Thelma Arimiebi Ekiyor is a Nigerian peace activist, social entrepreneur who has served in authoritative positions within many organisations. She is also a lawyer specialising in Alternative Dispute Resolution.
Ekiyor has focused primarily on including women in peace building and empowering women and youths through financial independence and educational access. She has experience with projects in over 20 African countries. In 2006, she co-founded the Women Peace and Security Network Africa (WIPSEN-AFRICA) alongside Ecoma Bassey Alaga and Liberian peace activist Leymah Gbowee
Thelma Ekiyor received her MBA in Entrepreneurship and Innovation from Imperial College London, UK, and holds a Law degree with LLB Honors from the University of Buckingham.
She is an alumna of the African Women’s Leadership Institute and of the 2002 Summer Peace building Institute at the Eastern Mennonite University in the United States, which is deeply connected with WANEP and WISPEN-AFRICA. Ekiyor is also a Fellow of Stanford University.
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After serving at the CCR, Ekiyor became the Executive Director of the West Africa Civil Society Institute (WASCI), based in Ghana. She helped establish connections between donors and international organisations, and created WASCI’S civil society capacity building strategy and policy influencing platform.
Outside of Africa, Ekiyor sits on the advisory boards of the Us-based Women Empowerment Centre (WEC) and the Rising Leadership Foundation. She is also currently a board member on ALL ON, which was established by Shell and is a renewable energy impact fund in West Africa.
Thelma is the co-founder and CEO of Afrigrants Resources Ltd, an organisation that focuses on finding business solutions that address social problems, with an emphasis on under-development and women’s financial inclusion. At Afrigrants, Ekiyor designed Market Women’s Quick Cash, a program which provides micro-loans to women.
Ekiyor founded the Funding Space, which is meant to help social entrepreneurs in West Africa gain training and ac
Chairperson, Micro, Small & Medium-sized businesses’ division of NACCIMA
cess to financial platforms. At the Funding Space, Ekiyor co-founded the Ebi Fund, which is specifically for women entrepreneurs. Thelma is also a Managing Director at SME.NG, Nigeria’s Impact Investment Platform, which also provides funds to women entrepreneurs.
In 2010, Ekiyor was appointed the first Executive Director of the TY Danjuma Foundation (TYDF), which focuses on improving access to health care and education to those who live in the Taraba State, a region in North East Nigeria.
In 2020, Ekiyor was appointed chairperson of the Micro, Small and Mediumsized businesses’ division of the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA). In this role, Ekiyor will work with small businesses with the goal of improving their capabilities and benefiting the overall Nigerian economy.
