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26-year old Funmi Oyatogun is a young adventurer, who blogs about tourism, cultural heritage in Africa and organizes travels for young Africans to discover their continent.
“I was born into a pretty normal Nigerian family; with education as a priority, we traveled a lot locally and internationally. I grew up with a sense of wonder and with a mindset that my destiny was as large as my imagination. I studied abroad and became a geographer and an environmentalist. However, my journey to entrepreneurship was accidental. I found that Africa has the biggest travel gap in the world; we are the least connected to ourselves. I thus founded TVP Adventures to close the travel gap and made it a personal mission to create more possibilities for Africans to discover our continent.”
“Through TVP Adventures, I write about my experiences online and my page has blossomed to a platform for young people to travel and discover their cultural heritage. People need to know about the extraordinary things that exist in Africa and I wanted to plant Africa firmly on the map. Safeguarding African heritage is very complex. Africans need to own their identities, tell stories of our own evolution and pass it on for future generations. Storytelling is important, not only on the tangible aspects of Africa, but the intangible aspects of our heritage. We organize educational, cultural and nature tours and work towards achieving the #SustainableDevelopmentGoals through tourism.”
Funmi is an active partner of the UNESCO Global Action Programme on Education for Sustainable Development and works actively to raise awareness on the importance of tangible and intangible cultural heritage.
“I believe that true sustainability comes from connecting and interacting with people. When people immerse themselves in the place and in lifestyles of others, it is easy to respect them and work together to protect the #Environment. At TVP Adventures, we try to be as environmentally responsible as we can. I think that the gift young people have is the ability to dream without inhibition. Some may call it foolishness. We don’t have a lot to lose and we have the guts to challenge the status quo. This is how innovation is born.”
- More on UNESCO’s work with youth
- More on UNESCO's Global Action Programme on Education for Sustainable Development
- Join the UNESCO Youth Online Community
Contact: youth@unesco.org