Recommended articles
She wanted to spend the next five years honing her capabilities as a businesswoman. The graduate of Literature in English wasn't exactly inexperienced. She'd spent 2021 managing an NFT project for an artiste, and 2022 running a media platform called Faces of Web3. But she wanted more.
The central goal of her manifesto was to start a global business, make meaningful connections and put herself on the line for something that matters. The Mandela Washington Fellowship (MWF) was perfect for Eze.
The summer programme provides a comprehensive executive-style experience for hundreds of fellows from across Africa who are trained in the United States. The programme empowers fellows to flourish in their respective sectors, especially in business, civic engagement, and public management.
ADVERTISEMENT
Eze wants to put herself on the line for something that matters
Pulse Nigeria
The MWF boasts alumni who have built profitable careers and businesses. It's highly competitive, which is why tens of thousands of applicants battle for the 700 available spots every year. When Eze applied in September 2023, she knew it was an important opportunity. She needed to break some of the mental barriers she'd imposed upon herself and embrace the chance to meet new people with similar drive.
Even after raising over $1.5 million for an orphanage in 2022, and $5,000 for victims of the 2022 seasonal floods in Nigeria through Faces of Web3, and doing amazing work as the operations manager for a thriving Nigerian startup, Eze almost expected to not be picked. She was certain, in her self-appraisal, that she didn't have enough to get in. But she was wrong.
The fellowship shortlisted her four months later for an interview that involved questions about her work experience and motivations. In late March 2024, a friend sent her Twitter posts of other MWF applicants rejoicing at their acceptance. She'd been told during the interview not to expect contact if she wasn't accepted, so this only confirmed her worst fears — she had not been picked. But that sinking feeling didn't linger for too long as she got a call later that day welcoming her to the fellowship.
Things moved fast after that, starting with a three-day pre-fellowship event in Abuja in May. She met dozens of other very bright people from across Nigeria who had been accepted as fellows. Eze finally got on a plane to Iowa as an MWF fellow in June.
ADVERTISEMENT
Eze asked many questions in the classroom during her Mandela Washington Fellowship
Pulse Nigeria
Becoming a MWF fellow was much-needed validation for Eze. “All the work I had been putting in privately, I could basically show off in public,” she said. After six weeks as a fellow at Drake University, Iowa and three more days in Washington DC, she learnt invaluable lessons about leadership and how important that is to sustaining a business.
She asked too many questions in class, no matter how boring the subject matter was. She wanted to know everything. The professors and lecturers were attentive and intentional and the lessons weren't restricted to just the walls of the classroom. Fellows embarked on site visits to companies to observe their business operations, providing more opportunities for Eze's volley of questions.
After visits to the Puck Enterprises manufacturing plant and the John Deere plant, both in Iowa, she stumbled on an epiphany.
"I always assumed manufacturing was one formidable thing, and I was right; but after speaking to the managers, I learnt they weren't always so huge and got their start somewhere," she noted.
ADVERTISEMENT
For six weeks, Eze rubbed shoulders with an invaluable network of potential business partners, operators and investors at the Mandela Washington Fellowship
Pulse Nigeria
The fellowship was also a blessing for Eze socially. At Drake University, she met more diverse Africans than she'd ever encountered in her home country, Nigeria. The private university hosted 25 fellows from 21 different countries — an invaluable network of potential business partners, operators and investors all gathered together to find solutions to the world’s biggest problems.
"Now I know just who to call if I ever need to expand a business into Mozambique and Comoros Island," she said.
Now that the MWF is done, Eze will resume self-learning economics and Math, get a Master's in Finance, and use the skills she's gained to build businesses.
*
ADVERTISEMENT
Esther Eze is the operations manager at Archivi.ng, a start-up reclaiming Nigeria's forgotten history by digitising old newspapers.
#FeaturedPost
