Oladiwura Oladepo, Executive Director and Co-founder at Technology for Social Change and Development Initiative (DBA Tech4Dev) was named one of the top finalists for the 2022 Global Citizen Youth Leadership Award.
The Global Citizen Awards acknowledges and rewards extraordinary change-makers who are taking remarkable actions to alleviate severe poverty.
These outstanding activists keep the world’s poor at the forefront of their lives’ work, making extraordinary efforts to alleviate severe poverty in their communities and fostering social change worldwide.
A graduate of Advanced Management from the Yale School of Management, Oladiwura has collaborated with several organizations throughout the years to promote chances for improved economic livelihoods for young Africans, particularly those in marginalized communities. She has accomplished this by providing over 40,000 Africans with digital and soft skills. Oladiwura is a supporter of women achieving financial independence, gender equality, and resolving socioeconomic issues.
Working closely with her team at Tech4Dev, they founded the Women Techsters Initiative, which has equipped over 10,000 women with coding and digital skills such as software development, data science and artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, and product design, across 15 African countries (Nigeria, Ethiopia, Egypt, DR Congo, South Africa, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Algeria, Sudan, Morocco, Angola, Ghana, Mozambique, Madagascar) intending to empower 5 million African women by 2030. She is also a member of the Injini Think Tank Advisory committee. Injini is a non profit organization company founded by Cape Innovation and Technology Initiative that exists for the sole purpose of improving educational outcomes in sub-Saharan Africa.
In 2022, under Oladiwura’s leadership, Herconomy Awards named Tech4dev the NGO of the Year. She was also announced as a judge on the project LEAP organised by SolveMIT. Their project LEAP aims to bring together researchers, social entrepreneurs and education ventures to advance evidence-based learning solutions that help children thrive. In recognition of her impact work, she is highlighted on the Yale School of Management website as an exemplary alumnus, and she also serves on the executive alumni council of the Lagos Business School, Pan-Atlantic University (the school’s highest governing body).
Being one of the top five finalists in the Global Citizen Youth Leadership Awards is a testament to the good work that she has continues to do and missing out on the overall award has not deterred her from continuing her drive toward making impact, if anything, it has spurred her to do more.
In the coming years, she intends to reach more people, and create opportunities and platforms for Africans to access decent work and entrepreneurship through digital skills empowerment and advocacy through Tech4Dev.
About Oladiwura Oladepo
Diwura is a Social Entrepreneur who loves helping people and organizations create value and make social impact while at it. Diwura has a Master of Advanced Management from Yale School of Management and an MBA from Lagos Business School, Pan-Atlantic University. She serves on the Executive Board of the Lagos Business School Alumni Association.
She is passionate about a world of no poverty and believes in improving the livelihood of people by giving them access to financial independence, creating and providing them equal opportunities will ultimately reduce the rate of poverty in nations.
