JCI Bulawayo launches Ten Outstanding Young Persons

By The Southern Eye | Mar. 10, 2014

JUNIOR Chamber International (JCI) Bulawayo officially launched its 2014 edition of the Ten Outstanding Young Persons (TOYP) programme last Friday at an event attended by civic and corporate leaders, as well as members of the academic and media fraternities.

TOYP formally recognises young people aged between 18 and 40 years of age who excel in their chosen fields and create positive change, to encourage nominees to continue excelling, while inspiring other young persons to greater levels of performance for the good of society at large.

TOYP 2014 award categories

Each nominee must be entered in only one of the following ten categories:

Business, economic or entrepreneurial accomplishment,
Political, legal and governmental affairs,
Academic leadership or accomplishment,
Cultural achievement,
Moral and environmental leadership,
Contribution to children, world peace or human rights,
Humanitarian or voluntary leadership,
Scientific or technological development,
Personal improvement and accomplishment,
Medical innovation.

TOYP 2014 General Rules

Nominees must be between the ages of 18 and 40, which should be evidenced by a certified copy of the nominee’s ID/Birth Certificate.
The nominee must be a native-born or naturalised citizen of the nation from which the nomination originates (Zimbabwe), or must have applied for citizenship by January 1 of 2014.
Nominees need not be members of JCI, as long as they meet the previous two requirements and register through a JCI local Organisation.
The nominee may not be a current member of the board at the International, National or local levels.
The nominee must sign the declaration of nomination form and submit it attesting to all facts contained in the form and granting permission for publication of these facts.
By signing this form, the nominee also indicates willingness, barring extreme circumstances, to attend the JCI TOYP Ceremony at the JCI World Congress, if selected for the award.
All information must be contained on the official form and supporting material will not be used in the judging process. If a candidate is selected as one of the ten international honourees, however, these items will be requested by JCI World headquarters,
A good quality, 4” x 6” (10 cm x 15 cm) black-and-white, head-and-shoulders photograph must be uploaded with the official nomination form.
National organisations can submit unlimited nomination forms,
A person can be nominated in only the JCI Creative Young Entrepreneur Award (JCI CYEA) OR the JCI Ten Outstanding Young Persons of the World (JCI TOYP) programme in the same year on an international level,
A person who passes away between the national and the international competition cannot be nominated for the international JCI TOYP award,
Nominees must be willing to promote the ideals of JCI for the year.

Nomination process Those wishing to nominate somebody for any of the award categories can log onto JCI’s website: http://www.jci.cc/jciprograms/en/toyp/toypapplicationform or e-mail jcibulawayo@gmail.com and name that person. They will then be e-mailed a soft copy of the nomination form to complete and submit to the same email address. Nominations can also be submitted to any of the other JCI local organisations located in Harare, Mutare, Kwekwe and Gweru who will convey these to JCI Bulawayo. We shall also be distributing forms through other youth, business and developmental networks before the nominations closing date of April 15 2014. The JCI TOYP 2014 award ceremony All National JCI TOYP honourees will be invited to a colourful JCI TOYP ceremony during the 2014 JCI World Congress, in November in Leipzig, Germany, where they will be presented with their trophies. Costs will be met by JCI. About JCI JCI emerged in 1915 when Henry Giessenbier realised that his social club formed in 1910 in St Louis, US needed to make a positive contribution to society.

Today JCI exists in 125 countries with over 200 000 members comprising young leaders and entrepreneurs between the ages of 18 and 40 years. Its main purpose is to contribute to global advancement while developing leadership skills, social responsibility, entrepreneurship and the fellowship necessary to create a positive change.

Globally JCI boasts prominent alumni such as John F Kennedy, Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Kofi Annan and Jacque Chirac, evidencing its significant contribution to leadership development. Zimbabwean Jaycees have excelled on a global scale, rising to occupy positions on the international board.

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JCI Bulawayo has been in existence since 1992 and has groomed several prominent leaders and is currently led by local president Mlondolozi Ndlovu under the theme, Transformed to Transform, in recognition of the need to develop young people so that they in turn may impact their communities.

JCI Bulawayo plans to bring positivity, passion and purpose to Bulawayo’s youth, while working with the government, the civic sector and corporates to create positive change.