Blessing Okwuaso

Nigerian social entrepreneur who empowers girls through education and technology

Blessing Okwuaso is a Nigerian educator and social entrepreneur best known for founding BlesGirls in 2014. This initiative provides scholarships, mentorship, and STEM education to underprivileged girls across Nigeria. By 2019, the program had impacted over 5,000 girls, creating pathways for tech careers in a country where only 35% of tech professionals are female.

Okwuaso's work addresses systemic barriers through innovative programs like the 'Code Like A Girl' initiative, which teaches coding to rural students. Her TEDx talk "Educating Girls to Lead" has been viewed over 250,000 times. In 2017, she partnered with UNICEF to launch a digital literacy platform reaching 100,000 students. Her approach combines technology with community engagement, establishing tech hubs in Lagos and Abuja that provide free coding classes and business incubation for youth.

Notable collaborations include a partnership with Google's 'Women Will' initiative and a $500k grant from the Mastercard Foundation. Okwuaso's impact extends beyond Nigeria through her mentorship of similar programs in Kenya and Ghana. Her vision of 'Education as Liberation' has redefined girls' empowerment in West Africa, with measurable outcomes including 85% university placement rates for scholarship recipients.