Super Girl of The Month - Hikmat Baba Dua

Ms. Hikmat Baba Dua is the last of six (6) children born in Ghana’s Northern Regional Capital, Tamale. However, she traces her maternal and paternal ancestry to Yendi and Kumbungu respectively, both in the Northern Region of Ghana. With an embattled childhood of sickness, she was never a likely candidate for survival, but her praying mother knew one thing for sure; to listen to the voice of God and trust in Him. Given the pivotal role that her mother played in her upbringing, Ms. Baba Dua is of the strong conviction that her mother can never be found guilty of any parental shortcoming. Though unlettered in western education, she valued education as an instrument of liberation and prestige for her children. She went ahead to shoulder the entire responsibility of supporting her children through an educational ladder when no support was near. Through her mother’s unflinching support, tireless prayers and infectious love; Hikmat dared to dream, to believe and to become. As her mother's soul continues to rest in peace, Ms Baba Dua believes without doubt that she lives in her. Indeed, her story would always begin and end with her mother - on whose shoulder she has gallantly stood.

Our Super Girl is a seasoned non-profit executive. An unwavering champion for girls'/women's rights, Ms Baba Dua founded "League of Young Female Leaders" in 2013, to empower and advance the status of girls and women through its core modules; mentorship, advocacy, and literacy development. She is currently the Founding Executive Director of the organization, serving on the Board of Directors and leading an inspiring team of mentors, facilitators, fellows and volunteers. She combines this with her role as the Tamale Local Coordinator for the "HerStory Initiative" - a partnership initiative with LitWorld International and Global Girls Leading Our World.

Hikmat is highly passionate about the rights of girls and women in the society. She stands firmly by her commitment to establish an equal society, towards redefining and and developing her community and nation at large. Her organization provides a platform to discover and nurture the next generation of women leaders in diverse fields. Their engagements have opened several doors of opportunities and access to membership of organizations such as The Moremi Leadership Institute, The Young Women in Leadership Program, and The Pan African Youth Leadership Program among others.

Through the League of Young Female Leaders, hundreds of girls are benefiting from a mentoring program which provides a unique peer and inter-generational mentorship. Mentors are recruited based on their commitment to girls’ empowerment and are mostly students in tertiary institutions or professionals working across various sectors. In addition, the organization's literacy development program (The League LitClubs) is run in partnership with LitWorld International and Global Girls Leading Our World. LitClubs offer members a safe space to explore their reading, writing, speaking and listening skills, with the guided mentorship of a LitClub Leader. The clubs are aimed at cultivating strong, self-confident, and hopeful community leaders who believe in the power of story telling to change the world. The organization currently has five (5) litclubs in five (5) different Junior High Schools across Ghana, with a total of 100 girls.

On the advocacy front, the organization’s current focus is on child marriage. Both traditional and social media are used to create awareness on the issue and community leaders are called to action to prioritize girls’ education and advancement. The League of Young Female Leaders is also in partnership with other local and global organizations, in order to create a common voice against child marriage and share best practices.

For her immense contribution in leading change as a young leader, Ms. Baba Dua has been recognized across several platforms. She was recognized as the 2015 Advocate of the Year by the Africa Youth Awards and was also named among Junior Chamber International (JCI) Ghana Ten Outstanding Young Persons in Ghana, receiving the award for Personal Accomplishment and Achievement. She is a 2015 Mandela Washington Fellow (Civic Leadership Track) and a 2015 fellow of the Vital Voices Leadership Program - a program that supports a global network of emerging and established women leaders who provide sustainable solutions to pressing problems that have impeded women and girls’progress. In addition, Ms. Baba Dua is a World Economic Forum Global Shaper specifically associated with the Tamale Hub. 

