Lecturer, Social Entrepreneur & Opportunities Curator Grace Ihejiamaizu is Our #BellaNaijaWCW this Week!

Our #BellaNaijaWCW this week is Grace Ihejiamaizu, a lecturer and social entrepreneur who’s working to promote quality education and empower the next generation of leaders and entrepreneurs.

Grace, who graduated from the Sociology Department of the University of Calabar, now teaches social work at the institution, armed with a masters degree in rural sociology and community development from the University of Uyo.

She’s the founder of iKapture Centre for Development, a centre for youth development that provides afterschool education and services to students and out-of-school youth in Nigeria using creative learning methods and ICT.

While studying for her first degree, Grace joined a global campus-based organisation called Students In Free Enterprise (SIFE) UNICAL (it’s now known as Enactus UNICAL), and eventually served as its project director, shaping her life and helping her kickstart her career as a social entrepreneur.

After graduation from the university, she worked as a full-time volunteer with American Corner, Calabar and in the process, she kick-started my first personal project, RYPE (Raising Young and Productive Entrepreneurs) Initiative which later metamorphosed into iKapture Center for Development.

In 2012, Grace founded Opportunity Desk, a platform for youths looking for international experience through global scholarships, internships, jobs, conferences, competitions, fellowships, grants and awards.

She’s also the author of Go Global with Opportunities.

Grace has been named one of Google’s 12 brightest Young Minds in 2011 and a Global Changemaker in 2012. She’s one of the nominees for the 2013 Future Awards Africa Young Person of the Year Prize.

She’s been recognised by the US State Department as the “International Exchange Alumni Member of the Month for September 2012.”

Grace holds certificates in Civic Leadership from Kansas State University; and another in Social Entrepreneurship from University of Connecticut, USA.

We celebrate her for following her passion and impacting the society in the process.