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FUNMI IYANDA REVEALS THAT SHE ONCE BATTLED WITH LOW SELF ESTEEM

Ace presenter and vlogger, Funmi Iyanda recently revealed that she once had a battle with low self esteem and while many people thought that she had t all, she saw herself as a weakling who was not good enough.

In an Instagram post which she has since deleted, the beautiful woman talked about a time in her life when she chose to listen to what other people thought of her which cost her a great deal of unhappiness.

In her words:

“I look at this picture in wonder because l used to think myself unattractive because many people said l was growing up.

This day took a lot of persuading by @frankosodirichard to get me in that dress. He did my make up and turban as l always wore my hair wild and refused makeup so l could be invisible. He used to tell me l was model material and beautiful, l did not believe him. Many people did but l distrusted them.

I was uncomfortable at that party and wary of any attention, l also had my passively manipulative partner telling me how long l should stay then driving over to pick me up in a cloud of seething anger. He never described me as beautiful, not once. I cannot believe l was that girl, no one would as l seemed confident, competent and outspokenly intelligent.

I want to reach back through time and tell her you are goddam beautiful, hug and get her the hell out of that situation. She did make it out herself but it took years for her to be able to see and accept her beauty.

I might tell her full story some day, l might not but this bit is for all the boys and girls who are being stunted by other people’s fear/mis-interpretation of their beauty/glory/talents/knowledge/being.
You are good honey, allow no-one tell you otherwise, keep going.”

 

Source: fabwoman.ng

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DORIS SIMEON OPENS UP ABOUT HER PREVIOUS MARRIAGE AND HER SON IN NEW INTERVIEW

Doris Simeon,beautiful Nollywood actress and mother of one has spoken about her family in a never before seen interview and she was open, humble and cheerful.

In an interview with Lovehaven, the actress opened up about her previous marriage, the relationship with her ex husband and her son.

We have some excerpts below:

1. Talking about her ex husband and Stella Damascus

“Well, But they have not taken my life and my shine. I am still shining and I am still looking good. Life goes on as long as you are breathing, be grateful.”

2. On how she reacts when she reads negative news about her and Daniel

“I am just me. That is his life. I’m living my life. He is living his. I don’t go begging from anybody. I am glowing. God has been good to me and when the time comes, I will talk about my son. I talk to my son and the boy is good. But for now, I have nothing to say.”

3. On if she has moved on

“I moved on long ago.”

4. On if she is getting married again in 2018

“Marriage is over-rated in this part of the world. If I get married fine, if I don’t, it’s OK. What is required is me being happy, feeling good and enjoying what I do. I will enjoy it to the peak.”

5. On her son being with her ex husband

“That’s Ok. I still speak with my son and that’s what is important now. I talk to my son, I don’t have anything to do with Daniel Ademinokan.”

 

Source: fabwoman.ng

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NOTHING GIVES ME MORE JOY THAN TO POSITIVELY IMPACT A SKILLFUL WOMAN – OMOLARA SANNI

Nothing gives me more joy than to positively impact a skilful woman – Omolara Sanni

Omolara Sanni is a graduate of the University of Ibadan, with a MBA (Entrepreneurship and Small Business) from OAU, Ile-Ife. She’s undertaken verifiable MOOCs with Coursera and Shaw Academy including – Creativity, Innovation & Change (CIC), Creative Problem Solving, and Digital Marketing. In 2014, Omolara started a crusade to nurture and promote home-grown Craft entrepreneurs via her blog – www.multicreativeme.com. Since then, she has gone on to rally a collective of over 6000 creative folks in an online crafting community – African Handmade Forum. Here, artisans and designers enjoy support, showcase, and free training opportunities.
Omolara is an enthusiast of all initiatives targeted at the crafts, artisan networks, micro business growth, and the creative industry as a whole. She shares her inspiring story and passion for the creative industry in this exclusive interview.

