Ukinebo Dare is a career development strategist who is passionate about job creation and development.
Over the last 14 years, she has implemented programs both as an entrepreneur and employee, that have impacted over 150,000 graduates, undergraduates, business executives, women, and farmers.
Ukinebo Dare is currently Managing Director of Edo State Skills Development Agency. She supervises the Edojobs initiative and the Edo State Skills Development Agency, coordinating efforts and implementing programs to fulfil the promise of (His Excellency) Godwin Obaseki, the Executive Governor of Edo State, to create 200,000 jobs in 4 years.
Alongside her team, she implements innovative projects to create the demand for, and supply highly skilled talents in Edo State. Since starting, over 150,000 youth have benefitted from the
State Government’s job creation initiative.
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Ukinebo has also overseen the setup and running of Edo Innovates, an initiative focused on upskilling youths and leveraging technology to create jobs and incubate businesses. The Edo Food and Agricultural Cluster with a target to impact 8,000 farmers in rural communities each year with improved access to the market, equipment, aggregation services was carried out under her supervision as well as the Edo Production Centres which provide power supply, shared factory facilities, and improves skills for artisans and small scale manufacturers in the state
Ukinebo completed a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from Benson Idahosa University and a master’s in Management from the University of Bradford
A career development enthusiast, she started her career in the Information Technology department of Oando Plc, Nigeria. However, her passion for people development led her to set up Poise Graduate Finishing Academy (PGFA) n 2010 which achieved an 87% employment rate for its graduates. It also earned endorsements from the Nigerian National Universities Commission and well-known employers. She also worked as Programme Director at EkoBits, part of a group of ICT and Digital Design
Academies across Africa. Through Ekobits, youths from underserved communities, without access to University education got training and jobs in the IT sector as programmers, graphic designers, web designers, and other tech roles
For her efforts in job creation and skills development, Ukinebo has received the 2015 Ford Foundation Prize for Youth Employment at the Future Awards. Africa and is credited with the execution of employability interventions projects in partnership with organizations such as Oxfam International, SOS Kinderdorpen, Google Nigeria, and Microsoft Nigeria
Previously, Ukinebo was selected by the United States, Department of State as a 2017 Mandela Washington Fellow and received many awards including the 2017 JCI Ten Outstanding Young Persons Award for Personal Achievement. In 2019, she was recognized by MIPAD100 along with other global leaders as one of the Most Influential People of African Descent under 40.
Ukinebo has written many books including 40 First Jobs, Wake Up, This is Your Life and others. She is also the author of “The Impact Blog,” a resource developed to share insights on job creation and social development