OUR FOUNDER
Chi. E. Okafor is the Founder and President of The Walk with Women & Children Foundation and a social entrepreneur and gender equality advocate with over eight years of experience leading gender-focused initiatives across communities and sectors.
She holds an MBA from University of Oxford (New College), and has worked with global organisations including the United Nations and TEDx to advance women’s rights and amplify underrepresented voices worldwide.
In addition to her nonprofit work, Chi is the CEO of Kendake Honey, a social enterprise dedicated to empowering female farmers through sustainable livelihoods and economic independence. She also serves as Co-Chair of the Narwhals Society at New College, where she is deeply committed to fostering entrepreneurial growth, innovation, and investment within the university community.
Through her work, Chi continues to champion inclusive leadership, economic justice, and collective action as powerful tools for advancing gender equality.
HER STORY
While studying for my undergraduate degree at King's College London, I was eager to join a women’s society but I was deeply disappointed to find that the only all-women’s club available focused on knitting, sewing, and baking. While valuable skills in their own right, I couldn’t understand why there was no space that recognised women’s leadership, ideas, and ambition.
Motivated by this gap, I founded the King’s College London Women’s Network (KCLWN) - a platform where ambitious young women could learn, grow, be inspired by one another, share ideas, and build meaningful networks that support their futures. The organisation continues to run to this day, and in hindsight, I now recognise this as the beginning of my journey into empowering girls and women - long before I had the language for it.
In 2017, I travelled to Nigeria for a six-week internship, working with an NGO focused on maternal and child healthcare. Being in the field changed me as I witnessed the stark realities many women and girls were facing every day - systemic barriers, limited access to healthcare, and deeply entrenched social inequalities.
The challenges facing women were far worse than I had ever imagined - too glaring to ignore. I felt an overwhelming and unwavering need to do something… anything. Out of that conviction - rooted in responsibility, anger, and hope - The Walk with Women & Children Foundation was born.
I founded the Foundation with a clear purpose: to walk with women and girls as we confront these challenges - not ahead of them, not for them, but alongside them. At the heart of our work is choice - the freedom, ownership, and will for women and girls to decide the lives they want to live. To fulfill this purpose, we collaborate with visionary, community-embedded organisations already empowering women and girls to advance their personal, social, health, educational, and economic rights. Grounded in unity, partnership, and collective action, we strive to create safe, supportive, and enabling environments where women and girls can rise, lead, and thrive on their own terms.
So, will you walk with us?