Mayowa Adegbile

Mayowa Abisola Adegbile (born 10 September 1986) is a Nigerian development expert and social entrepreneur, best known for founding the Ashake Foundation, a business school for widowed mothers in Nigeria.

Education

Adegbile studied Social Sector Management at the Enterprise Development Center of Lagos Business School. She subsequently obtained a master's degree in business administration from the European School of Management and Technology in Germany. She graduated with honours from the programme in 2023 and received the Best Fellow Award.

Ashake Foundation

Adegbile founded the Ashake Foundation in 2013, conceptualising it as a business school for widowed mothers to give them tools to earn a living and support their families. The foundation began with 22 widows and 36 children and expanded to provide business support funds, skills training, and back-to-school support for the children of beneficiaries.

She initially used YouTube to raise funds for the foundation, gaining international visibility for her work. In 2014, Adegbile was selected as one of three Nigerians to reach the top 10 finalists in the Google Africa Connected competition, which recognised African entrepreneurs using technology to solve social problems.

Recognition

In July 2017, Adegbile was recognised by Junior Chamber International as one of the Ten Outstanding Young Persons of Nigeria for her work in Humanitarian and Voluntary Leadership.