Jennifer Agunloye's GIST seeks to empower Girls to realize thier full Potentials

Jennifer Agunloye, Founder of GIST (Girls Should Thrive Initvative) shared with Attain, her vision to see girls overcome physical and mental barriers and achieve thier full potentials.

Please kindly tell us about yourself?

I'm Jennifer Agunloye Okoliko, a writer and public speaker, founder of GIST (Girls Should Thrive Initiative), a graduate of petroleum technology, born and raised in northern Nigeria, married with a daughter.

Tell us about your Vision: The Girl should thrive Initiative

GIST was born out of a passion to see girls overcome limitations both mental and physical limitations and give expression to their potentials.

When and how was it birthed?

It actually started as an online blog on facebook when in 2007 was 17. I was sharing stories to inspire Girls to dream and reach for the stars. Then after graduation I realized that the people who really need what we were sharing were not even on the internet. That's when we decided to make it a fully registered NGO and began to take our works to disadvantaged communities.

What were the main challenges you faced early on when you started this Vision and how did you overcome them ?

One of the major challenges i faced was a lack of expertise. I was so passionate but i lacked the skill to actually run the organization and make effective use of the resources available and that led to a lot of mistakes and unnecessary headaches. So i began to connect online with people who were doing similar works. I'd send them messages, asking plenty questions and little by little i began to learn.

What do you consider success in your Project/Non-profit?

Success for me is seeing the girls I work with actually begin to transform as a result of our input. Watching a girl move from "I'm good for nothing" mentality to "I can be anything i want to be" all because of what you taught her. That to me is success and we just began to see that a few months ago actually..

What would you consider your greatest achievement ever you since you started ?

My biggest achievement will be being selected for the Mandela Washington fellowship this year. It was a big deal to see the US government recognize your work and think its worth investing all that resources into you. Its amazing.

If you could go back in time, what are the changes you would have made for GIST?

If I could start all over, I wouldn't try to do everything.. I'll exercise a little more control over my passion and focus on one project /community at a time and grow from there instead of trying to do it all at once like i did.

What else should we see you doing in the Future?

In future I'll be traveling the globe as a public speaker and leadership resource person, I'll also be making more inspirational movies and telling stories of Unsung heroes. Then I'd be a professional horse rider too; probably compete for a global tournament or something (I am joking!!)

What's the Biggest lesson you have learnt since you started GIST?

An NGO does not belong to the individual that started it. It belongs to the people for whom it was started. And it is not meant to last forever, it should solve a problem and shut down or evolve to solve another problem.

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