About Me
Scholar. Facilitator. Community Builder.
I work at the intersection of scholarship, facilitation, and community transformation.
Dr Zibah Nwako
I am an international consultant, training facilitator, enterprise educator, and scholar-activist.
My work centres the personal growth, welfare, wellbeing, and leadership development of African women, girls, youth, and the organisations and communities that serve them.
I hold a PhD from the University of Bristol, where my doctoral research examined the welfare and wellbeing of female undergraduate students in Nigeria through a critical participatory methodology. Both bodies of work are cited, applied, and in active use — they shape everything I do.
What I Stand For
Three Core Commitments
Women and girls are not problems to be solved.
They are people with insight, resilience, and capability — who are too often working within systems that undervalue them. My work is about changing that.
Practice shaped by African feminist scholarship.
Grounded in postcolonial thinking and a deep commitment to participatory, community-rooted ways of working. I do not import models — I listen, design carefully, and facilitate with skill and care.
Knowledge that serves people, not just institutions.
Contributing to a body of knowledge that takes African women’s experiences seriously — and designing programmes that actually serve people well.
Professional Background
Decades at the Intersection of Research and Practice
I began my career at the British Council in London, coordinating European teacher exchanges and vocational training. I later founded TOP Kids Company Limited, directing five OFSTED-registered early years settings and employing over thirty staff.
Through AFFIRM Consulting, Training and Coaching Limited — which I established in the early 2000s — I became the pioneer licensed Springboard Women’s Development Programme trainer in Nigeria and delivered programmes for corporate organisations, schools, universities, women’s associations, and youth groups across Nigeria and the United Kingdom.
I have been featured in broadcast media, including the Nigeria Television Authority, Voice of Nigeria, and Wazobia FM, and have spoken at international conferences, universities, and public events across Africa, Europe, and the United Kingdom. I currently work as a Senior Research Associate and am invited regularly as a guest speaker, visiting lecturer, and keynote presenter.
Areas of expertise
African girlhoods and women’s development · Youth entrepreneurship · Women’s welfare, wellbeing, and self-development · Creative research methodologies · Postcolonial and African feminisms · Research ethics and positionality · Critical thinking skills · Gender justice and policy · Enterprise education · Life-skills facilitation
Networks & Affiliations
Connected to the Work I Believe In
I am an International Board Member of the Women Students Welfare Association (WOSWA), Kenya; an Away Country Mentor for the Beacon Scholarship Trust; and a Trustee of the Professor Festus Nwako Foundation. I am a member of the Springboard Women’s Network Nigeria and the British Association for International and Comparative Education.
I am a proud mother of four wonderful young men. Having been the only woman in my house for a long time, they are quite sure this is why I work so passionately for women and girls. They may be right. What I know is that this work chose me as much as I chose it — and every conversation, programme, and piece of research I do is an investment in a world where women and girls are freer, more equipped, and more visible in shaping their own futures.
— Zibah
Would you like to work with me?
I am available for facilitation, training, speaking, consulting, retreats, and research partnerships.