Lara Ichikaa

Nigerian social entrepreneur eradicating child marriage through education innovation

Lara Ichikaa (b. 1989) is a Nigerian innovator behind the Future Girls Initiative, a groundbreaking program that has prevented over 15,000 child marriages since 2012. Her 'Girls Tech Academy' combines STEM education with life skills training, operating in 23 Nigerian states through mobile classrooms. The initiative's signature SheCodes app (launched 2018) provides digital literacy training to 500,000+ girls, earning a UNICEF innovation award in 2020. Ichikaa's Safe Passage Network uses AI-powered tracking systems to monitor at-risk girls, coordinating with local authorities to intervene before arranged marriages. Her 2019 TED Talk 'Code Breaking: How Technology Ends Child Marriages' has over 2M views, leading to partnerships with Google's Developer Academy. In 2021 she pioneered the Girls' Voice Fund, a microfinance program giving girls aged 14-18 access to seed capital. Her work influenced Nigeria's 2022 Child Rights Act amendments, raising the marriage age to 18 nationwide. Featured in Forbes Africa's 30 Under 30 list (2020), Ichikaa's methodologies are now replicated in Kenya and Ethiopia through UNESCO's Global Ed Girls program. Her memoir 'Breaking the Broomstick: My Fight to Save Girls' Futures' (2022) details her journey, and her documentary 'Code and Courage' (2023) explores tech's role in girls' empowerment.