Growing up
Far back as primary school, I remember my Mum, a teacher, buying a kongo each of sugar and Omo detergent for my sister and I, so we could tie them in small portions and display in her hair salon. The stylists would help us sell while we went to school and we would rush to the shop on our return to count the money made as well as the remaining wares. It felt so exciting and important to be in business. LOL

At the end of each cycle, we got the profit while Mum would recycle the capital to get another batch of sugar and Omo for us.
This was my introduction to business and I remain grateful to my Mum for teaching us early. I toed the business line all through to University, selling stuff from time to time and making hair at some point. I also worked as a stylist at her salon anytime school was on break, and that formed my first contact with Customer management. Haha!

Inspiration behind Multicreativeme and handmade Nigeria

It was while serving as a youth Corper in Kwara state, that a visiting corper taught a handful of us how to make beaded jewellery and pouches, bags etc. I was so excited! This was in 2004/05 when beadmaking/weaving was just becoming a thing.

I have always loved designing and I caught on very fast, so much so that after our trainer left, I became the ‘madam’ that others came to learn from. I was so passionate about crafting that I would travel to unfamiliar Lagos and find someone to drag to the market so I could buy materials and then return to Kwara. Pretty exciting times!
Thereafter, I ran my own beading shop in Ibadan after NYSC; selling jewelry and training students, until I got a job… then 6 years later, I was out of job. I returned to crafting and picked a few more skills but now, I wanted more. So I looked out.

The craft sector I saw was loaded with potentials and the most precious raw talents, but it was in disarray, only few of the crafters and artisans were really making any profit.. so how do we make significant impact? Business skills were lacking. I decided to start a blog that would rally other crafters and provide them with helpful and developmental resources – Multicreativeme.com.
Then, as our community grew online, the need for an exclusive platform to sell handmade items online came to the fore. We needed to sell online but crafters were tired of having their handcrafted products compared with mass-produced factory products on marketplaces. And that is how www.handmadenigeria.com came into existence.

Being an Alumni of Daystar Leadhersip Academy
DLA taught me a lot about being a balanced leader. Beyond that, the Daystar’s culture of excellence has rubbed off on me, both in life and business – I would rather not do it at all than not do it well (give it my best shot) and this has nothing to do with starting small! I started small. my ultimate takeaway from DLA is that the Value that you give always comes back to you – thus when I only had the blog, I kept on dishing value to creative entrepreneurs (yeah, I had a few throw it in my face) even though I earned no income from it yet. Today I have income streams from skills that got honed doing that.

Why I chose the creative world
What can I say? The creative world is my world; I am fascinated with creativity in others and I love to create with my hands too. Creativity should be encouraged in every child because it comes with resourcefulness, a life skill that means you cannot get stranded.

Another reason is the Craft sector is somewhat of an underdog in a Nigerian creative industry that sparkles with music stars and block buster movies, but we are rising steadily. Yes, the recession did us good because local content received some long lost attention. A lot of corporate organisations have seen the need to support home-grown businesses and we have been welcoming them on our platforms. We need to consider how well the crafts are doing in developed countries and realize that we have what it takes here too. Like, have you seen some of the fashion accessories on our marketplace? Wowza!

What and who inspires you?

The Holy Spirit. Since I knew God in my high school days, I have felt a deep seated desire to live an impactful and extra-ordinary life. I remember thinking that it would be through my song ministrations, but well, that didn’t work out. Haha!
Now, I am driven to help make craft businesses highly profitable and sustainable. I want crafters, designers, and artisans in my network to grow significantly and be able to make a living from what they make with their hands.

Greatest Reward
That would be the testimonies of crafters that my content and activities have inspired with results. When I get tired, those keep me going. I was a finalist at the 2017 Wimbiz Impact Investment Competition; didn’t win. I have also been finalist in a seed funding competition and though I didn’t get the money, I felt greatly encouraged and validated.

Challenges

Hmm. First is the high costs of power, data and hardware procurement. Besides that, a lot of creatives have lethargic attitudes towards managing their online stores, inventories and all; I’m just grateful for my team – we work round the clock on some days managing both sellers and buyers. Thirdly, Nigerian buyers still have a propensity for offline transactions, even on a platform like ours and while this isn’t exactly a challenge, it does stretch our limited workforce.

