Adenike Adebukola Akinsemolu is a Nigerian Environmental sustainability advocate, educator, author and a social entrepreneur. She is a lecturer at Obafemi Awolowo University (Adeyemi College Campus). She is known as one of the country's leading experts on environmental sustainability. Akinsemolu is the founder of Green Campus Initiative, the first campus based environmental advocacy organization in Nigeria. Green institute, the sustainability research and education institution. In her cause to promote girl child education, she founded the Girl Prize which provides financial and mentorship support for young Nigerian secondary school girl Akinsemolu is a Robert Bosch Stiftung and Nigeria Energy Awards Awardee. She is an author of publicated journals including the journal on the role of

microorganism A microorganism, or microbe,, ''mikros'', "small") and ''organism'' from the el, ὀργανισμός, ''organismós'', "organism"). It is usually written as a single word but is sometimes hyphenated (''micro-organism''), especially in olde ...

s in achieving

sustainable development goals The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) or Global Goals are a collection of 17 interlinked objectives designed to serve as a "shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future".United Nations (2017) R ...

Career

Adenike Akinsemolu was born in

Ondo State Ondo State ( yo, Ìpínlẹ̀ Oǹdó) is a state in southwestern Nigeria. It was created on 3 February 1976 from the former Western State. It borders Ekiti State to the north, Kogi State to the northeast, Edo State to the east, Delta State to t ...

, Nigeria. She holds

Master's A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

and Ph.D degrees in

Environmental Microbiology A biophysical environment is a biotic and abiotic surrounding of an organism or population, and consequently includes the factors that have an influence in their survival, development, and evolution. A biophysical environment can vary in scale f ...

from

Babcock University Babcock University is a private Christian co-educational Nigerian university owned and operated by the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Nigeria. The university is located at Ilishan-Remo, Ogun State, Nigeria, equidistant between Ibadan and Lago ...

and Federal University of Technology, and a postgraduate diploma in Education from Obafemi Awolowo University. She worked with the

Clinton Foundation The Clinton Foundation (founded in 2001 as the William J. Clinton Presidential Foundation, and renamed in 2013 as the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation) is a nonprofit organization under section 501(c)(3) of the U.S. tax code. It was e ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

and later established the Green Campus Initiative. Akinsemolu is an Associate Fellow of the

Royal Commonwealth Society The Royal Commonwealth Society (RCS) is a non-governmental organisation with a mission to promote the value of the Commonwealth and the values upon which it is based. The Society upholds the values of the Commonwealth Charter, promoting confli ...

and a member of the National Steering Committee of the Sustainable Energy Practitioners Association of Nigeria (SEPAN) under the Ministry of Power. She is a Robert Bosch Stiftung Young Researcher Awardee. In October 2015, she won Nigeria Energy Awards for Energy Efficiency and Advocacy. She advocated for the inclusion of green education and sustainability in the Nigerian academic curriculum. In 2015,

Sahara Reporters Sahara Reporters is an online news agency based in New York City that focuses on promoting citizen journalism by encouraging everyday people to report stories about corruption, human rights abuses and other political misconduct in Africa, with s ...

did a documentary on her Green Journey. Akinsemolu serves as an Academic Associate with the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

Sustainable Development Solutions Network and a Scientific Committee Member of the 6th Annual International Conference on Sustainable Development (ICSD), at

The Earth Institute {{Infobox organization , name = The Earth Institute , image = Ei blue1.gif , map_size = , map_alt = , map_caption = , map2 = , type = , tax_id ...

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

. In 2020, Akinsemolu published the book: "''The Principles of Green and Sustainability Science"'', that examines sustainability issues in Africa. In March 2021, Akinsemolu was recognized as one of the top youth leaders in conservation on the continent, becoming one of the Nigerian winners of the Africa’s Top 100 Young Conservation Leaders award by the Africa Alliance of the

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams in London, originally ...

, the

World Organization of the Scout Movement The World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM ) is the largest international Scouting organization. WOSM has 173 members. These members are recognized national Scout organizations, which collectively have around 43 million participants. WOS ...

, the African Wildlife Foundation and

World Wildlife Fund The World Wide Fund for Nature Inc. (WWF) is an international non-governmental organization founded in 1961 that works in the field of wilderness preservation and the reduction of human impact on the environment. It was formerly named the Wo ...

Green Institute

In 2015, Akinsemolu founded Green Campus Initiative (GCI), the first campus-based environmental advocacy organization in Nigeria. Its organizational model was recognized at the Fourth Annual Green Campuses Conference 2015 at the University of the Western Cape in South Africa with awards for green campus activities. GCI is a member of the UN Sustainable Development Network, has over 500 ambassadors, and has trained more than 5,500 students across 28 country's universities. In 2017, the Green Campus Initiative developed into the Green Institute, the sustainability research and training institution, and a social enterprise. Professor Damilola S. Olawuyi became the first president of the institute. The institute provides academic programs on Sustainability and activities on building social entrepreneurship, in line with meeting the

United Nations Sustainable Development Goals The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) or Global Goals are a collection of 17 interlinked objectives designed to serve as a "shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future".United Nations (2017) R ...

. The organization is the first academic institution in Nigeria to finance[college tuition costs through a waste management program “Trash for education” providing students with "credits" in return for the collected waste, which is later purchased by the state government and private enterprises. In June 2020, The Green Institute organized a global sustainability summit on World Environment Day, gathering over twenty five sustainability leaders from various countries, including the renowned economic environmentalist Jeffrey Sachs.

Social issues and advocacy

Akinsemolu has promoted the girl child education cause and founded the "Girl Prize", a

scholarship A scholarship is a form of financial aid awarded to students for further education. Generally, scholarships are awarded based on a set of criteria such as academic merit, diversity and inclusion, athletic skill, and financial need. Scholarsh ...

and mentorship program. She participated in the Clinton Foundation relief mission following the

2004 Indian Ocean earthquake An earthquake and a tsunami, known as the Boxing Day Tsunami and, by the scientific community, the Sumatra–Andaman earthquake, occurred at 07:58:53 local time (UTC+7) on 26 December 2004, with an epicentre off the west coast of northern Suma ...

and

Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a destructive Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that caused over 1,800 fatalities and $125 billion in damage in late August 2005, especially in the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. It was at the time the cost ...

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

Publications

*The role of

s in achieving the sustainable development goals (SDG). *The vulnerability of women to climate change in coastal regions of Nigeria: A case of the Ilaje community in

Awards And Recognitions

*Robert Bosch Stiftung Young Researcher Award. *Nigeria Energy Awards for Energy Efficiency and Advocacy, 2015. *Member of the National Steering Committee of the Sustainable Energy Practitioners Association of Nigeria (SEPAN) *Academic Associate with the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network. *Scientific Committee Member of the 6th Annual International Conference on Sustainable Development (ICSD)

Bibliography

* ''The Principles of Green and Sustainability Science'', Springer, 2020,

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Akinsemolu, Adenike Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Nigerian women academics 21st-century Nigerian businesswomen Nigerian women company founders Nigerian nonprofit businesspeople Nigerian environmentalists Nigerian women environmentalists Nigerian social entrepreneurs Babcock University alumni Federal University of Technology Akure alumni People from Ondo State Nigerian women educators Nigerian women business executives