Ambassadors

Ifeoma Okonkwo has a background in mass communication and over 12 years of experience working in international development, with a focus on agriculture for nutrition and health. Over this period, she has established an excellent track record in communication, stakeholder engagement, partnership, and advocacy, driving the acceptance and adoption of innovative solutions for livelihood improvement in Nigeria and Africa. 

The challenge of providing sustainable access to nutritious foods and information through a private and profitable entity that will withstand government change or the end of donor-funded projects led her to establish Diche Foods. At Diche Foods, her team markets and promotes nutritious and safe foods, ensuring availability, affordability, and accessibility for all. The company also offers consultancy on agriculture for nutrition, gender, communication, stakeholder engagement, and event management.  

Before establishing her food company, she served as the Advocacy and Events Officer of HarvestPlus, a program of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), where she organized various programs and events to drive stakeholder engagement, create awareness, and promote the adoption of nutrient-rich foods for nearly a decade. Notably, she conceptualized the Nutritious Food Fair (NFF). This annual event brought together value chain actors across Nigeria and beyond to showcase innovations in the nutritious food sector and address emerging challenges in driving increased commercialization and adoption of nutrient-rich foods in collaboration with relevant partners. She also spearheaded the engagement of Nollywood to mainstream nutritious food messaging into movies to reach the population. The result was the production of four films in local languages that promote biofortified foods, with one of the movies, Yellow Cassava, in which she debuted as an actor, getting nominated for the 2015 Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Award (AMVCA). 

Over the years, she has worked with key players in Nigeria's agriculture and nutrition sector, including the federal ministries of agriculture, health, trade and investments, and women's affairs. Ifeoma has also collaborated with multinational brands like Dangote, Nestlé, Niji, GraceCo, Ace Foods, and Promasidor, among others, and her work has taken her across Nigeria, Africa, and beyond.

In her understanding of networking as a tool for learning and scaling, she is a member of relevant associations and groups, including the African Food Change Makers Community, the Scaling Up Nutrition Business Network as convened by the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN-SBN), Rotary International, United Nations Women UK, and many others. 

Ifeoma has also received numerous recognitions for her outstanding work and contributions, including being listed as an Evolving Leader in Nutrition by Nutrition International, Top Remarkable MSME Founder by MSME Africa, Top Female Entrepreneur in Nigeria by Fate Foundation, and Outstanding Badge on Gender Matters by the United Nations Institute for Training & Research (UNITAR), to name but a few.