
Ukinebo Dare
Ukinebo Dare is the Managing Director of the Edo State Skills Development Agency. She oversees the Edojobs initiative; Edo Innovates, Edo Creative Hub, Edo Food and Agric Cluster and Edo Production Centre. Impacting over 180,000 beneficiaries in the following industries; ICT, Agriculture, Creative, Manufacturing and Construction.
She has also overseen the setup and running of several notable projects in and out of Edo State such as:
- EdoJobs Portal with over 200,000 registered members
- Edo Food and Agricultural Cluster, Ehor
- Edo Innovates
- Edo Production Centre, for artisans and small-scale industrialists
- Managing Migration Through Development Programs (MMDP)
She is passionate about job creation and human development and has received awards and recognitions such as Mandela Washington Fellowship in 2017, Ford Foundation Prize for Youth Employment in 2015, and JCI Ten Outstanding Young Persons Award for 2017. Most recently, she was selected as one of the recipients of the Most Influential People of African Descent Under 40 Award for 2019.
She has attended Benson Idahosa University, Nigeria, the University of Bradford, UK and Clark Atlanta University, USA. She started her career in the Information Technology department of Oando Plc, Nigeria.
Her passion for people development led her to setup Poise Graduate Finishing Academy (PGFA) in 2010 which achieved an 87% employment rate of its graduates and earned endorsements from the Nigerian National Universities Commission and multiple reputable employers. Her exploits in tackling the menace unemployment in Edo State as the SSA to the Governor on Skills Development and Jobs saw her appointed as the Managing Director of the Edo State Skills Development Agency.
She has been credited for the execution of employability interventions in partnership with organizations such as Oxfam International, SOS Kinderdorpen, Google Nigeria, Microsoft Nigeria, Butterfly Works Netherlands, Amazon web services etc.
She has written many publications including 40 First Jobs; Wake Up This is Your Life and so on. She is also the author of ‘The Impact Blog’. Her website is www.ukinebodare.com