Age
16
Country of Residence
Nigeria
Founding Story: What was the spark that led you to start your project? What was the "Aha!" moment that led you to get started and see the potential for this to succeed?
My spark started with a question: Why don't girls dream big? Growing up in Kubwa Village, Abuja, I noticed how easy it was to see only what was directly around you. I asked girls in my community, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” I also started reading about aspirations, possible selves and the things that shape how young people imagine their futures. I realised something: girls do dream. But what we see around us affects what feels possible. In school, career days often introduced us to the same familiar careers: doctor, nurse, lawyer, engineer. Our families, finances, communities and the people we knew also shaped what felt realistic. If you have never seen someone take a certain path, it can be difficult to imagine yourself taking it too. Then my own experience changed. After secondary school, I started getting selected for opportunities that took me outside the environment I was used to. I met people from different backgrounds, entered rooms I had never been in before and saw a much bigger world. I remember attending an event for the first time and thinking, “There is actually so much more out there.” That changed how I saw myself. I started wondering how many other girls simply needed to see more before deciding what they could become. That question became VANTAGE.
How do you encourage other people to join your project or learn about the problem you’re working on? If you have a new idea, tell us how you will do this in the future.
I try to make VANTAGE feel like a space young people can actually participate in, rather than another place where someone talks at them. During the pilot, participants were encouraged to share their experiences, ask questions, respond to one another and be honest about things they were still figuring out. I also shared my own experiences instead of presenting myself as someone who had everything figured out. That made the conversations more open. Participants described the space as welcoming and supportive, and some connected with one another through their experiences. I also want learning in VANTAGE to be practical. We can talk about opportunities, but I want participants to actually explore them, ask questions, reflect on their goals and figure out what they can do next. Going forward, I want participants to contribute to VANTAGE too. They can share opportunities, suggest ideas, ask questions, tell their own stories and eventually help another girl discover something she did not know existed. I don't want VANTAGE to be something girls only receive. I want them to help shape it. Also, I plan to approach a secondary school through a teacher or guidance counsellor, explain VANTAGE and seek their help arranging a session with students. I would invite professionals and older students from different fields to share their career journeys, explain what their work
How many people are on your team?
3
Impact: How has your project created impact / made a difference so far? Or, if at an early stage, what will impact look like?
Our first seven-day pilot brought together 15 young women who joined for different reasons: some wanted opportunities, some wanted direction, and some simply wanted to hear from other young people. Seven participants completed the final feedback survey. Their responses showed changes in how they viewed their futures and opportunities. One participant said she still saw “a lot” as possible, but that the path was clearer. Another said she now saw “even more” possibilities. One participant said she had previously thought competitions were extra work but now saw them as opportunities. Another said she had believed opportunities were mainly for people with connections or resources, but now saw the importance of positioning herself, speaking up and taking initiative. The girls also mentioned practical lessons such as starting small, identifying opportunities, putting themselves out there and learning from other people's experiences. The pilot did not prove that VANTAGE has solved the problem. It showed me that the idea is worth continuing, and it gave me specific feedback about what needs to improve: more hands-on activities, mentorship, discussion and follow-up. That is the kind of impact I want to keep measuring as VANTAGE grows. For information & documentation: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1yrY9lZ1Xatc9Mii1051rV-XIsj_f_-Ez?usp=sharing
Project Category
My project is an existing project that I started
Project Stage
Pilot-Stage (We’ve tried an activity or two)
Project Summary: Describe your project in one sentence
VANTAGE helps teenage girls explore educational and career possibilities before making important decisions. Through stories, guided conversations, opportunity discovery and practical activities, girls examine their interests, learn what different paths involve and identify steps they can take next. Our aim is to move beyond telling girls to dream bigger and give them tools to make more informed choices.
Project title
Vantage: Beyond What She Sees
The Problem: What problem are you helping to solve? Why does it matter to you and your community?
