Abang Mercy was born in Ogoja in 1984, in a neighbouring town to Boki located in Cross river state. She studied at Holy Child Primary School and later proceeded to Holy Child Secondary School, both in Igoli- Ogoja.
Abang Mercy relocated to Abuja with her parents where she continued her secondary school education at Gwarinpa Secondary School, Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. She also attended the International Institute of Journalism where she studied Journalism. She obtained a Post-Graduate certificate in Advertising and Public Relations.
Mercy studied Digital Story Telling at the Grimme-Institut in Bonn, Germany. She has also studied Media in Peace Keeping Operations and Elections Observation at the Kofi Annan International Peace Keeping Training Center in Accra, Ghana
Abang Mercy is a Nigerian journalist, Environmental consultant and Social media expert. She has gone on several election observation missions on the West African sub-continent. She also runs an interview series, "Conversations with Abang Mercy".
She has worked at Independent Television and Radio, Abuja as a Political correspondent. At ITV Abuja, she worked as a non-linear editor, Presentation director and Producer. One of her programs was a breakfast show, This Morning on ITV.
In the course of her work with Heinrich Boll Foundation, she has done articles and presentations on Nigeria's environmental situation and postulations for the future in several Nigerian cities including Lagos, Abuja and also internationally, in Berlin and London.
She has worked with her fellow African youths and civil societies organisations in lobbying and advocacy with organisations like Oxfam GB Nigeria, West African Civil Society Forum, Heinrich Boell Foundation etc.
Mercy worked as a Media assistant to the former Governor of Cross River State, Governor Donald Duke during his presidential campaigns on the platform of the Donald Duke Campaign Organization.
In 2004, she represented Nigeria alongside other influential Africans lobbying against the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA) with the European Union and the African and Caribbean Countries (ACP) in Senegal and the Gambia.
In 2014, Mary Abang was a participant of African Union's Third Annual High Level Dialogue on Democracy, Human Rights and Governance in Africa; Trends, Challenges and Prospects that held at Nairobi’s Safari Park.
Mercy Abang played a role during preparations for Nigeria's 2015 elections. In September 2014, Mercy anchored a Lagos meeting with young people where she interviewed Nigeria's Former Vice President and a presidential aspirant in the election, Atiku Abubakar.
In March 2015, Mercy hosted a 2-hour live television town hall meeting with the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mr. Attahiru Jega. She was in working company of the international journalist, Kadaria Ahmed of the BBC.
She is also a contributor at top media organisations in Nigeria like YNaija and EcoJournalism . YNaija is an internet newspaper for young Nigerians whereas Ecojournalism helps in easy writing of essays.
Why we love her:
In Mercy Abang's words, "Challenge is not forgetting who you are and what you stand for". She explains that switching roles at specific times has been a challenge but she has overcome that by specifically defining her roles at every point in time.
Mercy is not biased in her opinions and this has landed her on great platforms. We really do admire the great works she is doing here in Nigeria. We hope our girls and women will learn from her.
Nkemdilim Begho is the daughter of Chris Uwaje who pioneered the conceptualization Framework and content drafting strategy for the establishment of the National Information Technology Development Policy for Nigeria.
Mrs Begho is the Managing Director of Future Software Resources Limited- an IT solutions provider focused on online solutions, e-learning and IT security. Nkemdilim volunteers and mentors young and less privileged children in Nigeria. She has a B.Sc. in BioInformatics from Ludwig-Maxmillians Universitat Munchen, Germany.
Nkem has been featured on several newspaper and magazine publications as an expert speaker on ICT in Africa.
Her Work:
She started her career as an Application Developer at Max Planck Institute for Psychiatric Research, Munich Germany in December 2002. Mrs. Begho developed software tools to aid genetic research, and plugins for Micro-array database (Java).
In 2005, Mrs Begho was the Channel Manager for Leapsoft Nigeria Limited.
Between December 2004- December 2009, she worked as Bioinformatics Consultant and Software Developer for Affectics Pharmaceuticals. Nkem developed a chemical compound database called Affectis KemSuite (Java PostrgreSQL) Affectis KemSuite is an in - house developed compound database system with chemical intelligence, which enables company wide data integration. Affectis KemSuite delivers all essential functionalities that ISIS Base,Chem Office or IDBS have, including the support of all data formats primarily used by the pharmaceutical industry.
She’s one of the Board Members of the World Summit Youth Award from 2010 till date;Board Member of the World Summit Youth Award, a global e-content contest with core focus on the acceleration of the Millennium Development Goal implementation.
In February 2008, she became the Managing Director of Future Software Resources Limited- a website design & web-solution provider located in Lagos, Nigeria. She was also among the Research and Development Team, for National Information Technology Development Agency on E-Government Interoperability Framework.
Other services her company offers include online marketing, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), content management system development, online recruitment, graphic design, brand development (logo design and branding), workflow, business and educational software development and IT consultancy services for Nigerian corporate and start-up businesses, as well as the public sector.
Her company innovated the first digital business cards in Nigeria.
In September 2009, she was part of the NITDA Open Standards Framework on Creation and development of the open standards framework for Nigeria.
Why TechHer Loves Her:
Her success is founded on a passion for driving innovative thinking, building a globally recognized technology brand and setting trends in the Nigerian Technology sector
About Her:
Esther Agbarakwe is a Social Media Consultant, Digital Storyteller and award winning environmental activist. She's from Imo State, and graduated with a B.Sc in Chemistry from the University of Calabar, Nigeria in 2008. Aside being a social media and communications expert, Esther Agbarakwe is also an advocate for many causes which include reproductive and maternal health care, climate change, poverty alleviation, societal development etc. She wears many hats and she does great with all of them!