Perception of women in the creative industry
Yes, I believe that limits only exist in the mind for women of this generation. Thanks to the MDGs and SDGs, we have seen a lot of women-targeted empowering initiatives, I almost started to feel sorry for the men, but Hey! We’ve had it coming a very long time.
A lot of women in the industry have stepped up too and are making us proud. But of course, we still have the hobbyist designers, who are yet to understand the business of their craft.

Handamade Nigeria!
Handmade Nigeria is an online marketplace for quality fashion and lifestyle accessories made by indigenous designers and crafters.We promote the handmade culture and facilitate smooth and secure transactions between buyers and sellers onsite, while providing quality control.
Another of my initiatives is a 6000+ support group for crafters on Facebook called African Handmade Forum. There we run free business trainings and generally support each other.
Giving Up
Several times oh! I have spent money on social media ads that yielded nothing, burned the midnight oil many times and ended up feeling drained. There are days it seems I have done all I know to do… Thank God that those moments pass, then the dream and the giver of it keep me going.

Being a Woman of Rubies?
I am passionate about lighting other women’s candles with mine. Nothing gives me more joy than to positively impact a skilful woman.

Final word for women who are thinking of going into the creative industry

Niche up and don’t be all over the place.
Then you must pay attention to the business side of things before you get in deep. Creatives are passionate folk and it is quite easy for them to run into unprofitability and frustration when bills don’t get paid, even though you’ve been very busy doing your thing diligently.

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MEET NTSOAKI MABEJANE, FOUNDER OF BOTANICAL WARES (PTY) LTD, AN ORGANIC COSMETIC BRAND

For all those who experience the challenges of sensitive skin, hope is at hand from Botanical Wares (Pty) Ltd, a Lesotho woman-owned company inspired by its founders who needed to find a skincare and cosmetics solution for themselves and their families. 

Lioness of Africa chatted with founder, Ntsoaki Mabejane in Lesotho find out more about the cosmetic brand.

Botanical Wares(Pty) Ltd…

We produce organic cosmetics and refined petroleum jelly. Our lip balm is made of beeswax, propolis and prickly pear cactus extract. We also have a body cream made from the same ingredients as our lip balm and we have named it Waxeline. Our refined petroleum jelly is enhanced with the extract of prickly pear cactus and propolis too. All these products are the first of their kind.

Inspiration

My partner, Miss Mpona Semoli, and I have daughters who had very sensitive skin when they were infants and this was very frustrating for us. So we decided to make our own organic products that would suit their skin and all skin types. When we saw the good results we achieved on the skin after making samples, we decided to start the business.

 

Products and services…

Our products are organic and in producing them we are also not harming the environment. The ingredients and their benefits are as follows;

Propolis – this fights acne, rashes, pimples and reduces burns; it is a natural antiseptic and preservative; and it rejuvenates the skin.

Beeswax – this helps to calm and soothe the skin; it is a good source of Vitamin A, which exfoliates the skin giving it a new young look; it soothes temporary itching caused by dry and/or sensitive skin; It is antiallergenic, thus it is easily tolerated by even those with reactive skin; it soothes skin and helps heal wounds; when applied to the skin, beeswax forms a protective barrier that helps protect it from environmental assaults, while also holding in moisture and reducing dryness. It is known to have both antibacterial and anti-inflammatory qualities which make it good for sensitive dry skin, minor infections and reduction of irritation; it promotes the retention of water in the skin; and finally, beeswax has a natural honey fragrance that always leaves the product with a pleasant, light aroma regardless of other added fragrances.

Prickly pear cactus – this detoxifies, moisturizes and protects the skin that has lost its luminescence over time and has begun to dry, and the dull appearance due to the amount of toxins encountered everyday; the plant is cold tolerant and can protect the body during times of stress; it is rich in vitamins and minerals such as Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Calcium and Potassium (Vitamins A and C are important vitamins that play a role in protecting and repairing the skin while also supporting the production of structural proteins thus supporting the skin’s shape).

