Enjoying the fruits of her labour
Enjoying the fruits of her labour
VUT Project Director and scientist: Dr Tozama Qwebani- Ogunleye, second from the left, with some of the winners
Selina Rapulane
VUT Project Director and scientist, Dr Tozama Qwebani-Ogunleye has been flying the VUT and Dihlare Remedies’ flag high and she never ceases to amaze people with the fast pace at which she’s climbing the ladder to recognition and career success.
She has been making headlines because of her hard work and her dedication to her institution and the community.
In October 2018, she received a message of her nomination which was made public by the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA). She was in California‘s Silicon Valley at the time where she was attending the TechWomen professional mentorship programme at the Business Unit of ThermoFischer Scientific.
She was named first runner-up at the 2018 South African Youth Awards that took place on the 7th of December 2018 at the International Convention Centre in East London under the theme: Be the legacy (a nod to the centenary year of Mr Nelson Mandela’s birth).
“I am honored to have received such recognition from the NYDA and the South African public at large. This external recognition gives validation about what I am doing and serves as motivation to want to contribute more to my community and have greater positive social impact while collaborating with people of the same cause,” she exclaimed on winning the award.
When asked how she felt when her name was called out at the award ceremony, she said: “I felt like asking my aunt who was sitting next to me, if they really called my name. I heard it but, somehow, I felt like confirming before running to the stage. I was super excited, but at the same time not feeling myself, a lot happened within seconds!”
The NYDA awards recognise individuals aged 35 and under who are contributing to South African communities through empowering young people and encouraging the public and private sectors to contribute to youth development.
Her belief that young people are the hope of the nation and that there is a great need for them to discover that they are all leaders in one way or another, gained her this recognition.
She volunteers her time in various projects in this regard. These projects include: The role modelling campaign organised by the National Research Foundation, the Eskom Expo for young scientists where she was a judge, the NRF PhD project, reviews for the Scientific Journal, writing blogs for Women Emancipation as ongoing process (http://www.drtqo.com/Blog2.html), the NRF-SAASTA National Science Week as grant-holder, postgraduate student supervisor and author of the book: 20 Fantastic life lessons: Insights from my life journey.
“I have always had an innate love for maths. My adolescent afternoons were spent preparing for the Maths 24 School Challenge. My parents bought the Maths 24 kit and each Sunday my parents, brother, sister and I would play. My passion for maths, along with my family’s support, culminated in me representing my school at a national level. Mr Mthithala: my former math’s teacher at Bizana Village Primary School was excellent in maths and added to my interest in it.
“I heard about TechWomen through social media from Mrs Mide Ayeni, a 2017 TechWomen fellow from Nigeria. She tagged me in a post where she was encouraging us to apply. I went straight to the TechWomen website to read more and saw that it was an opportunity of a lifetime and one I would take full advantage of, should I become a fellow,” she said.
Moving forward as a TechWoman fellow, she would like to see the feasibility study that was started at VUT growing, becoming the Centre of Excellence for Traditional Knowledge and Traditional Medicine, leading nationally and internationally in terms of research and development and commercialisation of regulated formulations for indigenous plants and to empower the next generation of scientists.
