A Philanthropist per excellence
Ijeoma Ann Nwafor is the Founder and President of the charitable All Mbaike Community Welfare Foundation (AMCOW) an organisation that focuses on youth and women empowerment in Imo State.
Her excellent gift and zeal for organizing events, connecting with people and a clear concept of what it means to be a servant leader propelled her into management position at a very early age of 25, playing the role of a motivational speaker, a business woman per excellence, a researcher, a rare mother, a virtuous wife and above all, a true Nigerian with the milk of humanitarian flowing through her to the less privileged.
Ijeoma started her academic career in 1980 when she enrolled at University Primary School, Nsukka and completed her primary education there in 1986 before moving on to Federal Government Girls College, Abuja in 1986 and later changed to Federal Government Girls College, Abuloma, Imo State before completing her higher education in 1992 at Albert Einstein High school in Kensington, Maryland in the United States of America.
In her pursuit for higher academic qualification, she gained admission into Towson University in 1992 initially as a Pre-medicine student but later switched humanities to study Psychology and Sociology on the discovery of her penchant for the study of human behaviour.
After putting in a lot of energy and strength into her studies, Ijeoma graduated with a double major Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Sociology in May 1997 as she also later applied for and obtained her Master’s degree in Counselling Psychology from the same Towson University in 1999.
Not yet done with her pursuit in academics, she obtained a Post-Master’s degree in Psychology with a Certificate of Advanced Studies (CAS,2003) with a focus on Industrial and organizational Psychology, an advance degree that also allowed her to seat and pass a license examination to become an LCPC (Licensed Certificate Professional Counsellor) in the same year.
Between year 2008/2007 she was in Lagos State to observe her mandatory National youth service Scheme as a youth corps member and was saddled with a water purification project in a bio resource and conservation company.
in year 2007, Ijeoma completed her course work in her bid to bag a PhD in Health Psychology from Walden University, Minnesota in the United States of America. Her research and dissertation are on “The behavioural indices of maternal and infant mortality in Imo State.”
In year 2003, forward looking and ever progressive Ijeoma got married to her heartthrob Wilson O. Nwafor. Her tying of the nuptial knot to Wilson did not in any way hinder her ambitions and goals as he gave her all the needed support and encouragement to move on in life and pursuit of her visions.
Moved and motivated by her desire to render humanitarian and effective leadership service to her people, the mother of her later summoned enough courage to run for the federal house of Representatives seat of Mbaitoli/Ikeduru federal Constituency in year 2011 where she intended using the opportunity to tackle most of the problems facing her constituency and the constituents effectively with robust and valuable legislative skills and tools.
She started working at the early age of 16 her working experiences include working as a Mental Health worker, levels I & II, at Sheppard Pratt Hospital, Maryland, one of the leading hospitals in the United States and also as a Client Services Manager at the Institute for Family Centered Services, Maryland, USA between 1999 and year 2000, where she designed and implemented policies and processes that assist clients in effective decision making and was able to manage over 5,000 cases of families in need of unification and reconciliation.
She later worked as a Discharge Director at Sheppard Pratt Hospital, Maryland between year 2000 and 2002 and later made the Regional Director of the Institute for Family Centered Services (IFCS) where she served for 4 meritorious years, overseeing the operational and managerial aspects of the Institute for 2 years. The Institute, IFCS, had a budget of $25million with over 70 employees.
Brilliant Ijeoma at a relatively young age became a full time Professor at Hartford Community College, Maryland, for 5 years and within same period was also an Adjunct professor at her Alma-mata, Towson University, Maryland, USA.
She later became the Chief Executive Officer of a human resource and capacity building company, Life Options, Inc., USA, a public entity with its major focus on psychological solutions for both corporations and individuals for 3 years until she returned to Nigeria and worked with the Imo State Government under the administration of Chief (Dr) Ikedi Ohakim, the governor of Imo State as the executive Assistant to the Governor on administration, later as Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Administration and Protocol and lastly served as the Special Adviser to the Governor of Imo State on Administration and Special Events Management.
During her days under the administration of Ikedi Ohakim, Mrs Ijeoma Nwafor was known as the “Engine room of Government House” simply because she would humbly and politely lend answers to any question that may arise about operations of Government House; even where she did had no answer, she was always willing to direct people to the right source.
Ijeoma Ann Nwafor is currently the President of Indigo Child Development services limited – A child development company that focuses on educating the public on effective child care. She is also a Director at Bioresources Development and Conservation Programme an NGO that focuses on maximizing natural resources for the socio-economic benefit of the indigenous people.
In addition, Ijeoma is the Executive Director of InterCEDD Health Product (IHP), a manufacturing company poised to producing health and wellness products for natural resources and also a member of the Board of Directors in several companies namely ION Global Services, Champion Newspapers, Legend Creators Limited and also a Consultantnat Discovery Cycle Professionals.
IJ as she is fondly called by her admirers is a Christian and belongs to a number of professional bodies. She is a Fellow of the Alvan Ikoku Federal Institute of Education, Imo State.
Ijeoma loves hanging out with her family for her leisure and also loves writing, dancing and travelling.