19679184_1828746997439350_8844412246013345261_o.jpg

Her team…

Botanical Wares is owned by two young single mothers. Miss Ntsoaki Mabejane is the Managing Director, whilst Miss Mpona Semoli is the Chief Executive Officer. We do all the production and packaging work ourselves, as we just started the business in April 2017. We have outsourced a marketing team which also takes care of our branding. We also outsource a harvester for the cactus that we use in our production.

 

Her entrepreneurial journey….

Our parents did own some businesses but not anymore. We actually resorted to entrepreneurship after being unemployed for a very long time. After the conception of the business idea we struggled a lot in finding funding to start our business. We only got as far as registering our company and producing the few samples in hand that we could not even sell to generate money. Our big break came when we were chosen as one of the Bacha Entrepreneurship Project (BEP) beneficiaries. This is an initiative by Basotho Enterprises Development Corporation (BEDCO), Standard Lesotho Bank and Lesotho Revenue Authority (LRA) that awards funding to the best three business proposals from unemployed Basotho graduates. Not only has BEP given us funding to start our business, these three cooperates are always there to assist every step of the way. This is how we got to know about the Lionesses of Africa….thank you Standard Lesotho Bank!

Contact or follow Botanical Wares

FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | EMAIL botanicalwares@gmail.com

 

Source: www.lionessofafrica.com

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#WCW: CELEBRATING FUNMI IYANDA!

Hello WORriors! It’s #WomanCrushWednesday and our Woman Crush is Funmi Iyanda!

Olufunmilola Aduke Iyanda (born 27 July 1971), better known as Funmi Iyanda, is a Nigerian talk show host, broadcaster, journalist, and blogger. She produced and hosted a popular talk show New Dawn with Funmi, which aired on the national network for over eight years. Funmi is the CEO of Ignite Media, a content-driven media organisation operating out of Lagos. In 2011, she was honoured as a Young Global Leader(YGL) by the World Economic Forum and was recently named one of Forbes 20 Youngest Power Women in Africa.

Iyanda was born in Lagos to the family of Gabriel and Yetunde Iyanda. Her father was originally from Ogbomosho and her mother from Ijebu Ode. She grew up in the Lagos Mainland area, however, her mother died when she was seven years old. She attended African Church Princess Primary School, Akoka, Herbert Macaulay School in Lagos, Nigeria, for her primary education and then went to the International School Ibadan for her secondary education. She also attended the University of Ibadan, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Geography.

Funmi’s foray into television began when she started producing and presenting Good Morning Nigeria, a breakfast magazine television show. The show became a hit, with its “Heroes” segment, which exalted the achievement of deserving members of the society, and “Street Life”, which unlike many shows at the time went out on the streets in search of compelling Nigerian human-interest stories.

The show focused on the injustices suffered by Nigerians, particularly the vulnerable members such as women and children. The show was syndicated on national television.

The first show she anchored was called MITV Live produced by Segun Odegbami and Tunde Kelani. She also explored her deep passion for sports, entering the world of sports journalism. She worked on a documentary for the 2006 African Cup of Nation and she covered the 1999 female Football World Cup, the All Africa Games in Zimbabwe, as well as the 2000 and 2004 Olympic Games in Sydney and Athen.

Armed with the experience gained during the era of Good Morning Nigeria, Funmi sought a bigger platform to reach people and in 2000 she began producing and hosting the programme New Dawn.

New Dawn with Funmi started in 2000 and ran daily on NTA 10 Lagos. The success of the show made it the longest running independently produced show on NTA. The show used its influence as a vehicle for social change and transformation by advocating the cause of the vulnerable members of the society, particularly women, youth and children. New Dawn gave birth to the “Change-A-Life” social intervention project. Over the years, Change-A-Life has affected the lives of many children and people through its scholarship, healthcare, counselling and micro-finance intervention scheme. The scholarship scheme supports 98 children.

Funmi has also written regular columns in Tempo Magazine. On occasion she still serves as guest columnist for Farafina Magazine. She has also written for PM NEWS, The Punch, Daily Trust and Vanguard Newspaper.

