Loveth Omotola
What are you fighting for? Tell us all about your cause/area of focus. Why do you think it is so important?
I am fighting for Girl Child Education in Africa; that education be prioritized, with an emphasis on girls who are least likely to have access to learning and formal education due to poverty, geographical location, or long-held traditions that don't support learning for these girls.
I am a first generation university graduate and my life is a testimonial that education is the key to unlocking a girl’s power; to equip her to actualize her dreams and aspirations as she contributes to societal development.
Tell us about yourself. What's your background? How did you become involved in your cause? What inspired you to begin living for change?
I am an only girl child in a family of three. I come from a community that plays down the education of girls. My mother wanted to be a banker but her father didn't see the need to educate a girl child since she would be married off someday to a man. My father was not able to also get education as his parents couldn't afford to. My parents decided to change the narrative and they invested in my education; in spite of glaring oppositions.
Today, I am a first generation university graduate, an inducted teacher, an author, a profound speaker, a multiple award-winning humanitarian, and a girls’ education advocate. I see many young girls in my community, and in many other places; especially in rural communities and urban slums, who are still denied the right to education due to some constraints.
This is what inspired me to begin living for change. I want more young girls to be given a chance at learning.
What have you been doing to spread the word and/or to help your cause so far?
I have organized several community development projects to help maintain the dignity of girls, and to boost their overall wellbeing; to ensure that girls stay and learn in school. I have organized several campaigns to sensitize parents, guardians and community heads on the importance, promise, hope, and future of an educated girl child.
I am also the Founder of GlowGirl Initiative; a registered educational charity in Nigeria, committed to seeing more young girls empowered in and through education, and [to seeing them] become real change makers in Africa. I also lead a Facebook community - currently about 400 African girls and young women, who are also girl child education advocates, and we are raising more compassionate female energy to take up spaces of leadership.
I have authored and published a book, GoGirl, which is geared towards ensuring that girls are able to live and actualize their dreams despite their limiting backgrounds. I recently launched a project, 1 MILLION GIRLS LEARN, with a mission of helping a million girls across Africa to have access to learning and learning materials amidst the pandemic and beyond. And we are currently building our website to put all our works and to tell all our stories; to make our mission and impact visible on a global level.
How and when will you judge success? What’s your end point?
Success will be when one million African girls have access to learning and learning materials; and when each one of these girls is empowered and is doing what she can to ensure that girls in her sphere of contact have access to learning too.
Complete this sentence: "I am #LivingForChange because..."
I know that education is the key to unlocking girl power.
Thoughts & opinions expressed herein remain the property of the interviewed persons and do not represent endorsement by GirlTable, its owners, directors, partners, subsidiaries and/or affiliates.