Nwamaka Nwobi Okoye

Career In 2007, Okoye returned to Nigeria with the intention of investing in the country. After living abroad, she considered it her duty to contribute back to the country of her birth. The company has since collaborated with organizations such as Fidelity Bank, Unilever, Mitsubishi Motors, and the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority. Her design work often incorporates elements of sustainability and biophilic design using recycled materials. In 2018, Housessories Ltd, was named one of Nigeria's fastest-growing companies by Business Day.

Social entrepreneurship In addition to her work in design, Okoye co-founded Value Driven Leadership, an initiative to promote business ethics and governance. Okoye is an alumna and past president of the Stanford Seed Transformation Program Nigeria, a business leadership initiative by the Stanford University Graduate School of Business. The network provides training and support for entrepreneurs in Nigeria, with programs such as the Start-Up Impact Training for Entrepreneurs. For her work to support entrepreneurship in Nigeria, Okoye has been recognized with the Woman of Merit Gold Award by People and Power

Nwamaka Okoye Literature Prize Okoye is the founder of Gearshift Africa, an organization supporting African storytellers and content creators. The inaugural theme, Coming of Age, received nearly 400 entries, with shortlisted works published in an anthology of the same name.