I think we often ask teenagers what they want to become without asking what they have actually been exposed to. A girl can have ambition and still have a very small picture of what her future could look like. She may know the careers repeatedly presented in school. She may know what her family considers realistic. She may know what people around her have done. But she may not know about the competitions, scholarships, fellowships, careers, communities or people that could introduce her to something completely different. I have seen this around me. Girls have dreams, but sometimes they do not know where to start, who to ask, or what opportunities exist for someone like them. I experienced part of this myself. Before I started getting outside my usual environment, I did not realise how much I had not seen. Who would have thought that a girl from Kubwa Village would get to the UN House in Nigeria? That was when I understood what exposure had done to me The problem I want VANTAGE to address is therefore not simply a lack of ambition. It is a lack of exposure, information and guidance at a time when young people are beginning to make decisions about their futures. A girl should not have to wait until she leaves her community or somehow “makes it” before she discovers that there is more available to her.
Website URL(s) or social media handles.
https://www.instagram.com/vantagevisible/
What’s Next: What are the next steps you plan to take to grow or strengthen your project over the next year? If your project is still in the idea stage, describe the steps you will take over the next three months to launch or begin developing it.
The first VANTAGE pilot was me testing the waters. I had the idea, but I did not yet have a clear structure for what VANTAGE should become. The pilot helped me see what resonated with girls and what they wanted more of. Now I want to take the idea outside WhatsApp. My immediate goal is to work with my two teammates to develop a clearer VANTAGE programme that we can take into at least 3 secondary schools in the next 5 months. We want to organise outreach sessions where girls can learn about opportunities, hear from people with different journeys, explore possible career and education pathways, and have practical conversations about what they can do next. I also want VANTAGE to collaborate with people and organisations that can bring something we cannot provide alone, mentors, speakers, opportunity providers, schools and other youth-led initiatives. We will start small rather than trying to reach hundreds of girls immediately. We want to test the programme with specific groups of students, collect their feedback, improve what we are doing and then expand. The first pilot taught me that VANTAGE does not need to have everything figured out before it starts. It needs to keep listening, testing and improving. My next goal is to turn what began as a seven-day WhatsApp experiment into something girls can actually experience in their schools and communities.
Your Innovation: What is different about your project compared to other programs or solutions already out there? How is your project new or innovative?
The idea behind VANTAGE is something I experienced personally: sometimes you do not need someone to tell you to dream bigger. You need to see more. I do not want VANTAGE to be just an opportunity-sharing platform. There are already many places where young people can find information. The question I am interested in is what happens after a girl sees that opportunity. Does she understand it? Can she see herself doing it? Does she know where to start? Does she have anyone to ask? That is why VANTAGE combines exposure with reflection and practical action. In our pilot, participants did not only receive information. They talked about their own experiences, questioned assumptions about success and opportunities, learnt from other people's journeys and used the Possibility Map to think about what they wanted and what could help them move towards it. The pilot also changed my thinking. I realised that I cannot design VANTAGE based only on what I think girls need. I need to listen to them and keep testing. So the innovation is still being developed. I am building VANTAGE as something that learns from the girls who use it, rather than assuming I already have the perfect solution.
Your Solution: How are you solving this problem? Share your specific solution.
VANTAGE creates spaces where teenagers can discover things they may not normally encounter in their immediate environment. We talk about opportunities, careers, people and different paths young people can take. But I do not want VANTAGE to become another page that simply posts opportunities. I want girls to understand how to find opportunities, how to position themselves for them, and what they can actually do next. We started testing this through VANTAGE 1.0, a seven-day WhatsApp pilot. Participants explored their aspirations, learnt from the journeys of others, discussed fears and limiting beliefs, discovered opportunities and used a Possibility Map and workbook to think about their own next steps. The pilot also helped me see what VANTAGE needs to become. Participants asked for more practical activities, mentorship, discussion time and follow-up. So I am still testing and improving the idea. The goal is simple: I want a girl to encounter something through VANTAGE and be able to say, “I didn't even know this existed,” then have enough information and support to figure out, “Okay, how do I get there?”
Your team: What role(s) do your team members play? How do you share leadership with them?
VANTAGE started with me, and I currently work with two participants from our first cohort, making a team of three. I lead the overall vision, research and coordination. The two team members bring participant perspectives and help shape programme ideas, identify what can improve and think through delivery. We share leadership by discussing decisions together, questioning ideas and taking ownership of different parts of the project.
