With a broad portfolio of innovative, high-impact projects and programs focused on education, culture, health, and the environment, the GGM Foundation aims to train tomorrow’s leaders and create life-changing opportunities for Angola’s children and youth.
Convinced that with the right opportunities, Angola’s future generations can fulfill their potential and take the reins of their destiny, the Gianni Gaspar Martins Foundation (GGMF) is committed to the integral development and training of Angolan human capital, with special attention to the youth.
GGMF was founded in 2020 as a nonprofit NGO by Gianni Gaspar Martins, a petroleum engineer with a long career in the public oil sector and private investments; he currently serves as Managing Director of Alfort Petroleum, a local integrated oil and gas company. Acting with the clear awareness that “those who have more opportunities and privileges also have more responsibilities,” Martins leads an enthusiastic group of professionals and volunteers who, in collaboration with various Angolan institutions and organizations, develop an interesting range of innovative programs and projects—from startups to reduce negative environmental impact and virtual reality programs promoting geotourism, to basic and higher education scholarships and educational programs, to literary and music projects and sports activities.
Among these programs—whose main objective is to reduce inequalities in access to education and development opportunities for the most vulnerable—the Geostratos Academy stands out. Developed in 2023 with the support of UNESCO as part of its Global Geoparks program, Geostratos conveys a series of geotourism initiatives, including the development of geotourism routes, with virtual reality (VR), and provides educational content with augmented reality (AR). Aimed at conserving Angola’s natural, geological, and cultural heritage, the program aims to promote local knowledge and civic engagement, support innovative local geotourism enterprises, and protect the area’s geological resources. In 2024, Geostratos was recognized with a gold medal at the 75th Ideas, Innovations, and New Products Fair (IENA) in Nuremberg, Germany. Kandengues Cientistas (Scientist Kids), which provides local startups with logistical support and incentives for scientific research, is another promising and innovative project. In this initiative, an early incubator for technology-based startups, children and young people learn the principles of automation, robotics, electronics, programming, art, environmental education, recycling, space technologies, and other fields of knowledge—allowing them to “discover the leader within them and giving them the courage to use science and technology to do good,” as the foundation’s website states. Mwana Luzito, which in the Kikongo language means “respectful child,” is an education and social inclusion project created by GGMF in partnership with the Institute of Religious Sciences of Angola (ICRA). Through community integration activities and the production of comics, the project aims to instill in children civic values and practices of respect for others and the environment. After benefiting more than 150 fifth-grade students, the project now plans to expand its reach and have an even greater impact on school communities in the region. GGMF also awards scholarships to primary and university students who are unable to access formal education due to lack of financial resources; sponsors the annual GGMF Literary Award to encourage writers of prose and poetry to pursue their literary aspirations, with publication of the work and a cash prize; and raises awareness of the importance of attending school with its My Future Depends on My Present project, in which children and young people engage in meaningful conversations with outstanding professionals who are social role models.
In addition, GGMF supports musical initiatives such as Ecos do Metodismo, a choral singing project whose aim is to develop and promote the evangelical cultural-artistic movement in Angola; it also supports alternative musical events in collaboration with Syncrovisão, a cultural space that promotes local Angolan artists and is open to people of diverse backgrounds. GGMF also supports sports through the Prosperidade Judo Clube do Kilamba, which instills in its students the moral code of judo, based on respect, kindness, honor, modesty, self-control, and friendship, and the desire to achieve excellence through discipline and determination. By supporting a wide range of programs and projects, GGMF contributes positively to Angola’s sustainable development. Above all, GGMF helps give Angola’s greatest resource—its people—the opportunity to not only dream of a better future, but to make it a reality
