Ugochi Obidiegwu

Ugochi Obidiegwu is a Social Development Strategist with a speciality in developing products, programmes and policies that solve Africa's pressing development issues affecting African children and youths. Her major work pillars are ensuring child safety and reducing substance abuse in youths.

In order to reduce substance abuse, She rolled out a programme where she uses online and offline options to equip recovered drug users in the Northern part of the country with relevant digital skills to aid smooth reintegration to society. Her team has worked with recovered drug users in 3 states. To ensure child safety, she focuses on training and creating unique safety education products and programmes for African children and educators in order to intentionally groom safety conscious children. The Train Them Young Initiative (#2TYI), one of her projects has taught safety skills to over 7000 students in Nigeria and Ghana. She is the author of the illustrated child safety story book series - The Adventures of Muna, self published on Amazon. It has sold in 11 states in Nigeria and 8 countries. There are currently 3 books in the series and it is available in English and French. She convenes the annual School Safety Summit where teachers get trained and relevant stakeholders proffer solutions to safety challenges affecting school children. During the pandemic she created a safety story booklet on the coronavirus for children and an online game for safe resumption in a pandemic.

She is a 2016 YALI Regional Leadership Centre Fellow, 2018 Tony Elumelu Entrepreneur, 2018 Mandela Washington Fellow and she served on the 2018/2019 Regional Advisory Board to USAID and IREX on matters relating to the Fellowship. She won the 2019 AFRISAFE award in the Shining Star category due to her contributions in the safety industry. She is currently a member of the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) and the World Safety Organisation where she made a presentation on grooming the future workforce at its annual Symposium in Las Vegas. Her work has been profiled on the Tony Elumelu Foundation blog, She Leads Africa, Bellanaija, radio and TV. The European Network Education and Training in Occupational Safety and Health (ENETOSH) website profiled her work as good practice for other countries. Ugochi Obidiegwu is committed to introducing innovative programmes and products that enhance social development in young people.