INTERVIEW: Meet Kitgak Simon, a Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering ambassador and founder of Kitron Green Initiative Hub
There is no true definition of resilience in dream pursuit than the human expression embodied by Kitgak Simon. He’s an award-winning renewable energy researcher, a sustainability advocate and a recognised adjudicator. Kitgak is the founder of Kitron Green Initiatives (KGI), a Global Youth Ambassador for quality education, a Diana Award recipient, a Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering ambassador and many more. But you wouldn’t believe how he soared over poor financial background and lack of access to a guide to become a guiding light for youths in this generation. In this interesting interview, you will meet Kitgak and see him unveil things you didn’t know. He’s a force.
Crispng: Can we meet you?
Ans: Thank you so much for the opportunity. I’m Kitgak Simeon from Plateau State. I’m 25 years old. I studied Electrical and Electronics Engineering, graduated last year, and I’m currently waiting for my National Youth Service. I’m the founder of the Kitron Green Initiative (KGI) Hub, a platform of opportunities for youths who aspire to upskill their career goals and dreams but don’t know how to go about it.
Crispng: That’s amazing. Can you tell us the drive behind the KGI Hub?
And: I like motivating young people to achieve their dreams and promoting sustainable development goals, especially. That led me to volunteer with several organisations like the United Nations to find the Sustainable Development Group in Nigeria. I was the head coordinator for Plateau State from 2022 to 2024. So my motivation is to help young people understand how to take advantage of opportunities to promote their goals, to help them develop their communities, and also to bring out innovative solutions to the global challenges that we have. So, that’s why I created the platform to mentor young people.
Crispng: So inspiring. We would love to know more about KGI Hub, how did you get the name and what’s the focus of the hub?
Ans: Yes, KGI Hub came from the name of my organisation on climate change. It means Kitron Green Initiative. It’s a community-based organisation that drives climate action and helps young people to take leadership in climate action itself generally. I mentor them into applying for different opportunities. I also train young farmers through the KGI workshops. I have been doing that for many years, as far as five years. But I was doing it alone before I started the hub on WhatsApp, and people reached out to me.
So our focus majorly is research into climate and renewable energy and anything that has to do with technology including AI, digital systems, web design, and all digital tools. I find pleasure in learning them, using them, and teaching others about them.
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So our focus majorly is research into climate and renewable energy and anything that has to do with technology and AI, digital systems, web design, and all digital tools. I find pleasure in learning them, using them, and teaching others about them.
Crispng: Alright. What’s your platform reach like?
Ans: I have a large audience on the WhatsApp platform, and I’m also trying to have it on Twitter, especially on Telegram. I have a page on Facebook and I’m also looking forward to other platforms that are very important in keeping communication between people.
Crispng: How do you help the youths to achieve their goals and dreams?
Ans: Basically, we help them through mentorship. Then, we encourage and inspire them and encourage them to embrace the sustainable development goals to solve some of the issues in communities. And they also have access to opportunities to develop themselves and advance their careers through training, scholarships, fellowships, and opportunities. We have resources that will help them to prepare for such opportunities and grab them. The most important thing is to be able to grab an opportunity that would help you as an individual and also help you to impact your community. So, what we look at is the impact you are making on the community as you develop yourself.
Crispng: Wow, that’s very nice. Can you tell us about your journey on the KGI experience?
Ans: Yes. I came from a community and a background where it has been very difficult to get opportunities to grow, and you know, my dream is to get to get global stage, develop myself and to be able to explore the different opportunities we have in the world. So as I was graduating from high school, my dream was to have a scholarship abroad in countries like the UK, China and the United States.
So I knew that to get there without any good financial foundation from home, I had to apply for scholarship opportunities. And it has a lot to do with online applications. But there was no one to put me through; no one around had the knowledge and skills or guide me as a mentor.
Where I grew up was a community called Pankshin in Plateau State. My people are not that exposed to world-class applications. Even our teachers who taught us science gave only theories. There were no practicals. No one knows how to apply for global opportunities. So I started learning it on my own, and it was very difficult. I was trying to see how I could get one. After graduating from high school, I had very excellent results, throughout my academic journey in high school, I was either talking to a teacher or having people calling out to me to help them. I graduated the best student, but I could not get an opportunity to travel nor could I access a scholarship as well. That was what made me start a platform to share different opportunities. You know, I started learning on my own how to apply things and before I could perfect it and start seeing the results, it took me so long.
Crispng: From your journey and experiences, what do you think is the place of mentorship in young people’s growth?
Ans: Mentorship is very important. I realised that without mentorship, young people have passion, may have the skills, and want to do it, but if there’s no one to teach you through, it will be very hard and difficult for you to start on your own and get the results on time.
So I struggled a lot alone for years. Sometimes I would almost get a scholarship opportunity and try to reach it, but in the end, there would be errors in the application or the recommendation letter isn’t well structured or a missing document. I had to focus on studying in Nigeria for 7 years because of the issue and also the impact of COVID-19. These are reasons why I’m concerned about mentorship and I want to help young people escape all these problems. I started the KGI Hub platform, to teach what I know, from my failures, mistakes, successes and experiences in general. I want to help others to see the possibility that they get things done.
