businesswomen-from-nigeria

"So, I was convinced that Shuttlers would work, even though everyone around me had doubts. They tried convincing me otherwise, but I didn’t listen. I had a clear conviction that Shuttlers was the way to go."

"I transitioned into the field of education with the mission of bridging the communication gaps that often exist around technology."

"The best way to handle doubt is to try out those things you are scared of by starting small. When you try and see the result, it fuels your conviction, you learn, and it helps you improve. Adversity is a faith and muscle builder; it makes you stronger and forces you out of your comfort zone. So, I welcome it with an open mind and see it as an opportunity to learn and create value."

"That is to say that every day, about 60 million Nigerians go to bed hungry, this should challenge us as well as touch us deeply."

"Put people first and the governance follows."

"We’re not here to compete with men but compliment men because women bring a completely different skillset to the board room."

"Talking about biogas, I think Nigeria is behind, because presently in Indian, they have so perfected it that one can buy plastic biogas generators at home and cook with it, power the house."

"Today, the issue of food insecurity worldwide is at a critical stage. All of us cannot deny that it is a tragedy of today that one billion people go to bed hungry everyday with a no better tomorrow."

"Nigeria must increase food production through the development of relevant machinery and equipment to process and produce more food."

"Q:: Education in Nigeria today is fast dropping in standards. How else can we harness the potential of the skilled child in Nigeria today? A: We can organize programs to discover them as the Project Skill Competition organized here today. Our sole aim should be on how to encourage these children to discover their environment and proffer solution."

"It is important for the country to focus on sustainability, which includes renewable energy that gives a sustainable source of power supply."

"In an age of algorithms, the most enduring competitive advantage is not computational speed, but human discernment."

"Food insecurity is a major concern to majority of the developing world."

"Sustainable excellence is not built on technology alone. It emerges from the interplay of intellect with integrity, innovation with empathy."

"Q: How is the Nigerian technical sector working to enact laws to prioritize the education of the underprivileged children? A: Teachers are encouraged to put in their best. These would ultimately provide a cheaper and qualitative education. Notwithstanding, we would look into ways to ensure that children who are very bright but underprivileged go to school."

"The real test of modern leadership is whether boards can harness the technological power of AI without surrendering judgment, empathy and accountability."

"If we can harness God given natural resources such as water, wind, steam turbines, fossil fuel, biomass, geothermal and solar energy source, among others, the cost of production of energy in the country would drop drastically."

"Surround yourself with people who are smarter than you. You do not always want to be the one with the best ideas in the room."

"Investors need to know that you are well informed about the product you’re pitching. Know your numbers when presenting, what has been your ROI thus far? How much do you need to carry out your next endeavor? Get investors who not only give money but also invest time into your project."

"It’s important that you find investors that fall in line with your business interests. Choose one revenue model that you want to focus on, state what you want clearly and simply."

"The truth is, if we’re serious about changing the way girls are treated, then we have to bring boys into the conversation."

"I know what’s possible when just one person believes in you."

"It’s been girls doing all the heavy lifting, trying to survive, speak up, protect themselves, and fix systems that weren’t built with them in mind."

"Through the foundation, we connected over 10,000 youths to gainful employment and trained more than 3,000 students in Lagos on employability skills. What we have achieved is incredible and I’m so grateful for the opportunity to support my community."

"I set up the Mary Dinah Foundation 5 years ago and that has been amazingly satisfying. I have started very successful companies in the past that generated significant income but creating a channel whereby I could make a change and impact the lives of others is bigger than anything I have ever experienced before. It still is my greatest high point in life."

"We run initiatives like the HER Safe Space Clubs, where girls learn about their rights, safety, and reproductive health right there in school."

"It’s about building an ecosystem of support, ensuring girls are not just in school, but that they are seen, safe, and heard."

"Beyond the Classroom has become a way of saying, “I see you. You matter. You’re not alone."

"I want to be that person for as many girls as I can."

"It’s one of the projects I’m most proud of."

"We started with Anglican Girls Seminary School and Christ Church School on Broad Street. We did that for a few years and then the pandemic hit. We had to re-strategize when we realised that the Northeast had the greatest humanitarian crisis. People couldn’t get food into the villages because the roads were bad and the networks were affected by terrorist activities that has gone on for about 12 years."

"The Mary Dinah foundation started in 2006 with the school feeding project. Before then, we were doing a job link in London, helping women and girls who were homeless and on drugs in East London. We were not registered at the time but it was something that had started."

"So, we partnered with a few international organizations, and donors and we were able to significantly increase our giving, which was 100,000 meals per year, to no less than 28 million meals over the last three years. At the moment, we are distributing about 16 million meals every year. My personal goal is to get to about a billion meals."

"We also launched the He for Her campaign, which teaches boys how to be allies and stand up for the girls around them."

"It’s not fair, and it’s not sustainable."

"I have already mentioned how that’s now led us to found Reclaim Naija in 2010."

"I was very convinced that we needed to engage with men and when I didn’t get much support for that."

"My first experience with 3D printing was probably about 4 years ago in 2014 when YTF launched 3D Africa, an education platform that exploits the power of emerging technologies, like 3D printing, to spark innovation and create entrepreneurship opportunities for youth and women. *I remember first discussing the opportunity in the 3D printing market with someone from a private sector company in Nigeria and he in essence told me that while my idea was noble, he didn’t see it working in Nigeria as many wouldn’t be able to grasp the opportunity. He was wrong. *Youth for Technology Foundation was the first social enterprise to expand into the 3D printing market in Nigeria and since then a few other companies have come into the market. We distinguish ourselves, though by not simply providing 3D printing services, but actually delivering training."

"I cameto the realization that we couldn’t feminize the response to HIV/AIDS,"

"We started a society for women and AIDS in Africa, along with health professionals and a few colleagues who were in WIN."

"We needed to get the men to get involved and to change their habits and behavior becausethe women didn’t seem to have enough negotiating power."

"I was already engaged along withother women in starting the first real feminist’s organization."

"At that time, it was not popular to engage men in the development world."

"That was the period when we were talking about how to get women in development."

"I decided to found Community Life Projects, where, as the name implies, we relate to young people, women, and families from the framework of community life."

"Thatwas how westarted Community Life Project in 1992."

"Our targets are primarily young people and women living alone especially those in undeveloped communities. In addition, Our mission is simple. We create, enrich the learning communities with the appropriate use of technology."

"However, our programmes take a gender sensitive approach in order to address the gender gap and gender bias for women and girls. This is as almost all our students in YTF academy are girls at the secondary school and university level. YTF Academy basically introduces students to basically digital literacy, free mobile and application software development and then we introduced emerging technologies into our curriculum."

"For our first charity project, we worked with another charity called Door of Hope, and other registered charities in the UK. It was just me and one or two other people. So, that was my first work as a humanitarian. We would go out into the street at night in the freezing cold to offer tea or coffee and biscuits to women on the streets. I did that for some years."

"I joined with a group of women who felt that we needed to respond and to do something to protect"