Breaking Ceilings, Building Legacies: ESWA Celebrates Prof Ngozi Okoye

Professor Ngozi Franca Okoye, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) UN delegate and proud ESWA member

As many of our children will tell you, Nigerian parents are known for having high expectations! But we also know that children are inspired by what they can see. This is especially true in the diaspora, where it is not always easy to find visible role models who look like us and reflect our journeys.

That is why it is so important for us, as women, parents and as a community, to lead by example, open doors, and show our children that ceilings can indeed be shattered.

ESWA has a plethora of role models who have been recognised and honoured for their services to our communities, charity, State and internationally; and in a series of forthcoming 2026-2027 blogs, we will shine a well deserved spotlight on some of these formidable ladies.

So it was a joy at the April 2026 ESWA gathering as we celebrated one of our newest members, Professor Lady Ngozi Franca Okoye, who kindly brought bottles of wine to share with her sisters as we toasted her many recent achievements.

Among her blessings upon blessings:

🍾Appointed an OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development ) United Nations delegate to represent the Institute of Public Diplomacy London, contributing to global conversations on economic and social progress.

🍾Became the first Nigerian woman elected to the Nominations Commitee of Sigma Xi, one of the oldest and most respected scientific research honour societies in the USA, whose members have included over 200 Nobel Prize winners, including Albert Einstein. She is also currently a candidate for the role of Director of the organisation.

🍾Appointed Director/Trustee of a UK educational trust.

🍾Appointed President of the Union of Catholic Mothers in Kent, London.

🍾And on the home front, preparing joyfully for another important title: Mother of the Bride, as one of her daughters recently got engaged.

Professor Ngozi is truly showing the next generation what is possible.

Congratulations, Sis! ESWA celebrates you loudly and proudly 🫡.

Next stop… the Nobel Prize for our sister 😉💕

https://youtube.com/shorts/AuZzEYikiOA?si=3SjAseJdRlHG3ThP

ESWA jubilantly celebrates the achievements of one her own, Professional Ngozi, Franca Okoye