Some people have gone to the US through my mentorship, and some people have gotten scholarships in the US and China. Some people have gotten other opportunities like grants. I’ve given them some time. Some people have won some competitions with my help and mentorship in different ways.
Crispng: How many persons has KGI impacted since its creation?
And: Okay, like in the total number of people. It’s a lot, though I have not been keeping proper records because it’s something that we do online. But I can estimate the number of people that we have impacted so far. So I think we have impacted over 200 people. Yes, like directly. Yeah, we have done that.
Crispng: Every initiative comes with its challenges, so what are the most significant challenges you have faced in transferring what you know to Nigerian youths?
Ans: The most significant challenge I faced when I started was that I didn’t have enough evidence. I was also a beginner, and I hadn’t achieved much then. Not that one didn’t try, right? But when you have tried and failed, and when you are trying to help people not to fail and to escape the mistakes you have made; most people might not take this seriously until maybe you show some evidence that, okay, I did this and that, and it’s worked out. Yeah, that’s what inspires people to, like think: ah, let’s do this! But when I started, I had nothing.
Like, I was also out there telling people that, yeah, they can do it. However, no one was giving me enough attention. It was when I started seeing results myself that people started even reaching out, “Please, I need your help, I need this opportunity; how do I apply?”
Another thing is financial support. I grew up in a background where there was not much money. So that’s one of my motivations to also break out of poverty and all financial challenges in general. I believe that opportunities open doors for financial support and all that, you know. Yeah, one has to keep buying enough data. You have to run Zoom calls, hold meetings, and hold webinars. You are guiding people, and all the time, it involves huge data subscriptions. Also, I was a student throughout when I was doing most of it. And then, I was studying an engineering course and it wasn’t easy.
You know how engineering is. Yeah. And there is another challenge which is authenticity, you know, these stuffs are online, right? And to get some of those things we share, we have to verify them very well because people complain that they fall into scams and the rest of it.
The issue is in separating the legitimate opportunities and the ones that are not because we are not the ones creating the opportunities. We have to analyze which one is real or not and that is very difficult.
Crispng: Thank you so much for sharing your challenges. How many awards or recognitions have you gotten so far, locally and internationally?
Ans: Yeah, the awards. There are plenty of them, like, I’ve gotten over 20 awards and recognitions. Such as the Diana Award in November 2024, and as a Green Sustainability Ambassador. I got the Youth Leader Award 2023 for the Sustainable Development Goals. I got the award of the best adjudicator/ the best judge in a university speaking contest.I also have the UNHCR Young Refugee Champion Award. UNHCR Young Leadership Award. Yeah, and other numerous recognitions.
Crispng: Okay. Well, between male and female, which is the group with a keen interest in opportunities?
Ans: most of the beneficiaries are females. Females seem more committed to taking instructions and getting it done timely. Most of the people who are keen on serious mentorship are females, while the males are trying to reach out but not as much as females.
Crispng: Okay, that’s good. With what you have done at this time, where do you see yourself in the future? Let’s say in the next five years.
Ans: I have always aspired to get to the global stage and be a leader, and a trailblazer, and inspire young people to achieve more of their goals and also solve community challenges. So I see myself in the next three to five years as a leader who is going across different communities in Africa or different cities in Africa, talking about climate change, inspiring young people, and also promoting initiatives that will develop better communities helping them achieve their goals and dreams. I want to be someone who will inspire tech solutions for all in Africa.
For different issues in the health sector, the climate sector, the renewable energy sector, and others of various nationalities in Africa. That’s why I am positioning myself at the forefront of driving global solutions and enhancing technological development in Africa.
Crispng: Wow, that’s super amazing! But then, what proven strategies have you utilised to effectively achieve your aim?
Ans: Yes, the strategies are reading, research, and exploration. I put effort into personal learning, studying different books and learning materials, and then also seeking answers from people who have gone ahead. There are people that I know have achieved results than me; they have gone ahead of me, and they have done a lot of things that I want to do.
So ask for their advice and seek counsel from them. And I also network with people around me, especially passion-driven individuals for change. Whenever I go to conferences, I try to network and get new ideas from others. I competed at a climate and energy conference for rural electrification data solutions in Lagos, Nigeria 2023 and also won a fully funded delegacy to attend the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) COP16 in Saudi Arabia in December 2024 as part of the UNCCD Youth Caucus network. So I met a lot of young people from different countries of the world and was able to build some good networks with them.
Yes, that’s one of the strategies I employ personally which is exploring, networking and rubbing minds with others. Also, as someone who wants to advance myself and impact, I work or volunteer in other global initiatives contributing to youth development programs outside the climate space. I do those just to build bridges across disciplines, borders and communities as well as make good use of my time.
Crispng: What is your advice to other aspiring youths out there?
Ans: My advice is that they should seek the right mentorship in their chosen field, get focused, and never quit on achieving their dreams. They should learn how to network effectively and leverage opportunities like scholarships, grants, internships, and fellowship opportunities to be the best they can ever be for themselves, their families, and the world at large.