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Meet Jeremiah Thoronka, our Man Crush for Monday.
Growing up in a slum camp for displaced people on the outskirts of the capital Freetown, Sierra Leone, raised by his single mother, Jeremiah saw how the effects of burning charcoal and wood for lighting and heat were having a detrimental impact on health and children’s progression. This prompt Jeremiah’s interest renewable energy and climate change, making him an advocate.
At 17, while studying at Rwanda’s African Leadership University, he launched a start-up called Optim Energy that transforms vibrations from vehicles and pedestrian footfall on roads into an electric current, generating power without relying on changeable weather and not needing connection to an external power source.
He invented a device that uses kinetic energy from traffic and pedestrians to generate clean power for which he was named the winner of the Chegg.org Global Student Prize 2021. He became the first winner of this $100,000 award to the Global Teacher Prize which is given to one exceptional student who has made a real impact on learning, the lives of their peers and on society beyond.
With just two devices, the start-up provided free electricity to 150 households comprising around 1,500 citizens, as well as 15 schools where more than 9,000 students attend. 019, the local community grid in the rural area where Jeremiah operates experienced a 5% improvement in energy access (3% more than the average for the country) – and in 2020, Optim Energy was selected among 98 leading energy startups listed by the United Nations Major Group for Children and Youth.
Over the years, Jeremiah’s contributions have also been recognized with various awards, including the African Leadership Academic Excellence Award, the African Leadership University Innovative Thinker/Entrepreneur 2020, the Sierra Leone Academic Excellence Award 2009, and Best Student at Saint Edward’s Secondary School for seven consecutive years. In 2021, he received the Commonwealth Youth Award for Excellence in Development, a World Wildlife Fund Top 100 Young African Conservation Leader and Chegg.org Global Student Prize.
