Naija Woman Hero: 10 Nigerian Women Win Wig in 618 Bees Competition

Technology startup 618 Bees on Thursday announced the winners of its month long NaijaWomanHero competition.

Efe Ugboro, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, 618 Bees, said that winners were chosen after extensive voting on social media platform Instagram, and on the 618Bees website.

“We have over 400 entries from female entrepreneurs across the country.

“And after following the really remarkable conversations around outstanding Nigerian women heroes, we have arrived at a final list of 10 women entrepreneurs who will get their business registered for free, as the first step in what promises to be a string of benefits.”

The 618 Bees contest asked young women in business to talk about the Nigerian women they find most influential, remarkable, and impactful, and stand a chance to get their businesses registered for free.

In a country where women don’t get enough credit, and where they are often held to stiffer standards compared to men, Ugboro, whose company currently employs only women, says the contest was designed to draw attention to great Nigerian women many may be forgetting; as well as give a much-needed opportunity to social media vendors to formalize their businesses.

She stated that they received names like Stella Adedavoh (whose personal sacrifice, costing her her life curbed a wider spread of the Ebola virus in Nigeria), Dora Akunyili (who used her time as director general of NAFDAC to drastically reduce the sale of fake drugs), Ola Orekunrin (founder of Flying Doctors Nigeria, West Africa’s leading air ambulance service), Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti (the matriarch of the Kuti family and the first woman to drive a car in Nigeria) and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (world bank veteran and the first female Minister of Finance of Nigeria) dominated the list, with hundreds of thousands of Nigerian men and women paying tributes across Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

She further stated that the campaign reached nearly two million people in 28 days across Nigeria.

According to her, at the end, 10 winners emerged and they are Anyantola Elizabeth, Ifeoma Udeaja, Jennifer Ifeoma, Nasa Judith and Emmanuella Giwa emerged winners.

Other winners are Millicent Anugwom, Abina Zainab, Wasolati Sani, Odo Stephanie and Okoyeocha Olivia Ginikanwa.

The 10 winners will each receive about N250,000 worth of business incorporation support, investment pitch opportunities, business trainings, mentorship, and legal advice.

Ugboro added that her dream is to help female entrepreneurs succeed; by helping them structure their businesses to attract investments, and become sustainable.

In her words, “618Bees.com is set up to be the quickest way to get a company started in Nigeria.

“The company is launching with a focus on Nigeria for now, but plans to open up to other African cities where aspiring entrepreneurs are facing similar challenges”.