Mayor Frank Scarpitti of the City of Markham; Hon. Seth Akyeampong, Member of Parliament, Ghana; Jim Iyke, Actor & Producer; Dr. Jeff. Sackey, Broadcast Journalist and Media Award Recipient and Moses A. Mawa, Chairman, Silvertrust Media
Mayor Frank Scarpitti of the City of Markham; Hon. Seth Akyeampong, Member of Parliament, Ghana; Jim Iyke, Actor & Producer; Dr. Jeff. Sackey, Broadcast Journalist and Media Award Recipient and Moses A. Mawa, Chairman, Silvertrust Media
Toronto, Canada, October 26th, 2015. The 2015 Planet Africa Awards gala, with the theme, “Together We Soar”, was a great success.Recipients and guests came from across Canada, the United Kingdom, the United States, Africa, the Caribbean and other parts of the world. The 2015 edition also celebrated the 10th anniversary of the Planet Africa Magazine.
 
At the gala, Moses A. Mawa, CEO of Silvertrust Media and Chairman of Planet Africa Group, announced and presented a video reel regarding the launch of a 24-hour television channel in 2016. “In a landmark agreement, Silvertrust Media acquired Afroglobal Network. The newly calibrated vision of Afroglobal is to be a global super channel that informs, empowers, uplifts and entertains Canada, Africa and the rest of the world.
The mission of the family oriented network is to showcase “The Best Of Africa And The Diaspora”, through entertainment and information programming. Afroglobal already has a Canadian government license along with an agreement with Bell Canada to launch it on the Bell Fibe platform. An understanding has also been reached with Rogers Cable, for the deployment of the groundbreaking channel in a few months.
 
VIPs at the gala included His Worship Frank Scarpitti, Mayor of the City of Markham; Akinsola Akinfemiwa, Chairman of Heritage Bank (Nigeria) PLC; Hon. Seth Akyeampong, Member of Parliament, Republic of Ghana; Her Excellency, Florence Chideya, Ambassador of Zimbabwe and former Dean of the African Diplomatic Corp; Nyameko Goso, Consul General of South Africa; Indira Naidoo-Harris, Member of Provincial Parliament and many other dignitaries from the public, corporate and non-profit sectors. 
The 2015 recipients are: Renaissance Award, Dr. Julius Garvey, Vascular Surgeon & Son of Marcus Garvey; Leadership Award, Hon. Michael Coteau, Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport; Entertainment Award, Jim Iyke, Actor, Film Producer and Model; Lifetime Achievement Award, George E. Carter, First African Canadian Judge; Visionary Award, Chief Ebuka J. Onunkwo, CEO, Bukas Group of Companies; Heritage Award and Gemma Raeburn-Baynes, Founder, A Taste Of The Caribbean.
The Volunteer Award was presented to Gwyneth Matthew-Chapman, President, Canadian Black Caucus & Community Organizer; Media Award, Dr. Jefferson Sackey, Broadcast Journalist; Marcus Garvey Memorial Award, Muhtadi Thomas, Founder & Artistic Director, Muhtadi Drumming Festival, Professional Excellence Award, Selwyn Richards, Chef & CEO of The Art Of Catering, and Rising Star Award, Tanya Walker, Lawyer & Principal, Walker Law Professional Corporation.
The 2015 Science & Technology Award was presented to Dr. Joshua A. Yusuf, President & Director of Academics, All Saints University of Medicine; Nelson Mandela Humanitarian Award, Tamara Gordon, Founder of the Tamara Gordon Foundation; Development Award, Pat Howell, President, Markham African Caribbean Canadian Association and Academic Achievement Award, Yousra Hassan Gendil, Resilient Academic Achiever.
Sponsors and other supporters, including youth and media sponsors, of the 2015 Planet Africa Awards include Ethiopian Airlines, Sterling Dental, Dreammaker Corporation, Johnson Babalola Law Office, Mosaic Foods, Royal Bank of Canada, TD Bank, Singer Kwinter Personal Injury Lawyers, Destiny Magazine, First Fridays, Safecare Medical, Transformation Institute, Rogers Television, OMNI TV and Diversity Magazine.
Tel: (416) 247-5777| [email protected] | www.PlanetAfricaGroup.com

PHOTOS FROM THE 2015 PLANET AFRICA AWARDS

Cross Section of Guests at the 2015 Planet Africa Awards

Mayor Frank Scarpitti of the City of Markham; Hon. Seth Akyeampong, Member of Parliament, Ghana; Jim Iyke, Actor & Producer; Dr. Jeff. Sackey, Broadcast Journalist and Media Award Recipient and Moses A. Mawa, Chairman, Silvertrust Media

Mayor Frank Scarpitti of Markham; Dr. Julius Garvey, Vascular Surgeon and Son of Marcus Garvey and Moses A. Mawa, Chairman, Planet Africa Group

Opening Act backed by Master Drummer, Muhtadi Thomas

Medhat Mahdy, President & CEO, YMCA Greater Toronto Presents the Professional Excellence Award to Chef Selwyn Richards

Nyameko Goso, Consul General of South Africa with his wife

Mr. Akinsola Akinfemiwa, Chairman, Heritage Bank, Nigeria; Dr. (Mrs.) Akinfemiwa;
Dr. Julius Garvey, Vascular Surgeon and Son of Marcus Garvey

Beauty Queens at the 2015 Planet Africa Awards

Hon. Michael Coteau receives the Leadership Award from
Platinum Sponsor, Dr. Anthony Sterling of Sterling Dental

Cheryl Nemhard, Artictic Director & Co-Founder, Exousia Media Group,
Co-MC with Patricia Bebia Mawa, Host & Producer, Planet Africa TV

Focus Way Performing at the 2015 Planet Africa Awards

Patricia Bebia Mawa, Host, Planet Africa TV; Ada Agi, Manager,
RBC; Moses A. Mawa, Chairman, Planet Africa &
Harriet Thornhill, Vice President at RBC

Mayor Frank Scarpitti of the City of Markham, Mr. Akinfemiwa, Chairman of
Heritage Bank and Moses A. Mawa, Chairman, Planet Africa Group

Gwyneth Chapman, Recipient of the 2015 Volunteer of the Year
Award with Dr. Carl Mack, Former President of NAACP Seattle
and National Society of Black Engineers

Actor & Film Producer Jim Iyke Receives the Entertainment Award from
Indira Naidoo-Harris, Member of Provincial Parliament