Yewande Akinse

Yewande Akinse (née Adebowale) is a Nigerian poet, author and entrepreneur who co-founded, Salubata, Pap.earth and Plychain.

She received the African Adaptation Solutions Challenge and the Commonwealth Youth award in connection with the 2022 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Kigali, Rwanda.

Education
Yewande Akinse was born on September 25, 1992, in Lagos, Nigeria. She attended St. Mary’s Private School in Ajele, Lagos before moving on to the Holy Child College, Lagos, where she completed her secondary education. She obtained her LL.B degree and LL.M degree at the University of Lagos. In 2014 she earned her B.L degree at Nigerian Law School.

Career
Yewande Akinse is a lawyer, social entrepreneur, poet and author as well as an advocate of climate change. She is the co-founder of PAP. EARTH, an eco search engine which covers the removal of CO2 and controls Climate change, and Salubata, a company that makes modular shoes crafted from recycled plastic waste. She has over 110 published poems. Her works include the collections "A Tale of being, of green and of ing.." (2019) and "Voices: A collection of poems that tell stories" (2016).

In 2021, Akinse became one of 15 young African entrepreneurs to win the first edition of the African Youth Adaptation (YouthADAPT) Solutions Challenge.

In 2022, Ex-President, Muhammadu Buhari appreciated her for emerging as one of the top four winners in the Commonwealth Youth competition, at the 26th Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) held in Kigali, Rwanda.

On 8 September 2022, she emerged as the winner of the World Bank YouthActonEDU Spoken Word Prize.

Books

 * A Tale of being, of green and of ing (2019)


 * Voices: A collection of poems that tell stories (2016)

Awards and recognition

 * Tory Burch Entrepreneur Fellow 2024


 * African Adaptation Solutions Challenge


 * Commonwealth Youth Green Guru Award


 * Best Graduating Student, Holy Child College, 2008


 * 2013, Fidelity Bank Prize for Creative Writing


 * 2019, ⁠The Guardian Newspaper (TGN) Prize for Poetry


 * 2020, Project Knucklehead Prize for Creative Rebellion


 * ⁠World Bank YouthActonEDU Spoken Word Prize, 2022


 * FemSTEM Africa Pitch Competition


 * Allergan Aesthetics & IFundWomen Business Grant Award