Farida is the Co-founder and project coordinator for Jamuje NG; a platform for citizen-led, community-driven action towards achieving sustainable growth and development of Northern Nigeria, with focus on education, health, business and innovation.
The Brief Academy is a learning hub dedicated to developing and supporting female-owned startups to achieve wealth and scalability. She is also the CEO of Lumo Naturals, a natural hair care solutions brand that provides a combination of natural products, techniques, artistic styles and education about African hair and the importance of healthy and natural hair to ‘naturalistas’.
In February 2017, Farida convened a roundtable on education for the Northern states with the lowest literacy rates in Nigeria, this led to the creation of a network of community leaders, with each representative working on a project to increase literacy rates by 10% in the next 7years, the common goal was to find ways to sustain these solutions while engaging communities.
In 2015, Farida was selected as one of 10 youth leaders to meet The UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, to discuss development, climate change and the role of the youth in promoting the sustainable development goals and increasing momentum and ownership in Nigeria, produce and communicate key messages to influence national political actions towards the implementation of the SDGs, and increase the knowledge of young people in Nigeria and across Africa on the new development agenda, especially on its opportunity for dealing with youth development issues.
Farida is a member of the technical working group for SDGs Nigeria, a group of young leaders selected by the UNDP to inspire the next generation of leaders on their roles in promoting sustainable development, and localization of the SDGs in sub national levels. This has made her instrumental in amplifying the voices of the youth in policy-making decisions that cover the 17 goals, and conversations around multi-stakeholders dialogue to influence action towards climate change and development by 2030.
In 2016, Yahya was selected as a Young Achiever by the Young Achievers Summit. She is a mentor for the SOS (Skills Outside School) foundation, and I Am Nigeria initiative; she mentors over 200 young girls on career choices, skills acquisition, and political inclusion using creative writing, workshops, and peer education.
She is a member of Beta business forum, a Kudirat Abiola initiative for democracy for young girls; through which she has presented papers in community outreach programs to educate young girls and women on the importance of women’s inclusion in political leadership.
Yahya received the HOD’s prize for second best research of 2010. Her thesis on eucalyptus explored using the plant as a biotechnological resource and how it can be harnessed as a biofuel. This was an eye opener for her faculty, and was used as grounds to explore green energy production in Nigeria.
As the owner of various businesses, Farida advices that you need to know that the existence of your business, relies on a constant stream of customers flooding in to purchase your products or services, and as such, you must have a plan that ensures that customers keep coming back for more of what you’re offering. She calls this the Sales Funnel.
She defines a sales funnel as “A system designed to attract your target customers to your business and then leading them through a process that allows them to know more about you, with the hope that they buy from you.”
To cultivate potential customers and guide them through the processes in the sales funnel, Farida says you need four major guiders namely: Awareness, Interest, Decision and Action. She further warns “While mastering sales funnels can be tricky, they are an amazing way of getting new customers. Ensure that you know the pain points of your target customers and give them the solution”.
