He was born and raised in Soko state, Nigeria. As a child, Jelani Aliyu loved cars and it was his dream to design cars when he grew up. Jelani won a 4-year scholarship and moved to Detroit, Michigan in 1990 to study auto design at the College for Creative Studies. During this time, he won two design awards from both Ford Motor Company and Michelin. Now, he is known around the world as the genius who designed the Chevrolet Volt, which is considered to be the most fuel-efficient vehicle on the market today. (wundef.com, 2017)