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Nkiru Balonwu is an entrepreneur and activist based in
Lagos Lagos ( ; ), or Lagos City, is a large metropolitan city in southwestern Nigeria. With an upper population estimated above 21 million dwellers, it is the largest city in Nigeria, the most populous urban area on the African continent, and on ...
, Nigeria. She is known for her views of women as the solution to Africa's problems and is the founder and chairperson of African Women on Board, an independent, women-led African non-profit organisation focused on advancing narratives to improve realities for women and girls of African heritage. She is also founder and managing partner of RDF Strategies, a consultancy firm that provides advice on strategic communication and stakeholder engagement across sectors from law, technology, finance, advocacy, international development, show business consulting, political engineering and communications In 2016, during her time at the helm of Spinlet, Balonwu was featured in
YNaija ''YNaija'' is a Nigerian online content publishing platform, founded by Chude Jideonwo and Adebola Williams of RED Africa media group. ''YNaija'' launched in May 2010 with columnists and various news sources. It offers news, original content ...
as one of "Nigeria's 100 Most Inspiring Women". In October 2019, Balonwu was awarded the 2020 Powerlist International Award by the Powerlist UK.


Personal life and background

Balonwu is the daughter of two lawyers with a background in social change and justice.


Education

Balonwu graduated with a bachelor's degree in Law from the
University of Manchester The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The University of Manchester is c ...
. She obtained her master's degree from
University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...
(UCL) and holds a Doctorate Degree from the
University of California The University of California (UC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university, research university system in the U.S. state of California. Headquartered in Oakland, California, Oakland, the system is co ...
, Berkeley.


Career

Balonwu has worked in a variety of fields including law, technology, finance, show business, international development, advocacy and communications. She worked as a lecturer at the faculty of law,
University of Lagos The University of Lagos (UNILAG) is a Public university, public research university located in Lagos, Nigeria, which was founded in 1962. UNILAG is one of the education in Nigeria#First generation universities, first generation universities in ...
. In 2014, Balonwu became CEO of
Spinlet Spinlet was a digital media company, focusing on Afro-Centric content. Spinlet’s primary service was music streaming and downloads available globally via web browsers, and the Spinlet app on iOS and Android. The Spinlet platform provided the l ...
, the first music streaming and digital distribution platform in Sub-Saharan Africa. During her time as CEO, Spinlet became Nigeria's first International Standard Recording Code (ISRC) Manager. In 2017, Balonwu founded African Women on Board which launched internationally at the Ford Foundation Center for Social Justice, New York, on 26 September 2019 during the
United Nations General Assembly The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA or GA; , AGNU or AG) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), serving as its main deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ. Currently in its Seventy-ninth session of th ...
(UNGA), with the aim "to give a voice to African women and change how they're perceived".


Leadership and appointments

Balonwu's consultancy RDF was appointed to develop the concept for Lagos to the World (L2W), a global campaign in 2018 by the Lagos State government to drive foreign investment to the state.


Awards and achievements

On 25 October 2019, Balonwu received the Powerlist 2020 International award. The power list black excellence awards features 100 of the UK's most influential black people. Balonwu was the recipient of the International Award, "which is given to a person based outside of the UK, who is considered to have distinguished themselves as a change-maker, innovator, inspiration and person of considerable influence" in recognition of her work at African Women on Board. In March 2016, Media publication, YNaija, in partnership with Leading Ladies Africa ranked Balonwu among the 100 Most Inspiring Women in Nigeria, an annual release that features "women who are deliberately impacting their world and local communities through the power and strength of their ideas and achievement." Balonwu received the honour for her work at Spinlet in "Revolution
sing Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define singi ...
the way music content is shared and distributed". In 2010, Balonwu was a recipient of the Founder Region Fellowship, a gift-giving body that focuses on "improving the lives of women and girls locally and globally by giving fellowships to women who will truly make a difference in the world." Balonwu won the prize under a Law and Social Science focus and a legal dissertation based on analyzing the opportunities that the African film industry, "Nollywood" offers to women as a catalyst for economic development.


Public speaking and media commentary

Balonwu has been featured on various platforms on topics ranging from gender equality, technology, innovation and entrepreneurship. On podcast
a16z AH Capital Management, LLC (commonly known as Andreessen Horowitz, or a16z) is an American privately held venture capital firm, founded in 2009 by Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz. The company is headquartered in Menlo Park, California. As of ...
, started by VC fund Andreessen Horowitz, with past guest speakers including NBA player Andre Iguodala and Oprah Winfrey, Balonwu spoke on technology in Africa. Harvard Business School's Dynamic Women in Business Conference in 2018 featured Nkiru Balonwu as a 'women on boards' panelist. On Radio France Internationale (RFI) a French public radio service with 35.6 million listeners worldwide, Balonwu spoke on how to better engage African women. She is listed as a mentor at the Founder Institute, the world's largest pre-seed startup accelerator.


Published articles

Balonwu has written articles for various media outlets including
Sahara Reporters Sahara Reporters is a news agency based in New York City that focuses on promoting citizen journalism by encouraging everyday people to report stories about corruption, human rights abuses and other political misconduct in Africa, with special f ...
, TechCabal and
Al Jazeera Al Jazeera Media Network (AJMN; , ) is a private-media conglomerate headquartered in Wadi Al Sail, Doha, funded in part by the government of Qatar. The network's flagship channels include Al Jazeera Arabic and Al Jazeera English, which pro ...
English. * "African Women As Consumers: Key To Unlocking Africa’s Growth"; February 2020 *"Propelling African women is essential to African business"; December 2019 *"Why not #MeToo? How stereotypes hinder African women's progress"; October 2019 *"Violence Against Women – Forget #Metoo, We Need #Youtoo to Stand with Women"; July 2019 *"Google CEO Sets New Benchmark for Modern Corporate Communications: Lessons for African Executives"’ February 2019 *"MTN Vs. the Government: Is Poor Communications Hurting Nigeria’s Economy?"; October 2018 *"Brexit, Macron’s visit: Opportunities and new alliances for Nigeria"; July 2018 *"Women in Stem: Time to Recalculate Our Approach?"; May 2018 *"Men as Allies: Pressing for Progress and Workplace Equality in Africa"; March 2018 *"Making African Women's Voices Mainstream"; January 2018, Business Day


Board and advisory council memberships

Balonwu sits on boards of several organisations.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Balonwu, Nkiru Living people Nigerian technology businesspeople 21st-century Nigerian businesswomen 21st-century Nigerian businesspeople Businesspeople from Lagos Nigerian women company founders Nigerian nonprofit businesspeople Nigerian social entrepreneurs Nigerian company founders Year of birth missing (living people) Academic staff of the University of Lagos Alumni of the University of Manchester Alumni of University College London University of California, Berkeley alumni Nigerian women lawyers Nigerian chief executives Alumni of the UCL Faculty of Laws