Sheroes.NG

I started the Sheroes.ng project in 2018. Having worked as a journalist for over 10 years, I have realised that women are grossly underrepresented in every aspect of life even though they have always been actively present in shaping our world. Throughout my growing years as a teenager and young adult, the only history I ever got to hear about is on men, women are painfully absent.  And those who were alive then, were never celebrated but rather portrayed to be wayward and irresponsible by the society. For example, the famous Queen Amina of zazzau is celebrated internationally much more than she is by the society she helped create. Likewise, many other prominent influential women of that time, musicians, politicians, activists and scholars. They never got the accolades and recognition they deserved for their contributions to nation building. I lacked mentors while growing up, and I saw that gap still exists in my society despite the little progress it has made. Majority of the few privilege women fortunate enough to have an education and career are more interested in the latest fashion and luxury cars than in empowering the next less privilege woman or Girl child.

Sheroes.ng is designed to do all of that. Document women. Honour women. Inspire women. Support women. Empower women.

I am the only one running every aspect of the project, content creation, management and promotion. From January 2018 till date, it has

1873 followers on Instagram.

120 on Twitter

911 followers on Facebook

And almost 10,000 views from all over the world.

We had such high ambitions and lofty dreams of reaching every woman and Girl child through their mobile phones, providing them with inspiration from the history and life stories of outstanding women of both the past and present times, information about their rights, privileges and place in society, and also encourage them towards progressive thinking through the execution of community impact projects instead of the latest fashion and luxury cars. And eventually develop into a quarterly magazine and mobile phone application reaching women all over the world.

In the midst of 2018, about 5 months after launching, we were contacted by sheroes.com, an Indian women group which proposed a partnership. But after one skype meeting with those at the frontlines of the community, I realised that what they wanted was an acquisition not a partnership because they were proposing to give me some ‘honorarium’ and asking for sole control over the project, so I did not agree.

At the moment, we have the platform but not the resources to grow it. Besides the fact that I am still studying, which means less time and attention for the project, digital marketing cost a lot of money. Our current growth rate is much slower than earlier planned. We are trying to improve on the website itself, one little step at a time. I think the greatest success we have had so far, is having successfully made our presence known, and knowing that it is appreciated.

What we need to grow, are

1. A complete rebranding of the brand itself, - 3D logo designs, improved website and social media handles.
2. voluntary writers
3. More visibility.

We then move to the next stage of the project plan, - engaging partnering with international organisations that work in the same area of interest as sheroes.ng like the UN, UN Women and others. Pairing women up with mentors in what we call ‘adopt a sheroe’ project, creating community impact projects like community playgrounds for children in diverse communities etc.