In 2014, she was appointed as a Global Youth Ambassador by "A World at School" - the global initiative by Sarah Brown, Gordon Brown and Ban Ki Moon to deliver education and learning to the children missing out on education all over the world. She also represented Djibouti at the Ghana International Model United Nations where she served on the UNICEF Committee. Ms. Baba Dua was named among the 27 under 25 most promising women leaders on the continent of Africa by the Moremi Initiative for Women’s Leadership in Africa in 2013. In the same year, she represented Ghana at the 4th Global Entrepreneurship Summit and at the Global Startup Youth Boot Camp, as a domain expert in women’s empowerment in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Currently, Hikmat is a Women Deliver Young Leader - one of the 200 outstanding global youth advocates for the health, rights and well being of women and girls.

Ms. Baba Dua holds a Bachelor of Arts Honours degree in Sociology and Social Work (major) and Political Science (minor) from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Ghana. As an undergraduate, she served as Deputy Speaker of the Students’ Parliament and was named the 2012 Personality of the Year at the Vice Chancellor’s Excellence Awards. 

Hikmat Baba Dua is a proud feminist and believes that feminism is not a game of egos but an objection to pretense; the essence of human dignity seeking equality and equity - not validation. For this reason, she does not live by the dictates of patriarchy. She believes that the injustices against the world’s women must be someone’s priority. To Hikmat, feminism matters, because it is a reawakening of the struggle to create a balanced society - a just and progressive society that gives a voice, a dream and a purposeful life to every female and every male.

Girl Pride Circle is very proud of Ms Hikmat Baba Dua for her consistent efforts in delivering for women and girls. We wish her only the best, going forward.

Super Girl of The Month - Nkem Okocha

"No woman chose to be poor, but we can choose to help poor women by investing in them." 

To learn about the art of embracing your personal struggles as a call to action and a springboard for mind-blowing impact, Nkem Okocha's leadership journey is instructive. Nkem was born into a Nigerian family of four. Her name "Nkem" (a South-Eastern Nigerian name which means "Mine") was inspired by her father's utmost joy of having a female child, especially as he had no biological sisters.  

As the first daughter, Nkem recounts fond memories of growing up with her doting parents. She remains appreciative of her mother's sacrifice - shutting down a thriving trading business to become a stay-at-home mum and cater personally for her children. With this defining decision, Nkem's father became the sole bread winner of the family, relying on the proceeds from his private practice as an experienced Electrical Engineer.

What seemed like such a perfect plan quickly turned sour when her father took ill, a few days before being awarded a multi million Naira contract by an international shipping company. Keeping hope alive, Nkem's mother sought funds for her father's hospital bills from his friends and family. All her pleas for help fell to the ground and her husband's health condition was compounded with rising blood pressure. He later died at the public hospital where he was hospitalized and this changed everything for our Super Girl.

Just after her father's burial, members of her extended family made promises to stand by them and fund the upkeep/education for Nkem and her siblings. These promises remain unfulfilled 19 years after they were made. Things became very difficult for Nkem's family and it was heartbreaking to watch her mum struggle to cater for her 4 children. Her mum eventually used a token from a friend to start a local vegetable business. However, the business could not successfully fund the education of 4 children. In the midst of the struggle, Nkem's older brother aced the West African Senior School Certificate Examination with straight As but could not go on to the university, as he had to defer his admission to work and ease the financial burden on their mum.

At the time of her father's death, Nkem was in Senior Secondary School, preparing for the West African Senior School Certificate Examination. She sat for the examination soon after the news of his death reached her and failed all but one of her papers. Out of Secondary School and with no formal skills or results, she resorted to producing cosmetic products and hawking them at large markets in Lagos. With little savings and the strong support of her brother, our Super Girl registered and sat for the General Certificate Examination (G.C.E.) Unfortunately, her results were seized twice consecutively by the examination board,  together with all other students' results at her examination centers. Thereafter, despite strong opposition from her mum, Nkem later accepted an offer from a banker to work as a house help in her home. This was her turning point. 

Loved by her employer for her dexterity and literacy, she was sponsored to write the G.C.E. and Polytechnic examinations. She passed in flying colors and was admitted to the Auchi Polytechnic to study Business Administration and Management. With the support of her brother and friends, she graduated from the school with an Upper Credit in 2003. Soon after, her former employer (where she worked as a house help) encouraged her to kick start her banking career.

