Enase Okonedo, Nigerian Economist: "Education is Key to Achieving Women's Equality"

Education for entrepreneurs to combat corruption and generate employment, access for young women to education, and personal commitment are the reasons why the jury recognized Nigerian professor and economist Enase Okonedo with the Harambee 2025 Award for the Promotion and Equality of African Women.

Okonedo has been the first dean of an African business school, the Lagos Business School, and is the Vice-Chancellor of Pan Atlantic University in Lagos, with a teaching career spanning thirty years. Harambee ONGD acknowledges her professional and personal commitment to women to achieve a more inclusive society in the African continent.

Okonedo received the award from the Mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez-Almeida; Teresa de Borbón, Honorary President of Harambee; and Nicolás Zombré, General Director of René Furterer Laboratories of Pierre Fabre Spain, sponsors of this award.

The awardee expressed her concern about "the lack of job opportunities that frustrate women by excluding them."

A professor of Business Management for thirty years, a PhD from the International School of Management (ISM) in Paris, and an MBA from IESE Business School in Barcelona, Okonedo has motivated and accompanied hundreds of women aspiring to leadership positions in management, business, and public service: "Mentoring initiatives are crucial because representation alone is not enough; we must actively promote the next generation of women leaders and ensure they have the confidence, skills, and support needed to thrive."

Okonedo has launched various projects such as the AIFA Reading Society, of which she is president, aiming to achieve sustainable education in Africa through promoting a reading culture: "I believe education remains a critical area for change as, although efforts have been made to improve girls' access to education, disparities persist, particularly in rural regions."

She has also particularly promoted the development of leaders in the public sector in her country: she is a member of the Leadership Council of the African Initiative for Governance (AIG) and, during her tenure as dean at Lagos Business School, she launched the Centre for Leadership and Ethics. "Together with the school's board, we instituted policies to support women in the workplace, such as abolishing the prevalent practice in Nigerian organizations of overlooking women for promotions in the years they were on maternity leave," she explained.

The prize will be allocated to projects focused on the development of the rural community of Iloti - a region in southern Nigeria - with the aim of economically empowering women in the area through training and skill acquisition. Okonedo highlights the importance of these projects to reduce unemployment rates that "limit the future of girls and make them vulnerable to situations like early marriage."

As explained by its Vice President, Ramón Pardo de Santayana, Harambee ONGD - which emerged on the occasion of the canonization of Saint Josemaría Escrivá - has been working for over 20 years to promote women in sub-Saharan Africa, because "without equality for women, African society cannot progress."