She is Co-founder of Social Good Nigeria, working with Ize Adava and Kolo Kenneth Kadiri. Social Good Nigeria serves as an interface between innovation, technology and community development. Social good holds critical conversations on how technology shapes development leading to action that inspires, connects and empowers.
In 2008, she got a certificate in Digital Storytelling and Community Leadership from Earth Charter Global Learning Opportunity (e-GLO). e-GLO helps young leaders in developing countries, increasing their knowledge on things like multi-culturalism, sustainability, ethics and new media communication.
In 2012, she got a Diploma in Project Management from Advance Learning Interactive Systems Online. Between 2012 – 2013, she studied at The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth and graduated with a Post Graduate Diploma in Sustainable Development.
Her Work:
Esther Agbarakwe started activism right from when she was 9 years old and is popularly known as ‘Estherclimate’ because of her interest and passion for the environment. She is proficient with using social media to communicate environmental issues. As an undergraduate at the University of Calabar, she volunteered as a youth counsellor and activist for the Nigerian Youth Aid Programme (NYAP).
What else has she been involved in? A lot!
Between September 2008 – June 2009, Esther Agbarakwe was the Program Coordinator of Society for Youth Development and Orphaned Children in Ilorin, Kwara State. She managed and coordinated the affairs of orphaned and vulnerable children.
From August 2008 – July 2009, she worked as HIV/AIDS (UNICEF Nigeria/Society for Family Health, SFH) Peer Education Trainer in Ilorin, Kwara State.
From May 2009 – May 2010, she was the Regional Coordinator for Africa at Youth and Children Major Group of United Nations Commission On Sustainable Development (MGCY). MGCY is the mouthpiece of young people in the UN sustainability negotiation efforts for the Commission on Sustainable Development. During her time there, Esther Agbarakwe alongside her team coordinated the development of policies, networked with young people from around the globe and also made recommendations towards the achievement of the group’s goals and objectives. This includes protecting the environment.
In June 2009, she founded the Nigerian Youth Climate Coalition.
In 2010, she briefly worked for 9 months as Project Manager at Building Nigeria’s Response to Climate Change (BNRCC) and Nigerian Youth Climate Coalition (NYCC); a Youth Engagement and Communications Project. She was also the Country Activator at Commission on Education and Communication (May 2010 – September 2012). The Commission on Education and Communication is a network of professional volunteers who are specialists in strategic communication, learning and knowledge management, towards the actualization of IUCN’s (International Union for the Conservation of Nature) goals.
Between April 2010 – August 2011, she worked as Programme Assistant at White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood, Nigeria (WRAN). She helped in promoting youth participation in maternal and child health policy programs. She also assisted the National Coordinator in the design of policies for targeted groups.
From May 2011 – September 2011, she co-founded advised Youth Advocates for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health Nigeria. This initiative was birthed as a result of the pioneer Youth e-consultation on MNCH (Maternal, Newborn and Child Health) which held in Nigeria on the 28th of April, 2011. The e-consultation program comprised of series of questions which was aimed at getting opinions from youths on their awareness, willingness to be involved in raising awareness and designing online strategies for targeting young people.
In the midst of all this, she also served as a Youth Facilitator (Organizer) and Report writer for the International Youth Climate Movement from September 2010 - March 2012.
Between September 2011 –August 2012, she was an International Advocacy Fellow at Population Action International (Population, Health, Environment and Climate Change) in Washington DC, USA. PAI is an organization that promotes the campaign for qualitative reproductive health services to be easily accessible by people across the world. She effectively coordinated and managed the climate change small grant project for screening of PAI’s award winning movie. She also helped in fusing reproductive health/family planning into national climate change declaration strategies in Nepal and Brazil. On international youth engagement, she was responsible for capacity building of youth delegates during several UN engagement summits that focuses on the cor-relational frameworks between climate change, reproductive health and human demography using social media and symposiums. Furthermore, she assisted in developing advocacy strategies for United Nations Organization’s Conference on Climate change (COP17) in Durban, South Africa and a Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) organized by the UN in June 2012, at Rio de jainero, Brazil.
Since May 2012 till date, Esther Agbarakwe has been a resource person at Actionaid Nigeria; a human rights organization whose aim is to end poverty in Nigeria. She was the Convener/Chair of the 2014 General Assembly.
In 2012, Social Good Nigeria at the International Girls in ICT Day event unveiled ‘The PopUp Incubator Project’, a project aimed at developing the capacities of techies, entrepreneurs, young professionals and to increase the involvement and participation of women in ICT sector.
She is currently the Communications Officer at Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Association for Reproductive and Family Health, Abuja. She has held the position since June 2013. Her roles include offline and online projection of ARFH and research writing and ensuring contents editorials meet required standard.
Esther Agbarakwe’s work speaks volumes and has been recognized by both national and international organizations.
In 2009, she received the Dekeyser & Friends Foundation Leadership Award, Germany.
In June 2010, she was among Women Deliver 100 Young Leaders.
In November 2010, she became a Commonwealth Youth Climate Fellow and was received the Nigerian Youth Leadership Award form LEAP Africa (supported by Ford Foundation).
In September 2012, she became an Atlas Corps/Population Action International Fellow.
In August 2012, she was nominated in The Future Awards (For Best Use of Advocacy, 2011/2012).
Why TechHer Loves Her:
Esther Agbarakwe is passionate about causes that promote the empowerment of women in technology and facilitating where she can.
To us, she is an engagement strategist especially on youth affairs. She is one who understands the nitty gritty of using social media in advocacy and welfare promotion for the Nigerian and International society. Women in technology and especially social media should learn from her; we're definitely proud of her!
Information gleaned from the Internet
