ABOUT THE MILLENNIUM FELLOWSHIP - CLASS OF 2025
United Nations Academic Impact and MCN are proud to partner on the Millennium Fellowship. This year, 60,000+ young leaders applied to join the Class of 2025 on 7,000+ campuses across 170 nations. 290+ campuses worldwide (less than 5%) were selected to host the 4,500+ Millennium Fellows.
UNITED NATIONS ACADEMIC IMPACT AND MCN PROUDLY PRESENT MEKDES DEREJE DEJENE, A MILLENNIUM FELLOW AND CAMPUS DIRECTOR FOR THE CLASS OF 2025.
Addis Ababa Science and Technology University | Addis Ababa, Ethiopia | Advancing SDG 8, SDG 4, SDG 16, SDG 9 & UNAI 3
" A deep-seated conviction that unemployment isn't an inevitable fate drives my work. Witnessing the crisis among my peers, I am actively developing CareerBloom, a platform designed to bridge the gap between local talent and meaningful careers. Being a part of the Millennium Fellowship will provide the tools, network, and mentorship to transform this vision into a scalable, impactful reality. The skills and connections I gain will make my efforts to empower graduates and build a sustainable local economy more effective and far-reaching. "
Millennium Fellowship Project: Youth-Led Advocacy & Engagement for Career Development
I'm developing a platform to help people gain new skills, build confidence, and connect directly with companies that are hiring. My aim is to make it easier for people to find jobs and for companies to find talented individuals right here in our community. Here's how I imagine CareerBloom would work: Learning with Rewards: Users or students earn tokens by adding new skills to their profiles. Tokens can be redeemed for advanced courses, special workshops, or networking events, or making their CV making learning enjoyable and rewarding. Company Participation: Companies also earn points and tokens when they hire through the platform. This encourages them to actively seek and hire local talent, benefiting the entire community. Growing Together: By making the job search engaging and rewarding, we motivate people to improve themselves, and companies benefit by finding skilled workers. My goal is to change the belief that unemployment is just a part of life. With CareerBloom, I hope to inspire people to take control of their futures, break the cycle of unemployment, and help build a community where everyone has the chance to succeed.
About the Millennium Fellow
As a graduating candidate, Mekdes Dereje, who is born and raised in Ethiopia, is driven by a powerful vision to tackle unemployment, a crisis she has witnessed firsthand among her peers and family. In response to this need, she is actively developing CareerBloom, a platform designed to bridge the gap between local talent and meaningful careers. Through this initiative, Mekdes aims to foster a sustainable local economy and ensure that her fellow graduates can turn their degrees into tangible opportunities.