While working as a banker, Nkem Okocha started running a bookshop for Christian and Motivational books. Thirsty for development, she also attended several development trainings and seminars, including the Daystar Leadership Academy and trainings convened by Enterprise Development Center. Before getting married in 2007, she had written 2 books ("120 Businesses You Can Do and Succeed in Nigeria" and "The Beautiful Pot & Other Stories") and also started a Bachelor’s Degree program at the Lagos State University. By 2012, she graduated with a B.SC in Banking and Finance. She resigned from her job at the bank to focus on scaling up her business.

Owing to her experience, Nkem became drawn to women with neither formal skills nor funds to run their businesses. In June 2013, she saved up money for one week to organize FREE vocational skills acquisition training for the women in her community. She continued funding this monthly community project until 2014, when she was opportune to attend a 3 month Social Entrepreneurship Training by Fastlaunch Incubator. After a successful prototype to test the proposed business model in 2015, her Social Enterprise was incorporated as "Mamamoni Limited" - an organization which empowers women with vocational skills, interest-free loans and financial literacy. So far, Mamamoni has empowered over 2000 women in Nigerian rural communities with loans and several livelihood skills, in order to help them sustain their businesses and generate income to feed/educate their children. In partnership with the US Consulate, Mamamoni is currently organizing free vocational acquisition/financial literacy trainings for 1200 women across Lagos State, using the organization's Business Toolkit.

In 2015, Mamamoni was one of the 1000 businesses funded by the Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Program. As a young leader with an innovative social business, Nkem Okocha was also selected to attend President Obama’s YALI Regional Leadership Center in Accra, Ghana. Also in 2015, she was inducted as a LEAP Africa Social Innovator. In Nkem's view, her ordeal was orchestrated by God to prepare her for a higher assignment - helping Nigerian women break the chains of poverty. In her words, "...this is what I was born to do, and I will continue to do it until I leave this earth. The quality of leaders we have is 90% dependent on the kind of mothers they had...a women who is empowered with education and is financially independent is in a better position to make wise decision concerning her children’s health and education, among other things."

We celebrate Nkem Okacha's fortitude. We are also proud of her efforts to empower Nigerian women - pillars of the Nigerian society. 

Super Girl of The Month - Namerl Tagoe

Namerl Tagoe was born and bred in Adabraka - a neighborhood in the heart of Accra - Ghana. Raised by her grandparents and mother, Namerl has very fond memories of her childhood. She recounts that she had everything she wanted as soon as her requests were made known. 

An early bloomer, our super girl's engagement in social work and development began in 2008, when she was a senior high school student. She was opportune to undergo a Life Planning Skills Training organized by the Planned Parenthood Association Of Ghana. During the training, she was introduced to the world of Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health/Rights and her curiosity led her to maintain a good relationship with PPAG, several years after the training. So far, Namerl has been actively engaged (alongside several volunteers and health workers), visiting the Sekondi prisons to test the HIV status of inmates and making relevant donations to improve their lives in prison. As an undergraduate, she also featured on a campus radio show geared towards educating young people about making informed choices/decisions that affect their sexual and reproductive health. She attributes her SRHR peer education experience to her relationship with the Planned Parenthood Association Of Ghana.

In September 2010, Namerl was admitted into the University for Development Studies, Tamale, to study towards a B.A in Integrated Development Studies (Development Communication Option). Eager to hone her leadership skills, she joined AIESEC - a global leadership factory which presents an international platform for young people to explore and develop their potentials, in order to make positive impact in society. As a member of AIESEC, Namerl was quickly assigned a Team Leader role in Branding & Sales by her Local Committee. She went forward to clinch the role of Local Committee Vice-President for Marketing & Communication, joining the Executive Board of her Local Committee in 2013. In her words, the experience improved her leadership/team playing competencies, public relations skills and social media proficiency. Above all, Namerl recognizes AIESEC as the organization that offered her a truly multi cultural learning experience, thus transforming her world view.

