Tope Fajingbesi

TopeGaniyah Fajingbesi is asocial entrepreneur, author and coach. She created and hosts Impact Africa (www.impactafricaonline.com), a radio show thatinspires listeners to participate actively in African developmentthrough entrepreneurship and job creation particularly for Africa’s growingyouth population. She also invests considerable time and energy into creating abetter world for children from low-income families through United for KidsFoundation (www.unitedforkidsfoundation.org), an organization she co-founded in2002 and which she continues to serve as its Executive Director/CoordinatingTrustee (Pro-Bono). Even though managed by volunteers, United for KidsFoundation’s revenue, which is generated mainly from individual donorsincreased from $39,000 in 2009 to $205,000 in 2013. The number of childrencovered under the organization’s programs also increased from less than 2,000in 2009 to over 13,000 in 2013. Tope’s efforts earned her an award at the Nigeria Centenary USA Awards ceremony in New York City onSeptember 27th 2014.

Tope’s other life mission is coachingand inspiring people, especially women and business leaders, managementconcepts in clear and easy-to-understand language. Her areas of interest andexpertise include sustainable financial management and corporate communityinvestment and engagement. She merges her hobbies (traveling andwriting) with a deep love for, and commitment to her faith and home country,Nigeria by visiting regularly, speaking to various audiences and blogging aboutpersonal finance at www.ourfinancialcoach.com. Tope was ranked as one of America’sTop 11 financial coaches by www.badcredit.org in 2014.

Tope is a United States of AmericaCertified Public Accountant (CPA) and a Nigerian Chartered Accountant (1999ICAN prize winner). She invented “money color”, a revolutionary system thathelps individuals understand and improve their relationship with money. Themoney color phenomenon has now evolved into a whole book titled – “What ColorIs Your Money?” Tope has more than 15 years’ accounting and financialmanagement experience working with Big Four public accounting firms (Arthur Andersen andPricewaterhouseCoopers),Fortune 500 corporations, and nonprofit organizations across the USA andNigeria. She obtained a Bachelors degree in Accounting from the University ofLagos, Nigeria, where she was the best graduating student in the Faculty ofBusiness Administration. She also obtained a Masters in Business Administrationfrom the Goizueta Business School of Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. Topeis a fellow of the Salzburg Global Seminar Session 530 – “Value(s) for Money?Philanthropy as a Catalyst for Social and Financial Transformation.” Tope was one of 30 African leadersinvited to the U.S. White House briefing and dialogue session inpreparation for the 2014 U.S.-Africa leaders’ summit in May 2014. She attendedthe University of Oxford’s Women Transforming Leadership in October 2014.