In 2010, after a two-year hiatus, she returned to the silverscreen with Talk with Funmi (TWF), a groundbreaking television show, directed by Chris Dada. Talk With Funmi journeys Nigeria, from state to state, capturing people and conversations around the country. It is a thought-provoking, illuminating and entertaining journey into the life of Nigerians from all over the country. The show talks to people everywhere – from ordinary citizens going about their business to celebrities in unusual but natural settings. TWF is syndicated on channels across Nigeria.

In 2010, Funmi Iyanda completed production on My Country: Nigeria, a three-part documentary celebrating the 50th anniversary of the country’s independence, which was aired on the BBC World Service. Lagos Stories, one of the episodes of the documentary, was subsequently nominated in the category for “Best News Documentary” at the 2011 Monte Carlo Television Festival in Monaco.

In 2012, Funmi Iyanda and her creative partner Chris Dada released Chopcassava.com, an innovative web series documenting the January 2012 fuel subsidy protests that took place in Lagos, Nigeria. A web series because it could not be aired on Nigerian TV, the series presents an insider view of the Lagos protests, in which people of all classes took to the streets demanding a reversal of the 117% hike in petrol prices. The protests swiftly evolved to encompass issues beyond petrol prices, with protesters focusing on government profligacy, as well as the endemic corruption in the country. Wildly popular, chopcassava videos went viral, with one of the videos gathering over 100,000 hits in five days.

Chopcassava.com was nominated in the non-fiction webseries category at the 2012 BANFF World Media Festival, in Alberta, Canada.

An innovator in her sphere Funmi has won tremendous recognition for her work in the media and for her humanitarian and philanthropic interventions. She is an African Leadership Institute Tutu Fellow and a participant of the ASPEN Institute’s Forum for Communications and Society.

In 2012, she was honoured by the Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Raji Fashola, for her commitment to gender advocacy as she returned from a five-day UN advocacy trek up Mount Kilimanjaro. The climb was organised by the UN to raise global awareness on its campaign to End Violence against Women and Girls and brought together climbers from more than 32 African countries in a historic advocacy journey up Mount Kilimanjaro. Funmi Iyanda joined South African rock band the Parlotones, South African actress Rosie Motene, human rights lawyer, Ann Njogu, Congolese singer Barbara Kanam, and many African women and men who play an active role in their countries on the gruelling trek up Kilimanjaro. The climbers arrived at Africa’s highest summit on International Women’s Day, 8 March 2012, and displayed their African national flags.

Funmi serves on the Board of Farafina Trust and Positive Impact Youth Network. She was at the forefront of the Occupy Nigeria series of protests in January 2012. The protests were to resist the implementation of the government’s fuel subsidy removal policy.

Women Of Rubies celebrates you, Funmi Iyanda!

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WOMEN LAUNCH CAMPAIGN TO FIGHT SEXUAL HARASSMENT IN THE FILM INDUSTRY AND OTHER WORKPLACES

More than 300 actresses, writers and directors have launched a project to help fight sexual harassment in the film industry and other workplaces.

The initiative, which is called Time’s Up, was announced via a full-page advert printed in the New York Times.

The Hollywood project is described as a “unified call for change from women in entertainment for women everywhere”.

It comes in the wake of sexual abuse allegations by high-profile actresses against film producer Harvey Weinstein.

~BBC

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“CYBER BULLY SHOULD NOT CONTINUE IN 2018” -SIMI

Singer, Simi has taken to twitter to dish out some advice to her fans concerning the new year and the negative things they have to leave back in 2017.

She advised her fans in a series of tweets to embrace positivity, find love and aim to be better in all areas in the new year.

We have her tweets below

Simi

✔@SympLySimi

“Everything ain’t for everybody…”

Instead of being mad at something u’re not feeling, find the one you like and keep it moving – so the people that like it can see road to pass.

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Simi

✔@SympLySimi

“Everything ain’t for everybody…”

Instead of being mad at something u’re not feeling, find the one you like and keep it moving – so the people that like it can see road to pass.

