Ms. Thelma Ekiyor
Ms. Thelma Ekiyor has over 19years experience working in the development sector, as an impact investor, donor, philanthropic advisor, non-profit practitioner, social entrepreneur. She has experience working in 22 African countries. Ms. Ekiyor is the Managing Partner SME.NG – Nigeria’s Impact Investment Platform, which has set up two impact funds for women entrepreneurs. She is the Co-Founder/Chairperson of Afrigrants Resources and also served as its pioneering CEO. At Afrigrants, she led the establishment of “Market Women’s Quick Cash” – a financial inclusion solution to provide micro-loans to women in disadvantaged communities. She also led the conceptualization of “The Ebi Fund” – an impact fund for women entrepreneurs. Ms. Ekiyor is also is Founder & Co-Convener of The Funding Space–a mentoring and access to finance platform for social entrepreneurs in Africa. Prior to establishing Afrigrants, Ms. Ekiyor was the pioneer CEO of TY Danjuma Foundation, and grew an endowment of $100million. Ms. Ekiyor holds an MBA (Entrepreneurship & Innovation) from Imperial College London, UK; a Law Degree (LLB Honours) from University of Buckingham UK. She is also a Fellow of Stanford University, USA. Ms. Ekiyor serves as Strategic Policy Adviser to UN Women Nigeria. She is currently a Board Member on ALL ON, the renewable energy impact fund in West Africa established by Shell. She has also served on the Boards of acclaimed organisations.