Awesome Nigerian .....Women!
You know Nigerian women are awesome, right???
To prove this point, here are just a few....
Meet Bunmi Lawson, MD/CEO of Accion Micro-finance Bank (Accion MfB), the largest micro-finance institution in Nigeria. The bank has won the multiple awards within Nigeria in recognition of its work in economically empowering low income Nigerians. At the international level, it was the 2nd runner-up for the 2009 Micro-finance Bank of the Year at the African Bankers Awards.
Bunmi Lawson is passionate about entrepreneurs. Her mission is to enable more small and mid-sized enterprises access affordable loans to help them grow. Ms. Lawson holds a master‘s degree in Business Administration from the IESE Business School, University of Navarra and is also a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria. Prior to joining the bank, she was the executive director of FATE Foundation Limited, a non-governmental organization focused on encouraging entrepreneurship among the youth.
Bolanle Austen-Peters is the producer of "Wakaa", the first Nigerian musical to transition to the West End, London's world-class theater district.
Ms. Austen-Peters earned a master's degree in International Law from the London School of Economics and Political Science. Her earlier career included stints at the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights in Switzerland, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees and the United Nations Development Program. She subsequently founded the Nigerian arts, education and cultural organization, Terra Kulture in 2003. She is the producer of the film 93 Days, which chronicles the true story of the men and women who at great risk to their lives stopped the threat of an Ebola outbreak in Nigeria.
Agbani Darego was Miss World in 2001, making her the first ever native sub-saharan African to win the competition.
She's been featured in various beauty and fashion commercials, including Christian Dior beauty, Sephora, Target, Macy’s, and has graced the pages of magazines such as Vogue, Elle, Marie Claire, Allure, Cosmopolitan and Essence.
She has worked with designers like Oscar de la Renta, Tommy Hillfiger, Ralph Lauren, Gianfranco Ferre, and photographers like Annie Leibovitz, Markus Klinko, and Richard Burbridge. She currently works with Ford Models NY.
In 2013, Agbani launched AD by Agbani Darego, a retail clothing brand, to great reviews.
Mo Abudu is a talk show host, TV producer, media personality, human resources management consultant, entrepreneur and philanthropist. She launched Ebony Life Television, "Africa's first Global Black Multi-Broadcast Entertainment Network" on 1 July 2013. She has been described by Forbes as "Africa's Most Successful Woman"
Tara Fela-Durotoye is the founder and Creative Director of House of Tara International, a Nigerian makeup company. The organization has grown from a small make-up business started when she was in university in 1998, into a franchise enterprise.
She established Nigeria's first make-up school in 2004, and also launched the Tara make up line. In 2013, she was listed as one of 20 Young Power Women in Africa by Forbes.
She's been profiled on several international platforms including New York Forum Africa (NYFA), France24, Africa 24 by Reuters, Bloomberg and CNN's African Voices.
Nigerian born Beatrice Hamza Bassey was the first African partner of one of the
most prestigious law firms in the United States, Hughes Hubbard and Reed. A graduate of the University of Maiduguri and the Nigerian Law School and also an alumnus of Harvard Law School, she was listed in the Forbes Africa Magazine’s top ten Africans in New York City in 2012 and New York Super Lawyers, 2012 Top Women Attorneys in the New York Metro Area.
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Chimamanda Adichie deserves a second mention on this website for her TEDx talk, "The Danger of a Single Story" which has received almost 10 million views to date. Here's the clip...
Read more about Chimamanda in the "Awesome Nigerians .... in Literature" post.
Dr. Maggie Aderin-Pocock, MBE, was born in London to Nigerian parents. She is a space scientist with a physics degree and a PhD in Mechanical engineering, both from Imperial College London. She is an Honorary Research Associate in University College London's Department of Physics and Astronomy. Since February 2014, she has co-presented the BBC's long-running astronomy TV programme The Sky at Night, alongside Chris Lintott.
She was awarded an MBE in 2009 for services to science and education.
Chi Onwurah is a British Labour Party politician who was elected at the 2010 general election as the Member of Parliament for Newcastle upon Tyne Central. She is Newcastle's first black MP. She was born in Newcastle to a Nigerian father and a British mother, and is an electrical engineering graduate of Imperial College, London.
In 1998, Oluchi Orlandi was the winner of the very first "Face of Africa", the continent-wide model competition, organized in collaboration with Elite Model Management.
Now based in New York, Oluchi has graced the covers of Italian Vogue, i-D, Pop, ELLE, Untold, and Surface; she also was featured in Nylon, Marie Claire, Allure, and other national editions of Vogue around the world.
She became the face of campaigns for Gianfranco Ferré, Gap, Express, Banana Republic, and Ann Taylor, and worked for seven consecutive years in the annual Victoria's Secret Fashion Show.