Ms Tagoe is the Founder of IDonate-GH - an NGO which provides orphans and street children with basic human needs. IDonate-GH is Namerl's contribution to building a world without poverty, where everyone would have access to basic necessities of life and a sense of belonging. For the past 3 years, the organization has operated with the overwhelming support of Namerl's friends and family.                   

Through other IDonate-GH projects - “Engaging Children On Vacation” #ECOV and “Engaging Children On Saturdays” #ECOS, Namerl hosts craft classes for children in Adabraka and Jamestown. Being proficient in social media marketing and fund raising, she uses social media platforms to appeal for funds to run the projects and to advertise/sell some of the items made by the kids. The goal is to engage children productively in their free time - teaching them craft skills and developing their entrepreneurial mindset, while selling the products to generate extra income for their school needs. 

Namerl Tagoe is also a member of the Upper West Regional Youth Parliament - a platform that gives her the opportunity to bring young people's issues to the front burner, before local/national leaders who are in a position to tackle these issues. She has been actively engaged in the processes leading to the preparation and validation of the Ghana Youth Policy Plan, representing Ghanaian youths at several youth summits. Namerl believes that young people constitute a significant proportion of Ghana’s population, serving as a major source of the nation’s human capital and key agents for socio-cultural, economic & political development. Hence, the earlier they are given a voice across more community, national and regional platforms, the better.

Having bagged a B.A Degree and pursued her passion for community development, Namerl has become a mentor for most children (both boys and girls) in her neighborhood. Despite being young and single, she is referred to as “mum” by many children in Adabraka and Jamestown because of her close relationship with them and her frequent visits to their homes, in a bid to monitor their well being. Though small in stature, Naa Ameley (as she is fondly called) describes herself as a resilient young lady. She believes that social work and volunteerism is not for the faint-hearted but for strong willed persons who are determined to achieve positive impact above all odds.

We are very proud of Ghana's Namerl Tagoe! We wish her success in all her future endeavors.

Super Girl of The Month - Wanjuhi Njoroge

"I am a great believer in luck and I find that the harder I work, the more I have of it."

Born in a small village called Kabaru at the foot of Mt Kenya, Wanjuhi Njoroge is a proud daughter of Africa. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and Communication from the University of Nairobi and a Diploma in Business Information Technology from Strathmore University. Wanjuhi is a passionate individual who is keen on bringing the African dream to a reality.

A 27 year old serial entrepreneur and aspiring media mogul, our Super Girl is the Founder/CEO of The Web Tekies LTD (a media conglomerate) and RootEd Africa (a social enterprise focused on improving education outcomes). Through The Web Tekies Ltd, Wanjuhi supports individuals and organizations in telling their untold stories to the world, especially through social media. Notably, The Web Tekies LTD has engaged in creating/expanding online presence for start-ups and established businesses, running successful online political campaigns for sitting members of the Kenyan Parliament, and training several groups to improve their brand stories across several media platforms.  

Ms Njoroge's passion for ICT and education motivated her to establish RootEd Africa - a social enterprise that seeks to transform lives and improve education outcomes in rural and remote parts of Africa, through ICT and non-formal education tools such as sports and mentorship. RootEd Africa works with primary schools and local communities in a bid to reduce dropout rates to the barest minimum, especially among adolescent girls who often drop out of school as a result of unintended pregnancies and early marriages.

In less than a year, RootEd Africa has made commendable impact in Kabaru Primary School - her first adopted school. As a result of the organization's efforts in the school, parents have become more engaged with their children's primary education. Due to increased community engagement, the general attitude and academic performance of the students have greatly improved. In 2015, the school recorded a mean score of 250 in the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) Examinations, as opposed to the mean score of 208 in 2014. This was the highest mean score ever recorded by Kabaru Primary School in almost a decade, thus moving the school from the 13th position to 2nd best school in the zone. 

