Hafsat Abiola

Nigerian entrepreneur who built Africa's first women's leadership academy in a post-war conflict zone

Hafsat Abiola (born 1965) transformed her personal tragedy into a national movement after her father's assassination during Nigeria's 1993 elections. Establishing the Center for African Women's Leadership in 2000, she created the continent's first leadership training program for women in Oyo State - a region recovering from civil conflict. This initiative has trained over 15,000 women leaders across 19 African countries.

Her 2005 innovation of village-based 'Women Empowerment Clubs' became the model for UN Women's community programs. Abiola's '1000 Women' initiative provided microloans to rural entrepreneurs, generating $25 million in local economic activity by 2015. In 2010, she pioneered Nigeria's first solar-powered health clinic network serving 200,000 people.

Her TED Talk 《Why I'm Building a School for Women Leaders in Nigeria》 has over 2 million views. Abiola's 2018 book 《Unbroken Chain》 details her journey from political exile to social entrepreneurship.