Hi there!
I am Kelechi Udoagwu, Cofounder of Skrife and PR girl at MEST. I am a mentor, speaker, consultant focused on empowering young adults, women and other underrepresented groups in Africa to get further faster in career and life.
In the past year alone, I have worked with 20+ startups, and over 60 entrepreneurs to launch new businesses and execute communications, PR and branding strategies that convert into revenue to keep their businesses running.
I contribute career advice and guest posts to magazines like True Africa, She Inspires Her, For Creative Girls and Bella Naija.
Below is a short short recap of my professional life and career so far:
I was born and raised in Nigeria. During my years in university, I featured in ads for brands like MTN, Samsung, Fidelity Bank and others; hosted a web show called the Nigerian State of Mind, and had a brief stint as an actress on Dstv’s Tinsel.
After university, I got into the business world as a brand manager months before I became an entrepreneur-in-training (EIT) at Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST). During this time, I worked as a freelance writer contributing to magazines like Bella Naija and True Africa, and working with Pulse Ghana on the web series, Techies.
In 2015, I got into The S Factory, a female-led pre-accelerator in Chile, where I lived for four months and cofounded Skrife. And in 2016, I was back at MEST, managing Communications and PR, and running Skrife.
Which brings me to here, right now…
with:
African Adulting Academy (AAA) is my life purpose / pet project (still in conceptualization/seed stage – please join me to make this happen).
It is a pan-African, pop-up academy with the sole mission to enlighten, empower and strengthen African graduates and young adults in transitional phases in their lives. Read more about it here.
MEST is a training program, seed fund and startup incubator for African tech entrepreneurs. We offer a fully sponsored program – including 3 meals / day, accommodation, a return trip, transportation to/fro MEST and a monthly stipend. Since 2008, MEST has trained 400+ entrepreneurs (including me) and invested in 25+ startups.
The MasterCard Foundation seeks a world where everyone has the opportunity to learn and prosper. As a mentor in the Scholars Program, I volunteer 2-3 hours/week helping students from the lowest socio-economic quartiles find new opportunities and push hard to achieve great things.
My blog: When I started this, the plan was to make it into a resource centre for ambitious, introspective, intentional young adults. As time’s gone on and I’ve gotten busier, I’ve found myself using it more as a notepad – a compilation of advice, rants, epiphanies, hacks, events, gems I find on the web, posts I write for other blogs, interviews and videos.
Now, it’s your turn!
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