Fueled by the impact in Kabaru Primary School, RootEd Africa has since adopted her second school - Kinoo Girls Secondary School. Through RootEd Africa, Wanjuhi has also helped set up the first library in her village. The team is currently sourcing for books, computers and other resources to equip the library for public use. 

Wanjuhi Njoroge is a World Economic Forum Global Shaper, a Vital Voices Fellow and a Committee Member of the Nyeri County Affirmative Action Social Development Fund (AASDF), which supports youths, women and persons living with disability across the six constituencies in Nyeri County, Kenya. She has been featured on various platforms such as CCTV Africa & Couture Africa Magazine.

Wanjuhi is guided by the belief that she is the change she wants to see.

At Girl Pride Circle, we are inspired by the amazing work that Wanjuhi does for and with her community. She can only soar higher!

Super Girl of The Month - Isatou Bittaye

Isatou Bittaye is a young African feminist with a strong belief in social justice and equality for all. The Gambian Human Rights Advocate has strong passion for advocacy for sexual and reproductive health and rights of women/girls, empowerment of young people, leadership enhancement and peaceful co-existence of all people.

Ms. Bittaye earned her Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the University of The Gambia in 2010. In 2012, she moved on to bag a Diploma in Journalism from the Gambia Press Union School of Journalism. With an unwavering desire for excellence, Ms. Bittaye proceeded to pursue her master’s in Taiwan in 2013 and she graduated with M.A in International Studies at National Chengchi University, Taiwan.

Despite her focused academic pursuits, our super girl Isatou has been an active advocate for women and girls’ sexual and reproductive rights in her country and beyond. She has a commendable wealth of work/volunteer experience. Her advocacy journey started as a Peer Health Educator with the Nova Scotia Gambia Association Peer Health Education Program, while educating her peers on sexual and reproductive health issues such as teenage pregnancy, safe and healthy relationships, and sexually transmitted infections.

Ms. Bittaye is a member of several youth organizations in her country including Peace Ambassadors –The Gambia and The Girls’ Agenda. Through her engagement with Peace Ambassadors – The Gambia (PAG), she actively steered and participated in several impactful activities, including community outreach programs on non-violence and peaceful co-existence of all people. She has also organized several training programs for young people such as the annual International Youth Summer School on Peace.

Currently, Isatou serves as the Communication Manager of The Girls’ Agenda (TGA), a youth-led movement formed in 2011 to advance the human rights of girls and young women in The Gambia.Through TGA, she has introduced new and beneficial initiatives for girls and young women in her community, as a strong advocate against harmful practices such as female genital mutilation (FGM), child marriage, and sexual violence. In August, 2015 her organization through partnership with "For My Sister", a US-based organization hosted ten days summer empowerment camp on FGM for girls and young women within the West Coast Region of The Gambia. Also, as part of the 2015 “16 Days of Activism for the Elimination of all forms of Violence against Women”, (TGA) conducted the first ever Madrassa engagement project on Gender-Based Violence in The Gambia.

Being a passionate advocate, Isatou never passes up an opportunity to amplify her voice across appropriate platforms. She has participated in several national youth programs in her country, including the bi-annual National Youth Conference and Festival where key issues affecting young people are discussed and recommendations formulated and forwarded to policy makers to tackle such issues in the country. She has equally spread her strong representative spirit beyond The Gambia's borders. 

In 2013, she participated in the UN Women Commission on the Status of Women (CSW57). In recognition of her efforts as an outstanding youth advocate for the rights of girls and women, she was recently accepted as a Young Leader in the Women Deliver Young Leaders Programme Class of 2016. 

Isatou currently works as a Senior Programme Officer in the National Council for Civic Education, Gambia. In her job role she nurtures democratic and responsible citizenship in her country by facilitating civic education programs for the Gambian populace.

Our super girl is committed to contributing to the transformation of the African continent, particularly via gender equality and women empowerment projects, good governance, human rights and social justice promotion. In the near future, she hopes to be recognized as an exceptional African female leader.

We are proud of Isatou Bittaye and her strong commitment to the cause of girls and women in Africa. The sky is only her starting point!