Efe Ukala, the founder of ImpactHER recently bags the University of Chicago’s Early Career Achievement award as the only African to be so honoured for the year 2022 award season. The Early Career Achievement Award winner is an alumnus who has demonstrated outstanding achievements in any field aged 40 or younger.
The University of Chicago, established in 1890, ranked number eight globally among 500 universities with over 100 Nobel Prize winners associated with the school has a long tradition of honouring distinguished and committed alumni who have shaped the world and strengthened their global alumni community.
The University notes that the award is conferred on those whose achievements have brought distinction to themselves, credit to the University and real benefits to their communities. This isn’t the first time Ukala would win an award as prestigious as this; in May of 2022, she was named Africa’s Forty Under 40 for her social support to the African continent. She was also a finalist for the Accenture Gender Mainstreaming Award (Inclusive Leader Category).
“This recognition is just another reminder to me of the continuous need for service. I pledge to do better, to continuously be a solution to African women small business owners, to closing the gender gap and to creating more gender-balanced work spaces. I promise to be relentless in the pursuit of financial inclusion and access for African female entrepreneurs. I’m very humbled by the University of Chicago’s recognition.
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“The seeds that were laid on this very campus, where I served as a student worker at the University of Chicago’s Community Service Center are paying off. Thank you to the University for challenging me to always think outside the box and question the status quo,” Ukala stated while receiving the award as she equally thanked her parents for investing in her.
ImpactHER is an impact-driven nonprofit organization that seeks to empower African female entrepreneurs by bridging the gender business financing gap so as to help African female entrepreneurs realize their full economic potential. Over 40,000 women have directly benefited from the support created by ImpactHER since its inception.
According to Ukala, data shows that women reinvest up to 90 percent of their incomes into their families; however, the number is not the same for men, who reinvest between 30-40 percent of their income. She states further that there is no world in which economic empowerment of women does not benefit everyone. “We will continue to put in the work,” she added.
According to her, zeal and commitment to making the world a better place through female economic empowerment contributes largely to why she won the award. Ukala, a cheerleader of female entrepreneurs who even though lives far away from the continent acknowledges the financial constraints experienced by her African sisters’ lack of access to financing.
