Ibifuro Giami is a Nigerian female gender development advocate; co-founder and Executive Director of Centre for Economic and Leadership Development (CELD) – a gender advocacy organization, she co-founded in Nigeria since 2008; publisher of the gender-based publication, Amazons Watch magazine with a focus on becoming the leading voice for women in emerging nations since 2015; and currently a Ph.D. scholar at the University of Portsmouth, United Kingdom.

She firmly believes holistic empowerment will be impossible without formal education, even if it is adult education, and a means of livelihood. She also has an unquenchable thirst and commitment to excellence, integrity, professionalism and hard work, and believes all women should make conscious efforts to develop and imbibe these traits to stand tall in all ramifications, especially in male-dominated societies, such as in development nations.

Her unwavering passion for child development led her to co-found CELD to engage in advocacy programmes for children in schools and homes. She eventually started giving scholarships to children who could not go to school, through the CELD. Upon realization that in taking care of a child, you have to take care of the mother as well, she expanded the vision of the CELD to include advocacy programmes and outreaches for women empowerment.

Her concerns with the gender gaps prevalent in most developing countries, having been raised in a Nigerian cultural context, where women were rarely given a voice or role in community affairs, also necessitated CELD’s committed to promoting gender equality and diversity in emerging nations through organizing annual forums with top female business leaders, female politicians and policy makers, wives of presidents and other policy makers from Europe, Asia, Northern and Southern America, Middle East and Africa, among other approaches.

Her work at CELD is complemented by her media role as the publisher of the Amazons Watch Magazine. Using CELD as a platform, with support from her strategic partners, her published quarterly Amazons Watch Magazine for women in the developing regions of Africa, Middle East, and Asia, is aimed at highlighting meaningful contributions of women in developing nations, who have helped transform their economies and communities.

Ibifuro Giami has initiated and led outreaches, trainings and workshops across countries in Europe, Asia, Africa, Middle East South America as well as the United States, and United Kingdom with the aim of building the capacity of women from developing regions in order for them to excel in male-dominated and challenging industries and sectors.

Under her dynamic and transformational leadership, her flagship programme, the South America-Africa-Middle East-Asia Women Summit (SAMEAWS) has proven to be the premier gathering of women and key stakeholders from South America, Africa, Middle East & Asia, with a record attendance of over 1500 delegates from 35 countries in the maiden 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018 editions, with leaders, from various economies such as Bahrain, India, Bangladesh, China, Myanmar, Qatar, all regions of Africa, the United States and the UAE.

In 2012, her contribution in the gender development space, and overall work at CELD, as a gender advocacy organization gained the recognition of the United Nations when her organization, CELD, was accorded a special consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (UN ECOSOC), a status still currently held.

In 2017, she hosted five sitting first ladies from Trinidad and Tobago, Panama, Ivory Coast, Ethiopia, and Guyana, at the International Conference on Gender and Sustainability (ICOGAS), to inspire and encourage them in their efforts in empowering women in their nations.

Also, in recognition of her work, she has received numerous awards and peer-reviewed commendations, including awards and commendations from the Office of the Vice President of Zimbabwe; Office of the First Lady of Niger Republic; National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), among others.

She is a mentor and role model to her staff in Nigeria and the United Kingdom as well as to many young women and girls from across the world, especially in developing nations.

Ibifuro has a bachelor’s degree in Mass Communications from the Rivers State University of Science and Technology, Port Harcourt Nigeria, a master’s degree in Global Management from the University of Salford, United Kingdom, and currently rounding up her PhD in Engineering Education from the School of Engineering, University of Portsmouth, United Kingdom. Her PhD pursuit is majorly hinged on her interest in finding the link between gender diversity in engineering and improved sustainability practices.

She is happily married with three adorable children.