nnaemeka ikegwuonu
Smallholders Foundation
gabriel charlet
Alcatel-Lucent
“It’s important to keep an
open mind when you’re
looking for new ideas and a
source of inspiration,” says
researcher Gabriel Charlet.
His willingness to embrace
a technique that the tele-
com industry had aban-
doned more than 20 years
ago helped Charlet and his
team break the record for
high-speed data transmis-
sion along a fiber-optic
cable by a factor of 10.
For some 250,000 impoverished farm-
ers in Nigeria’s southern Imo State,
Nnaemeka Ikegwuonu is a true radio
star. His Smallholders Foundation sta-
tion broadcasts 10 hours of agricul-
tural programming daily, keeping
locals up to date on everything from
soil management to cassava prices at
nearby markets. That’s vital informa-
tion in this rural region, where few
people have access to electricity, let
alone information on modern farming
techniques. Listeners can also share
tips, via free solar-powered devices
that record and send messages to be
broadcast. “We consider ourselves a
library of Western and indigenous
agricultural knowledge,” says Ikeg-
wuonu. Since the station was set up in
2007, he claims listeners’ crop yields
have increased by around 65%.
How Nigeria’s
JoHNNy appleseed
works
1 / Ikeg wuonu
broadcasts the latest
advice about best
practices for sustain-
able farming.
2 / His listeners, small
farmers in Nigeria, had
no access to up-to-
date information.
3 / The radio shows
are interactive;
listeners can send
messages and tips
back to the station.
4 / Modern practices
can help boost yields
and improve health and
living conditions.
Jenna lyons
J.Cre w
Jenna Lyons is leading the
charge for J.Crew’s trans-
formation from classic prep
to individualized style. The
president and creative
director has helped rede-
fine the American look
by revamping classic
pieces with modern twists—
quirky layers, covetable
prints, and minute embel-
lishments that make every
mall shopper feel unique.
As the face of the brand,
which was recently
acquired by TPG Capital
for $3 billion, Lyons is more
friend than executive,
sharing “Jenna’s Picks” in
catalogs and online.
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charles Ferguson
Political scientist and filmmaker
Not many Oscar speeches
include a call for indictments: “Three years after a
horrific financial crisis
caused by massive fraud,”
noted Charles Ferguson as
he accepted the best documentary award for Inside
Job, “not a single financial
executive has gone to jail.
And that’s wrong.” Odd?
Maybe, but true to form for
Ferguson, a scary-smart
former foreign-policy wonk
with a knack for turning
dense talk of derivatives
into entertainment. Ferguson’s still unhappy with the
lack of perp walks but is
cheered that the American
Economics Association is
adopting an ethics code to
rein in on-the-take academic economists.
