The Hold a Hand Project
The Hold a Hand Project provides financial support to underprivileged Nigerian students who are community leaders. We aim to empower these promising students to continue to strive for excellence amid adversity. Recipients of the Hold a Hand Project Awards are students with a strong dedication to the development of their regions through job creation, education, technological innovation, and healthcare transformation.
The awards evaluate the circumstances surrounding every individual’s drive and the challenges each face in the process of obtaining an education that will prepare them to achieve their goals for their communities. We believe that by creating a community of alumni with similar interests, we’ll induce fruitful partnerships that will benefit different Nigerian societies.
To achieve these, we have established relationships with Nigerian universities to facilitate our application/award processes. We are now in partnership with the African Leadership Bridge (ALB) which has trained leaders across Africa in the past decade. ALB alumni return to their countries to pioneer advancements and pay forward the privilege they’ve had to obtain international training. We hope that you find it in your heart to fund the program to lessen the financial burdens that restrict our future leaders.
Our Recipients
Chinenye Umeononamma
Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University (COOU), Nigeria
Chinenye is a law student at COOU. She is the sixth child in a family of eight, and has previously held leadership positions as the dormitory prefect and study facilitator in high school and college respectively. Chinenye's works and goals center around improving the interaction between the government and the people, thus ensuring that the environmental challenges of the common man are properly addressed.
Deborah Chibuike
University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN)
Deborah is a medical student at UNN. She is from a family of six with her three other siblings also in the same college. As a physician, Deborah hopes to practice in a rural community and improve mortality rates. She currently explores her passion for community service by volunteering with Enactus, a global experiential learning platform for student leaders and social innovators.
Jerry Chiemeka
University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN)
Jerry is an electrical engineering student at UNN. He is from a family of six and holds leadership positions in his church and in college as the youth leader and course group leader respectively. He is interested in electrical engineering research to improve the adequacy and affordability of electricity in Nigeria. He seeks to maximize the transfer of knowledge by creating significant internship opportunities for high school students.
Jennifer Akagu
University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN)
Jennifer is a political science student at UNN. She lost her father at a young age and is currently in a family of nine. She worked temporarily post-high school to save for college and she held the secretary position in the PTA of the school she taught. Jennifer is an activist for gender equality and against social disparities. She has political ambitions and hopes to become a power symbol for women in her college and her larger community.
Our Graduates
Faith Obaa
Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University (COOU), Nigeria
Faith majored in economics at COOU. She's from a family of six. In college, she served as the assistant secretary of an anti-corruption organization. Faith is working to become an economic analyst. She has taken an active role in educating herself on computer programming. Her areas of interest include the improvement of health and living conditions, and the development of technology, and infrastructure for the general society.
Johnson Chinonso
Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University (COOU), Nigeria
Johnson majored in business administration at COOU. He's from a family of seven and is a child of poultry farmers. He served as the senior prefect in his high school and tutored other students in math and accounting in college. Johnson hopes to address poverty in Nigeria by establishing skill acquisition centers and creating job opportunities for Nigerian youths.
Who We Are
Our vision for the Hold a Hand Project lies on a desire to provide young Nigerian innovators with opportunities shared by similar minds across the world. As students ourselves, we have recognized ways in which societal structure and economic factors cripple many students’ abilities to create and serve in their communities, and we have resolved to change these stories. Nigeria has little scholarship programs and no student loan opportunities, thus families that are financially unstable end up not educating their new generations. Solving this literacy problem will bring breakthrough to many communities as children of the soil are more likely to return to develop their homes. Hold their hands today and leave behind your prints.