by Chinwe Okafor

United States President, Barack Obama, has honoured a Nigerian, Adepeju Jaiyeoba at a Global Entrepreneurship event in Washington DC.

The White House, in a statement on its official website, noted that the emerging entrepreneurs from across the US and around the world were brought together to create innovative solutions to some of the world’s toughest challenges, including poverty, climate change, extremism, access to education and health care.

The statement read, “The event comes ahead of Obama’s travel to this summer’s Global Entrepreneurship Summit in Nairobi, Kenya and provides a unique opportunity to galvanise global attention on emerging women and young entrepreneurs.

“Jaiyeoba, who is a Nelson Mandela Washington Fellow for Young African Leaders, founded Mothers Delivery Kits in 2013 after losing a close friend to childbirth to address maternal and child mortality resulting from unhygienic and unsafe deliveries in Nigeria.

“She has been able to collaborate with other entrepreneurs, build employee capacity through YALI courses, and receive seed capital and mentorship from the US African Development Foundation.”

According to the White House, Jaiyeoba has expanded her services to internally displaced victims of Boko Haram.

The grant has also reportedly enabled her company to acquire new machinery, establish a storage facility in northern Nigeria to address transportation challenges, increase its Lagos-based staff, and reach nearly 80 community midwives and health care providers across 23 states in the country.

“The event will recognize the impact made by a number of U.S. government-led initiatives.

“The United States has played a key role in organizing all five previous Global Entrepreneurship Summits, including the inaugural summit in 2010, designed to encourage innovators to choose entrepreneurship as a profession and to empower aspiring entrepreneurs, giving them access to mentors, networks, and capital,” the White House further said.

Among the five entrepreneurs who spoke at the event was Tony Elumelu, Founder of the Tony Elumelu Foundation and former Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the United Bank for Africa.