critically, work as a team, and take responsibility for making a positive impact in our communities.
We hope our story inspires other students and schools to start similar projects. With the right guidance, even discarded items like plastic and electronics waste or damaged appliances can be turned into something valuable. Our journey isn’t just about innovation—it’s about hope, sustainability, and making the world a better place one idea at a time.
Our story is also about showing how young people can turn challenges into opportunities. We are proof that students, even in underserved communities like ours, can use creativity, teamwork, and determination to solve real-life problems. We want others to know that no idea is too small and no challenge is too big if you are willing to try.
Students in the Young Innovators’ Club testing their locally constructed Biogas Plant.