Simi

✔@SympLySimi

And I hope we can leave this putting people up against each other in 2017. The sky is big enough! The world is big enough. Get Over It!

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Simi✔@SympLySimi
Replying to @SympLySimi

Cyber bullies also need to expire this year. Trending is nonsense if you’re trending for being a shitty person. Try not to say things about people on social media that you wouldn’t like to be said about you. You’re a coward if you’re an idiot bully hiding behind a keyboard.

Simi✔@SympLySimi

Also, if you really want to do something with your life that you’ve been scared of doing – 2018 is the year that you do it scared. You get to live this life one time. No do-overs. And I hear when we get old, we regret the things we didn’t do. Live life. If you fail – u try again.

 

 

culled from fabwoman.ng

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TOOLZ REVEALS SHE SPENT A LOT OF TIME IN THE HOSPITAL IN 2017, AS SHE TAKES A TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE

Media personality & OAP Tolu Oniru-Demuren aka Toolz, took a trip down memory lane and reflected on her 2017. She had a few things to say about 2017 on her Instagram page.

She wrote:

2017 has been the toughest year of my life so far. Without a doubt, it broke me. I spent way too much time in hospital, and I hate hospitals. I went through way more than I thought I could ever handle, and there were times when I was in so much physical and emotional pain that I wanted to give up.
This year has taught me that EVERYONE will go through some type of adversity…we will all face things that will potentially break us. You can and should pray against it, but ultimately we must also remember to pray for the strength to get through what life will inevitably throw at us.

God never promised us a perfect life, but in Isaiah 43: 2-3 it says “When you go through deep waters and great trouble I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty you will not drown…. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel..your Saviour”. 2017 broke me, but I’m grateful for the grace of God that put me back together again. I am eternally grateful for the special people He placed in my life that helped put me back together.
My circle got a little smaller, but like someone told me a few months ago, every now and then God gives you the opportunity to spring clean your friendship closet…and that’s a good thing.

2017 was my year of INTENSE TRAINING and GROWTH. I’m still healing, but I feel FEARLESS.
Through great adversity comes strength and opportunity. If you had a difficult 2017, take comfort in the fact that you are still here…alive and able to experience another day. You may have been knocked down, but you are still here so YOU WON.
I’m excited for what 2018 holds. By the grace of God I will be launching a project that I finally got the courage to finish.

2018 is about to be a VICTORIOUS Year…and I’m so READY for it.🙌🙌 #GRATEFUL #STRENGTH #THANKSGIVING#BRINGON2018💪#GodsGotMeALWAYS

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DAMILOLA ADEGBITE INDIRECTLY ADDRESSES HER DIVORCE SAGA

Nollywood actress, Damilola Adegbite, whose 2-year-old marriage to Ghanaian actor, Chris Attoh packed up this year with the latter confirming their separation in an interview, took to Instagram to indirectly address the divorce saga as she reflected on the year.

Damilola who said her trust was betrayed this year, wrote;

“2017 was a tough year for me. One of the toughest of my life. My trust was betrayed in heart breaking ways and I had to go through some very painful overwhelming changes. But in all this, I am eternally grateful because who I am became crystal clear to me. Most importantly, I became more convinced that there is a higher power ( call it nature, karma, the universe.. I choose “GOD”). A GOD who listens when called on and who fights for the patient and selfless. He gave me some things I thought I really really wanted, to prove to me that there is nothing impossible for him to do, but he took them away again, this time by force, because sometimes, what we want is not necessarily good for us. It’s an uncomfortable process, like a child being weaned, but it signifies growth and advancement. I can’t deny that my scars are still healing, and I’m still a little dizzy from trying to adjust ?but ultimately, I am thankful for the opportunity to have been handed an almost brand new slate and for the courage to accept it.

