Aisha Babangida is a humanitarian leader and experienced founder with a demonstrated history of working within philanthropy and helping underserved communities throughout Nigeria. She is the Chairman of the Better Life Program for the African Rural Woman, taking over after her mother, who worked previously as the chairman and founder.
In addition to the Better Life Program, Aisha has also started and worked with numerous non-profit organisations, only fuelling her passion to do more for the people of her country. Aisha loves being able to provide women and girls with educational opportunities and life skills in order to better prepare them for the future.
In addition to her passion and commitment to philanthropy, Aisha Babangida is also passionate about finance and business. She has continued to advocate for female empowerment by working to increase women’s rights, and provide them with resources that can help transform their lives and great community. Through her work and outreach, Aisha Babangida realized the importance of microfinance and banking for the Nigerian economy.
In 2016, she founded the Egwafin Microfinance Bank, which helps those in Africa get the access they need to funding and financing that they may not have had access to otherwise.
According to her, Microfinance acts as a means to target wealth inequality and work towards bridging the gap. Because the poor or impoverished don’t have access to resources, their skills go underutilized, because they themselves are underutilized.
“Microfinance, commonly referred to as microcredit which is actually a subset within microfinance, acts as an opportunity for people who may not otherwise receive approval for a loan or credit to still obtain financial services. The concept was built around the idea of inclusion and access for all. In order to participate in growing economies, people need access to funding no matter their income bracket.” She says.
In 2018, Aisha Babangida founded Women Enterprise Alliance, which helps entrepreneurs through investing in profitable early stage companies, small & medium enterprises (SMEs) in Nigeria and across Africa. She founded the organisation as a way to help improve the resources that entrepreneurs need to thrive when first starting their own company. Overall, Aisha Babangida has become known for her leadership in the community, as well as her skills in non-profit organisations, negotiation, corporate social responsibility, business planning, and analytical skills.
Aisha is passionate about financial inclusion for women and how it can change their lives and communities.
“Women represent between 60 and 79 percent of Nigeria’s rural labour force but are five times less likely to own their own land than men. Women are also less likely to have had a decent education. Microcredit and financial inclusion organisations create some of the best opportunities for these women to gain valuable capital that can pay off long-term upon obtaining the necessary resources.
While these programs are geared towards those with an entrepreneurial spirit or business opportunity, they also have programs intended to support those who don’t conform to this mold yet still have more basic necessities in order to sustain or improve their standing.” Says Aisha.
Aisha is the founder of Tasnim Foundation, a charity based organisation providing scholarship to young girls in rural areas to encourage the girl child education. They also provide medical equipment and some medications to hospitals in order to improve public health. Through the program, Aisha Babangida provides succour for displaced citizens. As part of her mission to expose children to more education opportunities, the foundation is building small schools in rural areas and rehabilitating orphanages.
Aisha recently hosted past First Ladies and the present First Lady of Nigeria, Her Excellency, Aisha Buhari, to mark the 10th anniversary of the demise of her mum, former First Lady, Maryam Babangida
