​A fourth-year medical student at Stellenbosch University's Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences (FMHS), Melt Hugo, has been selected as one of the Top 100 Brightest Young Minds (BYM) on the African Continent. 

The BYM initiative was launched in 2001 in South Africa, and its vision is to inspire and mobilise leading young entrepreneurs to contribute positively to their world, according to their unique passions and strengths. It has a strong alumni network, enabling the 100 annual recipients of this award to stay in touch with one another in years to come. 

Every year a summit is held where these young leaders can engage with one another and exchange ideas. In 2021 the summit was held virtually and stretched over two days from 15 – 16 October.

The summit was aptly themed: “African lions on the rise – how Africa will change when a younger generation leads". 

This annual event is aimed at showcasing the potential of Africa's brightest young minds with regard to leadership and entrepreneurial ventures – all of which have to be for the benefit of the continent of Africa. 

These ventures can range from educational interventions, to new inventions, to developments in the field of medical technology – and everything in between. 

Hugo recently became one of the recipients of this prestigious award. 

"I really hoped that I would be selected because I considered the award to be prestigious, internationally esteemed and I stood to learn a great deal from the exceptional guest speakers and key facilitators drawn from the political, academic, business and corporate sectors," says Hugo.

Hugo has a distinguished academic career behind him. He completed a BSc in Molecular Biology and Biotechnology in 2015, followed by an honours degree in Genetics in 2016, and, before he commenced with his medical studies, complete an MSc in Plant Biotechnology in December 2018. 

However, his life does not revolve around academia alone. He is also the founder and president of the Stellenbosch chapter of the International Federation of Medical Students' Associations (IMFSA). This federation has a network of 1.3 million medical students from 123 countries around the world. He was also the President of the South African Medical Students' Associations (SAMSA) from May 2019 to June 2020. 

He served on the Executive Committee of the Student's Representative Council (SRC) from 2018 to 2019 and before that as vice-chariman of the Faculty of Sciences' Student Committee, ending in 2017. 

He has received the Rector's Award for Excellent Achievement in the field of Leadership (2017) and Service Provision (2020). 

His passion lies in promoting student mental health, and with this in mind, he founded a task team on the SRC called #Support which focuses on destigmatizing the conversation on student mental health. The task team helped to draft the university's first student mental health policy document, which paved the way for the official Stellenbosch University Mental Health Policy. 

His future plans involve the registration of an NGO which has student mental health as its main focus. 

His life philosophy is that "continuous improvement is better than delayed perfection". 

So how did he feel on hearing that he had been selected as one of the 100 Brightest Young Minds? 

"I was extremely humbled to receive the award, the rest of the 99 brightest young minds are young, ambitious and phenomenal leaders - I look forward to their success in the coming years," according to Hugo.​