Hyelni is a development worker and the initiator of ‘Sheelda Rural Women Empowerment Initiative’. She is currently the CEO of Sheelda Enterprises, a social enterprise with a vision to create inclusive and sustainable wealth in Africa by providing women in rural areas with a means of livelihood and socio-economic empowerment to become drivers of economic growth in the nation. She holds an MSc in Project Management from Sheffield Hallam University in the UK; a trained Project Manager and a passionate social entrepreneur, mostly about women empowerment. As a project Manager, she has worked with a local NGO and two international NGOs in North Eastern Nigeria in communities affected by the insurgency, mainly managing projects centered on child protection and Gender Based Violence (GBV).

In line with her passion, she champions the Sheelda rural women’s empowerment Initiative and social enterprise aimed at promoting women’s economic empowerment and gender equality. Her personal vision is to create decent jobs for economically empowering African women, to enable them fend for their families and control their own destinies.

Furthermore, her passion for empowering women stems from the belief that by empowering a woman, her family is empowered, hence the entire community. Economically empowered women are socially empowered as well. They are more confident and can participate in the decisions concerning their children and their family. They can contribute in their children’s education, contribute to their communities, hence meaningfully contribute to the nation’s development. Economically empowered women also have less risk of becoming victims of gender-based violence (GBV).
Hyelni envisions a world where there are equal opportunities for everyone, where women are empowered and are given the opportunity they deserve, and where they have a say in every aspect that concerns them.