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Hope Emmanuel Frank:
Young Engineer Builds Caterpillar Excavator
Hope Emmanuel Frank
Building Hope
Sometimes the most ingenious, innovative minds can come from the most unexpected places. Caterpillar — more specifically the Mantrac Group, official dealers of Caterpillar products in Africa and many parts of the world — found one such mind in the southern most part of Nigeria.
His name is Hope Emmanuel Frank, a teenaged boy from Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria, who sparked international attention when he was featured on BBC for his desire to become not only an engineer, but one of the world’s greatest inventors. And there’s nothing that stirs Hope Emmanuel’s ingenuity and creativity more than Caterpillar machines, which he creates replicas of using syringes, various toy parts, and old laptop batteries.
“When people see me on the street operating my excavator and tipper, they are usually surprised and excited,” says Hope Emmanuel.
When Mantrac caught wind of Hope Emmanuel’s unbelievable skills and dexterity in fabricating his replicas of Caterpillar equipment, they were understandably impressed and decided to help him take his dream of becoming an engineer and inventor to the next level.
Hope Emmanuel, his mother, and his co-inventor Harold were flown to Mantrac headquarters in Oregun Lagos, over 400 miles (660 km) from home.
When he arrived, Hope was delighted to find that Mantrac offered to make him an ambassador in an effort to encourage his ambition to become an inventor.
Mantrac’s top management personally received Hope Emmanuel and his guests and took them on a tour of headquarters where Hope Emmanuel was able to get up close and personal with some of the very pieces of Caterpillar equipment he had been replicating while visiting Mantrac Nigeria’s state-of-the-art service workshop.
The experience culminated in Mantrac putting Hope Emmanuel in the driver’s seat — literally — by giving him the opportunity to operate one of the latest next generation excavators, the Cat® 320.
But Mantrac’s support of Hope Emmanuel’s dream didn’t stop there. They recognized the crucial link between education and development and chose to improve upon Hope Emmanuel’s quality of education by sponsoring his attendance to the distinguished Topfaith International Secondary School in Mkpatak, Essien Udim, Nigeria, which touts itself as an educational haven for young minds.
At Topfaith, Hope Emmanuel is thriving both intellectually and physically, achieving academic and athletic excellence.
To further encourage and assist Hope Emmanuel’s education, Mantrac provided him with a new laptop, financial packages to take care of his basic needs and, most importantly, moral support to encourage his entrepreneurial spirit and ingenuity. Mantrac management regularly visits him at Topfaith to monitor his progress and cheer him on at sporting events.
And Hope Emmanuel could not be more grateful: “Thank you, Mantrac. Thank you for sponsoring my education. Thank you for your support.”
We applaud Hope Emmanuel’s dedication and know his story will serve as inspiration to other innovative minds who may feel their talents cannot be nurtured or discovered simply because of where they come from.
At Mantrac and Caterpillar, we encourage such young people to continue honing their talents, expanding their minds, and pursuing their dreams. Because the next great mind in engineering could come from the most unexpected place.
