Mohamed Kamara, Johnson & Wales University, Providence Campus

Mohamed Kamara, a junior at Johnson & Wales University (JWU), is passionate about providing educational opportunities for children in Africa. A refugee from Sierra Leone’s bloody civil war, Mohamed knows firsthand the challenges faced by children living in poverty and turmoil. In high school, he engaged in fundraising efforts to provide school fees for two African schoolchildren. As an International Business major at JWU, Mohamed has used his entrepreneurial spirit to create Enlighten the Youth (ETY), a nonprofit dedicated to providing education and literacy resources to children in Africa, to address the root causes of social issues there. Through Mohamed’s vision and vocal leadership, ETY has already partnered in the establishment of a literacy center in Ghana, and next he hopes to fund the first public library in his home country of Sierra Leone. Mohamed’s initiative and transformational leadership embody the power of education partnered with opportunity that he seeks to provide for children all across Africa.