 

credit: stargist.com

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BEING A WOMAN DOES NOT LIMIT YOU IN ANYWAY – IFEYINWA JACINTHA, FARMER & AGRICULTURAL ADVOCATE 

Ifeyinwa Jacinta Eze, founded The Green Generation Initiative in 2011 with a seed funding from ExxonMobil. The Agricultural Advocate, Educator, Scientist, and a Global Shaper of the World Economic Forum holds a Bachelors degree in Soil Science and Land resource management from the Obafemi Awolowo University and a postgraduate student on food security at the Business School Netherlands. While setting up “The Green Generation Initiative” she worked  as Supply Chain at AACE foods between 2013-2015, facilitating at least 1,500 farmers to supply indigenous spices and grains to the processing factory as well as access to storage and finance.

Ifeyinwa Jacinta Eze’ work has made significant contributions to improving the livelihood of smallholder farmers in Nigeria. With over 8years of experience in agriculture, business and management, her unparalleled success as an educationist propelled the organization in training teachers and students in practical vegetable production skills. Today through Funding under the MicroVeg project from Global Affairs Canada, over 120 schools on climate-smart agricultural practices have set up gardens in two geo-political zones of the country.

Jacinta is the co-author of the book “School Vegetable Garden Manual for Secondary schools”, a practical and inspiring book for the younger to love agriculture that is funded by the MicroVeg Project. On pro bono basis, she advocates for the inclusion of children, women and youth in agriculture, Jacinta has also been a guest speaker in many agricultural workshops and conferences both locally and internationally. She shares her inspiring story in this interview.

Childhood Influence
My childhood was full of flowers and vegetable gardening. At home, my dad grew all kinds of vegetables and flowers. He also always had a small poultry he kept all the time, rotating different kinds of birds. Even when we moved houses, he took his farm with him. The only thing that changed was that we started from scratch to build a new garden. It wasn’t funny when I was a kid because these activities always stole into my playing time, and Daddy would never allow me join my friends until I was done with my lot. And then high school time, I had this fantastic agric teacher  (Mr Muhammed at FGGC, Oyo) that used scientific names of crops to make jest in class. He would say things like: “Look at your head like Carica Papaya.” This means “look at your head like Paw-paw. His style of teaching was so humorous that it captured my attention to knowing most of the plant names by heart, and then practical agriculture on the field in school became my best time as it just felt like home, before I knew it, growing plants became a lifestyle. Little did I know that I was being prepared for the future, that i would grow up to become an advocate for quality agricultural education, production and sustainability

Meet Jacintha

Am popularly called “Bose Elefo” by rural vegetable farmers as vegetables is my key expertise and that’s what I talk about everywhere I go. I am a social entrepreneur, a trainer, educator and promoter of sustainable vegetable production, marketing and consumption. I am a Global Shaper of the World Economic Forum (WEF)-Lagos Hub, a fellow of the African Women in Agricultural Research and Development (AWARD). I am an advocate for quality agricultural education and a strong believer that this will bring a transformational change for the next generation of agricultural experts and enthusiasts. I have 8 years experience in farmers engagement, rural development and youth empowerment. Everyday, what keeps me going is more engagement with women and youth for agricultural development.  I hold an MBA in food security from the Business School, Netherlands and a Bachelors degree in Soil science and Land resources management from the prestigious “Great Ife”

Inspiration behind The Green Generation Initiative 
While I was an undergraduate at Great Ife, I noticed a trend among my colleagues, medical and biological science students were regarded as the professional students with bright minds. Every session, I watched most of my colleagues struggle to change their courses “trying to cross from agric to health or biological sciences” departments until they got tired. So I started a personal research into finding out factors responsible and among all of them, what stood out was poor foundational skills. Many undergraduates had little or no direct encounter with agriculture before Uni, they saw no future with their studies and couldn’t wait to just graduate and do something else with their lives. I could say categorically that at least 50% of my colleagues in my set (B.Agric) are into other careers today. So when these findings became crystal clear to me, I sought ways to bring a solution to this. And when I got an opportunity to present my ideas (a platform that will boost young people engagement with agriculture from early education years to increase their interests, help them appreciate agriculture and prepare them for the challenges ahead), I did and in 2009, I won the firstprize on the Womenterprise Awards funded ExxonMobil Nigeria through Ideabuilders Initiative. The seed funding that came with the Award helped me establish school gardens in 6 chosen schools in Lagos and since then its been growing. Now through the work, we have trained as at today, teachers and students on practical agriculture skills in 123 schools in 2 geo-political zones in the country.

