Obii Okafor’s path to becoming the first African recipient of the Women in Telecoms Champion Award in the United Kingdom began in the busy markets of Aba, Nigeria. Five years ago, the idea that her passion for technology would lead to such international recognition might have seemed impossible. She had already established herself in the tech sector and built a shoe-making business from the ground up, but even then, she knew the potential she saw was just the beginning. In 2026, her ambition and curiosity drove her to move to the UK, seeking exposure to a more mature technology ecosystem and the chance to work on products for global markets.
Obii Okafor, also known as Obiagel Okafor, has since become a Senior Product Manager at 8×8 and the Chief Executive and Co-founder of PMHelp, a global product community that has supported thousands of professionals across more than 70 countries. She is also building Capstone, an AI-powered proof-of-work platform designed to help professionals demonstrate their real-world skills through job scenarios, while enabling employers to assess talent based on capability rather than CV claims. Her work is furthered by her book, Impossible to Ignore, a practical guide on career visibility and creating opportunities.
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Becoming the first African to receive the Women in Telecoms Champion Award was deeply meaningful because it recognised both the work she does within technology and the work she does to make the industry more accessible to others. “It was a reminder that African women are not only participating in global conversations about technology. We are building products, shaping industries, leading teams and creating pathways for others to follow,” Okafor said.
Rebuilding a career in a new environment
Before moving to the UK, Okafor’s career in Nigeria was incredibly varied. She worked in tech and built a shoe-making business from the ground up in Aba. However, the challenges were significant. She often had to operate with limited resources and fewer examples of women in senior positions. Building a shoe-making business in Aba taught her how to make decisions when resources are scarce, understand customers quickly, and take responsibility for outcomes. Working in technology taught her how to operate in fast-moving environments and understand the commercial impact of what she was building.
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Relocating to the UK presented a different kind of challenge. She arrived with professional experience and entrepreneurial success, yet she quickly realized that employers did not automatically understand the companies she had worked for or the scale of the problems she had solved in Nigeria. She had experience, but she did not yet have UK experience, a strong local network, or the language to position her background immediately. She had to work three jobs to stay afloat while continuing to apply for roles aligned with her long-term goals. It was a humbling reality that forced her to rebuild her career from scratch.
For Okafor, resilience is not simply the ability to endure pain; it is the ability to keep making intelligent choices when life is not going according to plan. She notes that sometimes resilience means knowing when to pause, pivot or begin again rather than pushing harder. Her leadership philosophy is also clear: it is less about being the most impressive person in the room and more about creating clarity, confidence and movement for other people. “My responsibility is to understand the problem, make decisions and help people contribute their best work,” she said.
