Article Summary
- Blessing Abeng is the co-founder of Ingressive for Good, an ed-tech nonprofit that uses technology to increase the earning power of African youth
- Her nonprofit has completed a 3,000-member tech training cohort with 80% of graduates finding employment, awarded over $46,500 in scholarships, sponsored 1,000 women to pursue tech courses and more
- She believes in the power of changing the life of one person which would in turn grow into thousands
Despite the initial plans of this young woman to study medicine, Blessing Abeng has become a force to be reckoned with in the marketing and communications industry. She now helped to build successful companies from the scratch and some of them include Disha and Ingressive for Good (I4G).
She has been the co-founder since 2022 of Ingressive for Good, an organisation which happens to be an edtech nonprofit organisation which uses technology to increase the earning power of African youth.
Saving businesses, saving lives
Blessing was quite creative in secondary school and was the only science student in her school who took art classes, because she won competitions in Mathematics and Science while also excelling in dance, drama, and literature.
Her initial ambition was to be a neurosurgeon, and she immersed herself in that dream with her father’s support, starting with owning only medical toys and walking around in a lab coat. She also read Ben Carson’s books and watched every episode of Grey’s Anatomy.
She however, gained admission to Covenant University to study Biochemistry and later joined the Business Writing Club at the university, where she was able to explore business writing while also adding to her creative flair.
She learnt how to pitch products to attract investors and found the marketing bit of the business plans so interesting that people paid her to write plans for them. This led to her interest in Branding and Communications at the suggestion of a friend.
She decided to pursue Branding & Communications at Orange Academy against her father’s decision, meaning she had to fund it herself through a job as a social media manager.
Although she didn’t study medicine to save lives, the thought of saving businesses through Branding which was just like saving a life.
Fast-paced career
Her career was fast-paced as she excelled well at interviews being a great conversationist. By 2019, she had worked across several companies with some of the biggest clients on the continent, including male-dominated organisations.
However, she became bored and desired to try something new that year. She quit everything and turned down every opportunity to build her business. “I built the business of my dreams in less than a year,” Abeng said.
Blessing was later appointed as the Chief Marketing Officer of Disha, after which the bootstrapped startup experienced a monthly growth rate of approximately 100%, growing from 1000 to over 20,000 users and increasing revenue by 5,900%.
Disha was acquired by Flutterwave, a $3 billion fintech, in November 2021 after she had resigned.
Speaker, trainer and thought-leader
She currently curates and nurtures a growing community of over 50,000 people from all over the world who are constantly inspired by her accomplishments and consistent knowledge-sharing channels.
Her ideas, thoughts, and actions are valued on a national and global scale, prompting her to speak at a number of Silicon Valley events about Communications in Africa, the African Tech Ecosystem, and inspiring global investors to invest in Africa and African brands.
She has also mentors youths through organizations such as She Leads Africa, Seedstars, and the African Entrepreneurship Awards, among others.
Promoting and facilitating tech trainings
Blessing’s track record has been visible since joining the existing co-founders, Maya Horgan Famodu and co-founder/COO, Sean Burrowes of Ingressive for Good within two years of existence.
Blessing was the driving force behind Ingressive For Good’s growth from 0 to 200,000 community members, training over 100,000 people and placing some of them in jobs.
She also led exclusively multiple cohorts of women-focused tech training, enticing partners and supporters like Coursera, DataCamp, Facebook, Figma, Alphabet, and a host of others.
Over the course of the last year, Ingressive For Good has deployed 5,000 unlimited Coursera accounts, grown its community to over 80,000 young people, and trained up to 70,000 Pan-African youths in technical skills.
Additionally, the foundation completed a 3,000-member tech training cohort with 80% of graduates finding employment, awarded over $46,500 in scholarships, sponsored 1,000 women to pursue product management and design degrees, and provided computer science fellowships, laptops, and data throughout Nigeria.
Ingressive for Good is also partnered with Geneza school of Design to train 1,000 women in design.
Other brands she has worked with nationally and globally, includes UNICEF, Diageo, Heritage bank, GSK, Facebook and others Startup Grind, Seed stars and others.
Diminutive but impactful
Having the ability to empower brands and creators to present their best selves, and consistently doing so, has made Blessing a valuable leader in the tech ecosystem.
She has been listed as an Active Entrepreneur Leader in Africa by Founders Institute and named one of the 100 most influential young people in Nigeria by YNaija.
She was also recognized as a nominee for the United Nations’ 40 Under 40 and Most Influential Person of African Descent categories.
According to her, “It just shows what can happen when you use the little at hand. All through my career, my greatest discovery is the power of one. if you focus on the ‘one’ person that has the problem you’re solving, that one person will become two people, and those two people will grow to thousands.
As they grow, track the impact and document their stories”.
