{"id":5552,"date":"2023-05-11T09:58:46","date_gmt":"2023-05-11T09:58:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.iese.edu\/standout\/?p=5552"},"modified":"2024-04-22T06:15:16","modified_gmt":"2024-04-22T06:15:16","slug":"favour-okolie-success-stories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.iese.edu\/standout\/favour-okolie-success-stories\/","title":{"rendered":"Favour Okolie, leading by example. Success stories"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Favour Okolie is VP of ONE Foundation and an alumna of IESE\u2019s Master in Management (MiM) Class of 2023.<\/blockquote><\/span><\/div>[vc_column_text css_animation=”bottom-to-top”]An example can be very powerful. So it was for Favour Okolie. She had seen talks by Ibukun Awosika, a well-known Nigerian businesswoman and motivational speaker who, like Okolie, was a chemistry graduate.<\/p>\n

\u201cI admired the fact that she was a highly successful Nigerian woman \u2014 the first and only Chairwoman of First Bank of Nigeria \u2014 and she had a family. And then I found out she was on the International Advisory Board of IESE, so I figured I had to apply to this school.\u201d<\/p>\n

Which Okolie did, earning a scholarship<\/a> for IESE\u2019s Master in Management (MiM)<\/a> in Madrid.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

What inspires Okolie is not so much what people say<\/em> as much as what they do<\/em>. And she knows that if she wants to inspire others, particularly other young African women, then she must do something inspirational herself.<\/p>\n

Passion alone isn\u2019t enough<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Okolie got her first taste of inspiring others when friends approached her about starting a nonprofit together. The result, ONE Foundation<\/a>, provides training, mentoring, networking and funding for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises. Initially, Okolie helped organize courses, but as the organization grew, she soon found herself out of her depth. She realized she needed to acquire more skills to match the growing demands of their stakeholders.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople came with high expectations and wanted advice for how to run a business, which I had insufficient knowledge about,\u201d she recalls. \u201cThat was when I realized that if I really wanted to help others, I needed to empower myself. It\u2019s not enough to be passionate. To really be able to help people, you need knowledge.\u201d<\/p>\n

Closing the knowledge gap is something that Okolie believes doesn\u2019t just apply to herself but holds the key to overcoming the challenges faced by aspiring entrepreneurs across Africa.<\/p>\n

Admittedly, a lack of reliable infrastructure, like electricity, adds an extra layer of difficulty: it\u2019s harder to develop a grand business vision when you\u2019re in basic survival mode. Still, if people are able to see \u201cthe potential they have,\u201d Okolie insists, \u201cthe moment their mindset shifts, those physical obstacles stop holding them back from engaging in entrepreneurial activity.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no limit to what a young person, gainfully engaged, can do, she says, adding that an inspired young entrepreneur is the greatest antidote against them falling into hopelessness. Education in its broadest sense (not just in STEM subjects like she pursued) is ultimately about empowerment.[\/vc_column_text]

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