Mary Nnennaya Ikoku (MNI) is an accomplished professional and entrepreneur. Her vast professional experience spans Strategic Communications, Media and Publishing, Political Strategy, Research and Policy Development with passion and great interest in Leadership, Good Governance, and the advancement of women, children and the family.
She is currently Lead Consultant/CEO at The Access Media Limited, a fast-growing communications management consulting firm and Publisher of Working Moms Africa Magazine, a magazine that is focused on advancing women empowerment and promoting the ideals of work-life-balance for professional women in support of family cohesion and societal development. As founder and President of Moms Africa, Mary leads the endeavor to help women cope with the challenges created by mixing professional careers with parenthood. She has through her NGO, Emerge Women Development Initiative empowered over 1000 women and youth through business startups, entrepreneurship capacity building and Advocacy. She has launched and implemented several key initiatives to support the advancement of women.
Struck by the incredible paucity of women holding elected office at various levels in Abia State and Nigerian in general, Mary started in 2015, a campaign to lead the endeavour to get more women elected to office. She worked tirelessly to develop a standard training program called WECT-Women Election Campaign Training and in May 2018 she founded Emerge Women (EW) which she is nurturing with a vision to be active in all 36 states of Nigeria. EW currently has training programs in 6 states across the country.
Before launching Emerge Women, Mary served for 12+ years as a political campaign strategist to several aspirants and politicians, serving also as a campaign fundraiser. Mary worked for many years as a Policy Communication Specialist in several Federal Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies including; Ministry of Information, Ministry of Finance, Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme and Bureau of Public Service Reforms and Development organisations like DFID, The World bank, Adam smith International and Westminster Foundation for Democracy.
MNI is a respected voice on gender equality and empowerment, education, social justice and leadership matters. A passionate advocate for increasing the number of women in elected and appointive office, she is motivated by a life-long commitment to progressive politics and change. Her mission is to help Nigerian women access their individual influence and use it to define their personal and professional attainment - on their own terms.
A mentor and philanthropist, she enjoys volunteering her time and resources to various causes and programs that uplift and empower women and the youth. She never passes over an opportunity to give back and impact lives positively. Through her None Governmental Organisation, Moms Africa now Emerge Women Development Initiative (EWDI) she has empowered widows, youths, the less privileged in her community. Her Mom Start Biz project has successfully trained and empowered over 1000 women across the country in entrepreneurship and skills acquisition. Her passion for humanity cannot be understated or overemphasised. Her empowerment endeavours cut across ethnicity, class, status or background stretching beyond boundaries and touching lives both within and outside her immediate environment and community.
MNI is a recipient of several international and local Awards including; the British Airways Business Opportunity Grant (BOG) Award, Brand Journalist Award from the Brand Journalist Association of Nigeria, Woman On Fire Award, and recently, Woman in Media Award from the Wise Women Awards, UK. She was named one of the 106 Nigerian Women Who Choose to Challenge Gender Inequality and Injustice, She was also recently named among the Mindr 30 Women of Influence in the World.
She is an acclaimed speaker on the advancement of women, work life balance, barriers facing women of Nigeria, Leadership and Women Political Inclusion. She is a Social Analyst with TVC and Arise Television, and has made appearances on major TV programmes and talk shows including BBC She word, Channels Sunrise Daily, Arise Morning Show, NTA Live, Good Morning Africa, TVC Women’s World, Silver Bird Television, Heart Of the Matter show and NTA’s Am Express and many others.
MNI invests significant amounts of her time and resources volunteering to support local and international NGO’s focused on gender and leadership development in Nigeria. Lately, she serves on volunteer basis as a Co-chair, Communications, Work Study Group (WSG) member of The #FixPolitics Initiative and a lecturer on Campaign Strategy and Communications at the prestigious unconventional School of Politics, Policy and Governance (SPPG) in Abuja, Nigeria.
An alumna of Yale School of management, UCDavis and London School of Public Relations. She holds a B.A. in English Language from Abia State University and recently completed a programme of study for an M.A. in International Relations and Strategic Studies from Lagos State University.
A person of integrity, Mary Ikoku is highly motivated and result oriented possessing excellent interactive and interpersonal skills which enables her carry out her endavours gracefully with positive results.
Mary is a proud mother of 3, a good wife, a Voice to the voiceless and a natural born leader.
Fondly called Adamazi, she is amiable and hospitable by nature. Her strong voice for the voiceless, her moral codes and ethics of hard work and honesty stand her out as a reliable and trustworthy individual suitable for an effective and quality representation of the people of Arochukwu-Ohafia Federal Constituency.