“Education is the ticket to ending poverty in Africa”

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“Education is the ticket to ending poverty in Africa”

to Franca Ovadje, “Education is a ticket to a better life and the eradication of poverty” in Africa. This is the appeal made by the Nigerian economist this morning, when he gathered in Madrid Harambee Award 2022 To promote and equality African women to launch training programs for thousands of women entrepreneurs in the black continent. The award, launched in 2010, has an endowment of €6,000, sponsored by René Fúrterer Laboratories.



I wasn’t an activist, I simply found needs in my environment I looked for the people and resources in my environment to find solutions,” he explained upon receiving the award. “I have never asked for any award: I accept it with humility and great responsibility,” he said of his open battle to “work for African women” and “realize their dreams.”

future doors

“I have never felt discriminated against for being a girl, I was raised by two God-fearing parents who always supported me in all my decisions,” she recalls her childhood and youth in a home with ten children. From his parents, he appreciates how they insisted on it “Education will open the doors to our future.”

Of course, he realizes that the majority of girls in Nigeria have not had the opportunity to go to school, or even receive an inheritance: “Women are not seen with the same dignity and respect as men.”. She insists, “Without a minimum education and the ability to inherit property or wealth, Nigerian women’s economic opportunities are so limited that they are subordinate to men.”

More universities

“In many Nigerian states, basic public education is free, but Doesn’t mean that all girls go to school“, says Franca, realizing that children from poor families are forced to work. In parallel, he reveals how the proportion of university students has grown significantly in recent years.

For this reason, Ovage insists that “cultural barriers and patterns” as well as “traditional beliefs” must be overcome in order to end “early childhood discrimination”. From there, think “Nigerian society is traditionally a gender organization.”

without resources

So much so that even today “men are the breadwinners”, and even when women have a business or enterprise, “Your success is measured by how well your children do.” This also translates, he says, to a lack of “guarantees for banks or microcredit agencies” to do business. He denounced “this unjustified gender bias”.

With regard to procedures for ending inequality, the economist considers that “Odds are necessary to get the ball rollingbut even if he agreed to pay the fee, he would have to prove himself.

Researcher and businessman

With a degree from the Universities of Ibadan and Nsukka and a PhD in Business Administration from IESE, she has become the most relevant professor at her country’s business school, LBS (Lagos Business School).. He is also a reference in teaching and research in South Africa, Ghana and Nigeria..

But, above all, Ovadje is appreciated for her dedication as Co-Founder and President of NBWF (Women in Business Forum), A leading NGO in the training, leadership and creation of women’s small and medium-sized enterprises in Nigeria. Among her most recent projects is TechPower, a program to build the capabilities of high school girls in technology.

same abilities

Harambee – which in Swahili – is International Solidarity Project with Sub-Saharan Africa linked to Opus Dei Which cooperate with educational, health or assistance projects, promoted and implemented by Africans themselves, in their countries. All her collaborators work in solidarity without getting any wages. In 2022, Harambee developed projects for Congo, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Togo and Uganda.

Specifically, Harambee Vice President, Ramón Pardo, elaborates on the details that this award seeks Show the world that Africa is as capable as the rest of the developed countries. Landing on the character of Franca Ovadje, “for what you’ve done for women, for so many women in Africa, in a wonderful way, with such a broad and profound impact.”

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