The Founders

Achebe Hope Foundation was founded by Lolo Mrs. Marie Ifeoma Achebe and Chief Alex Ubaka Achebe (Ichele Ogidi) — two people united by a shared belief that heritage carries responsibility, leadership requires service, and opportunity has the power to change generations.

What began through years of personal giving and a commitment to helping others has grown into a wider vision: to build an independent Foundation capable of responding to immediate human needs while creating the education, skills and opportunities that enable people to build stronger futures for themselves.

Lolo Mrs. Marie Ifeoma Achebe & Chief Alex Ubaka Achebe (Ichele Ogidi)
Co-Founders, Achebe Hope Foundation

Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer

Lolo Mrs. Marie Ifeoma Achebe is a humanitarian, entrepreneur, education advocate, business leader and champion of digital empowerment whose work spans enterprise, property, fashion, technology, education and community development.

At the heart of her work is a conviction that talent is everywhere, but opportunity is not — and that where a person begins should never determine how far they are able to go.

Her vision for Achebe Hope Foundation brings together two worlds that are too often treated separately: compassion for the challenges people face today and innovation capable of creating opportunities for tomorrow.

She is particularly passionate about the advancement of women, children and young people, from supporting vulnerable families and maternal and child wellbeing to expanding access to education, entrepreneurship, digital skills, artificial intelligence and the opportunities emerging from the new global economy.

That forward-looking vision has helped shape the Foundation’s growing digital empowerment ecosystem, including the Achebe Africa Digital Academy (AADA) and Achebe Campus — initiatives designed to ensure Africans are not simply observers of the technological and economic transformation taking place around the world, but active participants in it.

For Lolo Mrs. Marie Ifeoma Achebe, empowerment means more than providing assistance. It means helping people acquire the knowledge, confidence, skills and opportunities to build lives of greater independence and possibility.

Through Achebe Hope Foundation, she is helping transform that belief into action — turning heritage into hope, hope into opportunity, and opportunity into lasting change.

Co-Founder & Chairman

Chief Alex Ubaka Achebe (Ichele Ogidi) is a political and traditional leader, philanthropist, retired accountant, entrepreneur and community development advocate whose commitment to service has been shaped by years of supporting people, families and communities.

Long before Achebe Hope Foundation became a formal organisation, his belief in helping others was expressed through personal acts of generosity, community support and a willingness to respond when people were facing hardship.

Rooted in Ogidi and guided by the values of responsibility, generosity, leadership and community, he believes that leadership carries an obligation beyond position or recognition: the obligation to leave people and communities stronger than you found them.

It was this longstanding commitment to service, combined with a desire to create something more structured, sustainable and far-reaching, that helped inspire the establishment of Achebe Hope Foundation.

As Chairman, he helps guide the Foundation’s strategic direction, governance, partnerships and long-term commitment to community impact, while ensuring that its growth remains anchored in the values upon which it was established.

For Chief Alex Ubaka Achebe, the Foundation represents an opportunity to turn years of personal service into something capable of reaching far beyond any one individual — building a legacy measured not by status or recognition, but by lives strengthened and opportunities created.

Compassion for today. Opportunity for tomorrow.

Although their professional journeys are different, the founders are united by one fundamental belief:

Humanitarian support and long-term empowerment must work together.

There will always be moments when people simply need someone to show up — with food, healthcare, educational support, protection, resources or compassion.

But where possible, the journey should not end there.

Through Achebe Hope Foundation, the founders are building an organisation that can respond when people need help while creating pathways through which they may eventually need less of it.

That means combining humanitarian action with education.

Compassion with opportunity.

Community service with innovation.

And heritage with responsibility.

Together, we believe the greatest legacy is not what we inherit, accumulate or are remembered for. It is what becomes possible in the lives of others because we chose to act.

Lolo Mrs. Marie Ifeoma Achebe
Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer

Chief Alex Ubaka Achebe (Ichele Ogidi)
Co-Founder & Chairman

Achebe Hope Foundation