Today we’d like to introduce you to Blessing Abeng.
Hi Blessing, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
A doctor saved my father’s life and this made a big impression on me. I remember making a decision to become a medical doctor just because of this. I was consumed with the idea that the only way I could help people and make their lives better was as a medical doctor. I didn’t want it to be a basic medical doctor — I wanted to be a neurosurgeon because there weren’t many neurosurgeons in Nigeria at the time. It was like a superpower to me. I read Ben Carson’s book like my life depended on it. Shonda Rhimes’ Grey Anatomy also played a part. Christina Yang was my favorite character — I loved how passionate she was.
I was excellent in school and I knew I would succeed as a Medical Doctor. I enrolled in Covenant University and studied a pre-med course: Biochemistry. One day, I was in one of my Biochemistry classes and I just knew that this wasn’t for me. I interned at 2 organizations practicing Phytomedicine and Virology. It was interesting but I felt a disconnect. So, I started asking myself if there were other ways to save lives. I explored, and I fell in love with the business world. It started with writing business plans. I thought they were boring so I switched up the marketing parts of the business plans I wrote. I had really interesting ideas on positioning. It became apparent to me that there are more ways to save lives than being a medical doctor.
I took this one step further based on the advice of a friend and studied Branding in a Branding school. Business is a source of people’s livelihood. If you can help people’s businesses scale, you are saving lives because you are helping people make a living and improving the quality of their lives. Branding school changed my mindset and afterward, I pursued branding and communications like my life depended on it. I moved my belongings from Abuja to Lagos to build a new life, with renewed interests, goals, and dreams. It was scary but I was determined and I made it work.
I noticed earlier that many entrepreneurs were struggling with branding, especially in Africa. I took it upon myself that beyond all the multinationals I have worked for, I will help impact the people and businesses in my continent. That was why I became passionate about entrepreneurs and businesses in Nigeria and Africa as a whole.
So this passion has led me to be the Lagos Co-Director of Startup Grind, a global organization that connects, educates, and inspires entrepreneurs. It also led me to become a founder and CMO of a tech company and also the Director of communications at Ingressive For Good, a non-profit company passionate about helping African Youths increase their earning power.
I developed great competencies in branding and communications and people referred to me as a Branding and Communications Expert. This simply means that I help brands discover their value and unique identity to communicate and tell better stories. I build brand and communication strategies around products, services, growth, and sales. I have worked with brands across industries in unique capacities, nationally and globally, including Seedstars, Facebook, Taeillo, Diageo, Heritage Bank, African Alliance, Dark and Lovely (Nigeria and Africa), Bolt, Alomo Bitters, GSK, Lights Camera Africa, Lemi Ghariokwu, Angels and Muse, QuickCheck and so many others.
In 2020, Disha reached out to me and I liked what they had planned so I joined their team. I became the Co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer of Disha. When I joined the team it was easy to build the business because I loved the business, I loved the idea and I loved the people in the team. In the short time, I was there, I was able to help the business grow from 1000 users to over 20,000 users and increase revenue by 5,900%. It was such a lovely company that even the users knew that it was a gift. We eventually got acquired by a unicorn – Flutterwave.
My friend Maya, who had been chasing me for two years to work with her, told me about a social project she was working on. I really loved the idea and I had never worked in nonprofits before. I thought it would be interesting so I joined the team at Ingressive4good as Director of Communications. One year after, we had grown to a community of over 80,000 people and trained about 66,000 of them. I launched a few programs and found myself spitting the numbers in fundraising calls. I was later sworn in as a Cofounder of Ingressive for Good to support the nonprofit’s mission to create and increase African youth’s earning power through tech training and resources. At the moment, we have a community of almost 200K people and we have trained over 100K of them. The growth is massive. Everything I touch grows.
Personally, I have trained over 5000 creators through workshops in branding, communications, marketing, business, and tech. I currently curate and nurture a growing community of over 40,000 individuals looking to learn about communicating with their customers, branding, building communities, and leveraging technology tools for growth.
My story, thoughts and knowledge have been featured on BBC Africa, TechCabal, Startup Grind, Business Day, Bella Naija, The Guardian, Founder Institute, Connect Nigeria, Tush Magazine, Leading Ladies Africa, YNaija and many other press platforms.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I am often underestimated. I sometimes walk into a room and people say “you are so small”, “you are so tiny”, “you are a woman, you may not be able to do this”. While I am petite and a woman, I never let these define me or be the determiner of what I can or cannot do. There are times you walk into a room and there are people trying to drown your voice. There are people who just have biases, sometimes they are not aware that they have a stereotypical problems. And when I encounter those people, I just do not bother to fight so hard – it’s your loss, I’m the one bringing the value. As long as you know your value, you don’t have to be in a space where you are not wanted. You can prove your worth but don’t let their bias define who you are.
What’s next?
One of the key things I’m focused on is finding ways to directly impact members of my community beyond what I have done now. I’m passionate about ensuring every single person I meet is better than when I met them. I often think of how I can help the people around me and right now. At I4G we are looking to raise $2M to further impact our community. We want to train more people, more importantly, we want to place them in jobs and give them the tech tools they need to grow.
We had a story of a lady who sold soap to make ends meet, and she made only $40 every month. She took one of our programs, we provided her with a laptop and the next thing we know, she lands a job as a software developer earning over $400 a month. We want to birth more people like her.
So, if you know anyone who is interested in impacting African youth and supporting social good, please connect them to Ingressive For Good – www.ingressive.org.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.blessingabeng.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/blessingabeng_
- Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/blessingabeng_
Image Credits
Photographers: The Chudy Anny Roberts Ordinary and Art Studios
