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Spencer Jay Horne, South Africa

Seventeen year-old Spencer Jay Horne believes his country is an entrepreneur’d s paradise. “South Africa’s problems present great opportunities, making it a very promising country,” he says. And as one of the first students to attend the innovative Cape Academy of Maths, Science and Technology, Spencer has actively cultivated not only his love for science and technology, but also a distinct taste for new ventures.

After identifying the need for more extracurricular options at his school, Spencer created a school film society and is now launching a debate club “so that the school will be a better learning environment” for his peers. He now hopes to expand the impact of his efforts by building links with neighboring schools. Spencer describes himself as a spark plug: an essential device that triggers a chain of events yet cannot do so without the contributions of a team. “I am who I am because of others,” he says.

This young leader enjoys seeking solutions for Africa’s greatest challenges, and he believes that African entrepreneurs should explore business opportunities to fulfill global needs such as clean energy production. To exploit these opportunities, Spencer believes in the value of perseverance: “In the advancement of science and technology, we often find that many of the most important discoveries and innovations were experiments gone wrong.” He plans to apply this can-do attitude to start a new, technology-based business that creates jobs for Africans and broadly contributes to the continent’s development.