2024 Business Women Awards
WOMAN TO WATCH | EDUCATION: Ezenwayi Amaechi Ejiribe
Johnson & Wales University professor and entrepreneur
STUDENTS SITTING IN Ezenwayi Amaechi Ejiribe’s classroom at Johnson & Wales University learn a little extra from her during a given semester: real-world experience affecting real change across the world.
Amaechi Ejiribe approaches teaching holistically, encouraging her students to learn beyond the classroom, with experiences, entrepreneurship opportunities and self-directed learning.
“I hope the students in my classes learn the critical-thinking skills that can be applied to their daily lives. It’s vital for solving problems, making informed decisions and understanding complex issues,” Amaechi Ejiribe said. “I also hope they have a strong foundation in communication skills because effective communication – verbal, written, active listening, idea expression – is important for success in life.”
Amaechi Ejiribe encourages her students and mentees to stay curious and continue learning as they go through life. Overall, she also hopes that her students leave the classroom with academic knowledge, as well as skills, attitudes and values needed to face the world, while also meaningfully contributing to society, she says.
Along with being an entrepreneurial professor at the Providence-based university, Amaechi Ejiribe is also the founder and executive director at MicroEnterprise Social Entrepreneurship, or MESENow, which operates both in Providence and in Nigeria. There, she and her team aim to create a successful ecosystem of women and youth entrepreneurs in developing nations.
Offering no-interest and low-interest loans and financing, MESENow educates and advises small-scale business owners in financial literacy and marketing and connects them with supportive resources. It’s a mission grown from her doctoral thesis exploring women in poverty.
Amaechi Ejiribe says research suggests that social entrepreneurship can impact health and wellness by lowering health inequalities through environmental, social and economic activity in social determinants of health.
“I aim to employ and build upon existing resources or assets that are available within the communities I visit to promote health and well-being,” she said.
Outside of research and teaching, Amaechi Ejiribe enjoys spending quality time with her daughter, who will be traveling with her this summer to Nigeria and Ghana, fine-tuning MESENow systems that she can bring to more countries and communities.
