• auball
• November 19, 2025

Celebrating Future Breakthroughs at the African Unity Ambassadors Ball

“Innovation does not always need a lab coat and a billion-dollar grant. Sometimes it starts with a bar of soap and a bold question.“

At 15, Heman Bekele has already done what most of us spend decades talking about, he turned an idea into impact. The Ethiopian-American teen, named TIME’s Kid of the Year 2023, is not chasing trends or tech fads. Instead, he is reimagining something so ordinary — soap, as a weapon against one of the world’s most persistent health challenges: skin cancer.

Born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and raised in the U.S., Heman carries the dual vision of the diaspora, one eye on home, one on possibility. While others saw skin cancer as a disease of expensive treatments and high-tech labs, Heman asked the right question, “What if the cure was already in our hands?”

That question led to his invention: a skin-cancer-fighting soap. A low-cost, accessible treatment that could be used daily by people in underserved communities. His concept uses lipid nanoparticles to deliver therapeutic compounds through the skin, a scientific breakthrough wrapped in something found in every household.

In a world where billion-dollar biotech startups dominate headlines, Heman’s innovation proves that brilliance does not always need a big budget. Sometimes, it just needs empathy and imagination.

Growing up between Ethiopia and the U.S. gave him a front-row seat to global inequities in healthcare. He saw how lack of awareness, affordability, and access to early treatment often cost lives in African communities. His invention is his answer; a bridge between worlds that does not just connect but heals.

That’s the power of the diaspora: understanding the gaps, leveraging opportunity, and turning personal insight into global solutions. Heman’s soap reminds us that innovation is not about sophistication; it’s about accessibility.

By targeting affordability and daily usability, his idea challenges a system that too often leaves the developing world behind. It’s a quiet revolution, one bar at a time.

And if a teenager can start it, what’s our excuse?

This year, the African Unity Ambassadors Ball will be honoring tomorrow’s leaders, today and is proud to honor Heman Bekele, a young diasporan whose genius represents the very essence of future breakthroughs.

He symbolizes the generation rewriting Africa’s global story, not waiting for permission to innovate, not waiting for resources to appear, and not waiting for the world to notice. Heman’s work embodies the event’s mission: to celebrate Africans and diasporans whose efforts are reshaping the global narrative through excellence, empathy, and ingenuity.

Honoring Heman is not just about recognizing what he has achieved. It’s about affirming what’s possible when the diaspora invests in ideas with purpose.

There’s something poetic about Heman’s story. He went back to the basics and took something we use every day and turned it into a metaphor for change. Maybe that’s the lesson for all of us, that the next great idea does not have to be grand. It just has to be grounded.

So here’s to Heman, and to every young dreamer set on making the world better. The African Unity Ambassadors Ball sees you, celebrates you, and believes in your power to transform the future.