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At first, when I registered my organization (FORUFEDA) for the Dobson Cup competition, it appeared like I bit more than I could chew. The competition was intense and required that we participate in a boot camp for 10 consecutive weeks, attend various coaching sessions, and craft a refined business proposal. For me, this meant that I had so much work to do balancing my graduate classes which were usually in the evenings with the weekly meetings. The experience personally helped me develop greater time management skills, a can-do attitude, and a zeal to keep thriving. I must confess it wasn’t an easy journey, but it was well worth it! 

As a team, the Dobson Cup Competition opened more opportunities to learn the nitty-gritty of building a start-up from the ground up. It created an avenue for us to learn from industry experts and understand what it takes to keep a project running. From the very first speaker to the last, Dobson dutifully picked speakers that related with us on the base level and told stories about how they started small and grew into multimillion companies. Nothing was left out! From the vulnerable moments in their Startups, to the stage at which they began picking themselves up and finally, the points where they achieved giant strides. I love that we were thoroughly exposed to the ‘how to’ and not just mere words. 

The Dobson Bootcamp enabled us at FORUFEDA (Foundation for Rural Female Development in Africa) to refine our value proposition and craft our market strategy amidst other training. At FORUFEDA, our mission is to provide rural African females the best opportunity for personal growth and social influence through access to high-quality education and economic empowerment. As a non-profit, revenue generation is a crucial component of achieving our mission and this was where we found a bit challenging. We had to go back to the drawing board and identify how to keep our projects sustainable over time. Thanks to the MCF and Dobson training we were able to come up with a workable plan and have even started working towards it. 

Although our team didn’t win, we received outstanding training that will remain with us and help us thrive in our domain of influence. We are super proud that we made it to the top 9! 

As a team, we truly appreciate the Mastercard Foundation and the Dobson Team for creating this learning experience. Through it, we have been rejuvenated to keep reaching for the stars and impacting the lives of more rural girls.

Onyinyechi Emilia Ohawuiro (Nigeria) – Mastercard Foundation-Dobson Participant  
Mastercard Foundation Scholar Alumna, M.Ed. Educational Psychology