 



Challenges

A lot of times I receive unexpected looks and judgement. Many people hardly believe I can hold a hoe talk more of talk about agriculture because of my looks, light skinned and fragile looking. It’s only after several encounters that they believe I know what I am doing or talking about. It’s not been an easy time over the years, I must say. I have worked myself to the bone proving myself.

Poor Motivated teachers: Some teachers have low motivation to drive practical agriculture, they feel like its an extra burden. Its hard to sustain gardens in such environments when the leader isn’t passionate about it. So what happens is that after we have handed over the project to the school, they do not take care of the garden, and it usually ends there after we handover school projects to school



Co-authoring the book “School Vegetable Garden Manual for Secondary schools

The manual is a must-read for every school. It holds practical step –by-step guide for growing green leafy vegetables from planning for the garden up to harvesting the produce of 3 kinds of vegetables. The techniques also show environmentally smart techniques for production like the use and application rates for biologically derived insecticides to reduce/prevent insects invasion. It was fully sponsored under the Global Affairs project: MicroVeg so it’s not for sale.

Other project and activities

Our scope covers sustainable development through intensive collaboration with young people interested in agriculture, support and train smallholder farmers in climate smart technologies, land resource management, biodiversity conservation, agricultural entrepreneurship and nutritional education.

We are working with a Global Affairs Canada sponsored project to disseminate technologies to 21,000 farmers on Vegetable production technologies and innovations. This is in partnership with Osun state University and other partners like the University of Manitoba, Canada and University of Saskatchewan, Canada, Obafemi Awolowo University and University Of Parakou, Benin republic

We have also had successes in training rural women on integrating fresh vegetables into confectioneries. We linked over 200 farmers in Ogun and Ekiti state to receive over 30 million naira which they fully repaid back and this is bridging the gap between finance institutions and farmers

To increase youth engagement and empowerment, we launched “Grooming Leaders For Agriculture” also called GLA in 2017 creating a platform for young people interested in agriculture to sharpen their skills, develop their career path and grow. 
We match young people with mentors (professionals) sharing similar careers and also give hands-on training on vegetable production and agribusiness skills. We are using this to help fast-track their careers, expose them to opportunities and help them become better positioned. We now have 35 young people in the program. Read more..www.glainitiative.org

Greatest reward you have ever gotten for what you do?
My greatest reward isn’t in awards or funding. It has been in building people. The day I started receiving reports that our GLA volunteers had started adopting schools. I felt the best feeling in the world. Do you know what it means to see yourself replicated in others. You know if I were to die today, am certain that the dream will not die. The vision of reaching the younger generation and preparing them for the future is rolling and will reach every corner of Nigeria and this has been my greatest reward.  

Where do you see your brand in the next five years?
A hub for professionals working together and shaping agribusiness that is moving forward the agenda of food security and wellness for all in Africa


Was there ever a time you feel like giving up?

No. Thankfully I haven’t. 

Who and what inspire you to be better?
I have quite a number of people who stand out in inspiring me in my journey. They constantly keep at it and ever encourage me to keep being better: Prof Clement Adebooye, Lucy Kanu, Ndidi Nwuneli

Being a Woman of Rubies

I am a woman of rubies because I am living my life for the sake of the next generation. I am playing my part in contributing to the next generational leaders in food security, we cannot afford to make the mistakes our father made and have the same challenges we are facing today. 

Final word for young women all over the world?

Do not just live your life waking up in the morning, cleaning, cooking, serving or watching TV. Live a purpose-filled life, a life that leaves a positive legacy in your family and community. Your being a woman does not limit you in any way, if you cannot find energy within you to pursue this, find the right support group that works on this and collaborate with them to create that impact that’s needed. We need all women working together to make our world better. All women have this ability, lets use it wisely. 

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