Admin l Thursday, June 14, 2018
LAGOS, Nigeria – Born into the Royal House of the Benin Kingdom, Edo state, Princess Modupe Ozolua grew up very aware of and passionate about a number of social causes. She started her humanitarian activities in 2003 through her non-profit, Empower 54, an international humanitarian organization dedicated to providing desperately needed humanitarian assistance such as medical missions, hunger eradication, women/girl empowerment and offering shelter to underprivileged Africans.
As an entrepreneur and philanthropist, she lives multiple lives – a successful business woman and a dedicated servant to humanity going into dangerous places in Africa to help the less privileged. Today, *Empower 54* – under the leadership of Princess Modupe Ozolua, is working in several African countries rehabilitating women in IDP camps and building schools. She has established a factory in Nigeria to produce the life-saving medication for malnourished children, Ready-To-use-Therapeutic-Foods (RUTF).
In recognition of her philanthropy, Princess Modupe Ozolua has received many international awards, press reviews, and recognitions, from the internationally acclaimed magazine, Elle. Elle Magazine South Africa has featured her twice for her entrepreneurial achievement as a leading “African female Boss” and also as one of the “50 Women Changing Africa” due to her philanthropy activities.
The Governor of Georgia, Mayor Reeds of Atlanta and the City of Atlanta Council have given her a ‘Proclamation of Recognition’ and congratulatory letters on her selfless service to humanity. She has also received honorary titles in the Democratic Republic of Congo appreciating her as an African Princess helping the Continent.
Princess Modupe Ozolua has been featured extensively in the international press in publications such as the Associated Press, Yahoo News, Washington Post, CNN, BBC, CBS, Seattle News, San Diego Times, Radio Monaco, etc
The IDPs in North East Nigeria call her “Sarauniyar Alheri” meaning the “Princess of Goodness”. His Emeritus Archbishop Desmond Tutu is the Patron of Empower 54. While Hollywood actress and musician, Kat Graham, of Vampire Diaries, is the Empower 54’s goodwill ambassador for IDPs. His Imperial Majesty, the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi crowned her the goodwill ambassador on malnutrition projects.
OZOLUA
Princess Modupe Ozolua was born in Benin City, Edo state on October 10th 1973 into the Royal House of the Benin Kingdom. She is the great grand daughter of the legendary Benin warrior King, Oba Ozolua. In 1989, she left to study in Southwestern College, San Diego (California), and Devry International University, Los Angeles, California. In 2001, at the age of 27, Princess Ozolua pioneered Cosmetic Surgery in Nigeria, West Africa through her business, Body Enhancement Ltd. The first business princess modupe owned was a communication business in Los Angeles prior to bringing cosmetic surgery to West Africa at the age of 27.
As pioneer of this specialty in West Africa, it became her responsibility to educate a country of over 170 Million Nigerians about the safety of plastic surgery. This meant breaking the norms and negative myths people had about plastic surgery. Despite all the challenges of pioneering a controversial service in a very traditional African country, Body Enhancement Ltd revolutionized the beauty and health sectors in Nigeria. The company has been credited for encouraging the feminist movement in Nigeria, the most populous black nation in the world. Her focus, discipline and achievements at such a young age also challenged the traditional African norms about independent women.
In 2003, she founded Empower 54, formerly known as Body Enhancement Foundation (BEARS, Body Enhancement Annual Reconstructive Surgery) an international humanitarian organization dedicated to providing desperately needed humanitarian assistance such as medical missions, hunger eradication, educational, women/girl empowerment and refugee programs to underprivileged Africans. His Emeritus Archbishop Desmond Tutu is the Patron.
Despite running several businesses, Princess Ozolua prioritizes Empower 54 over her businesses and contributes significant personal funds towards each program. She is very involved in Empower 54’s humanitarian programs to the extent she stays in the operating room during surgeries and works with doctors to manage post operative care of patients. ALL humanitarian aid rendered through Empower 54 are FREE to the beneficiaries.
Under the leadership of Princess Ozolua, Empower 54 is active in rehabilitating women and children survivors of the terrorist group Boko Haram in Nigeria, through self-employment and education for the children at the IDP (Internally displaced persons) camps.
Despite grave dangers, Princess Modupe Ozolua personally leads the Empower 54 team into communities attacked by Boko Haram in remote parts of North East Nigeria to help survivors of terrorist attacks.
During one of those trips, she discovered the extremely malnourished children rescued from Boko Haram’s captivity and facilitated the collaboration between Empower 54 and the Borno State Government in evacuating them to Maiduguri for urgent CMAM treatment. There was the evacuation of 1, 500 extremely malnourished children rescued from Boko Haram’s captivity and their families from Bama. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lulo5hkb0Fg
To tackle the issue of malnutrition, Ready-To-Use-Therapeutic-Foods (RUTF) has been medically proven to save lives of malnourished children and with extremely limited funds, She had to come up with a solution.
Princess Modupe just successfully established a small-scale RUTF (Ready-To-Use-Therapeutic-Foods) production facility in Nigeria to produce FREE RUTF for malnourished children that is sponsored by the Australian Government and IMF. With donations received, she and her team will produce and distribute to malnourished children all over the country for FREE.
