I’m Ready To Work, Says ENAW Women Affairs Coordinator-elect As She Lays Out Three-pronged Vision:

by EMMAN OKUNS

• Inclusivity

• Welfare of women in the Diaspora

• Welfare of Women in Nigeria

“In the women department there are a lot of women that have children that are dealing with autism; some of these women, they don’t know where to go for resources. They feel overwhelmed, there is no support. Meanwhile we have the next person who is probably a social worker who has all the information and experience but we have not created the platform for us to be able to share these experiences, you know and be able to help each other so we can have like a community resource center of some sort.”

Her quest for leadership role is driven by the passion to help people, make a difference, be part of and give back to her community.

For anyone that knows her well or has encountered her, the testament is the same – she is a very kind, enterprising, loving, compassionate and generous person.

Mrs. Frances Igiebor-Osagiede, is the President and CEO of Angel Care, a company she founded in 2014. Her story is that of tenacity, selfless service, sheer faith, sagacity and extraordinary drive.

Frances came to the United States as a graduate of the University of Benin (UNIBEN), Edo State of Nigeria in 2010 and went back to school, beginning from the Middlesex Community College, and later to the University of Massachusetts, Lowell MA.

At UMass Lowell, she received a double major in Management and Marketing.

She later pursued and obtained a Master of Science degree in Nursing at Northeastern University, Boston. In pursuance of her other numerous passions, she also studied for and acquired a real estate license.

Equipped with the tools from her nursing and marketing background, Frances founded Angel Care VNA, a Home Health Care Agency, focusing on caring for people post-hospitalization in 2014.

On December 17, 2021, she was honored with an Impact Award by the Nigerian Professional Group (NPG), an organization that was founded with the vision to promote excellence, professionalism, entrepreneurship, mentorship, etc.

In April 2026, Frances was elected the Women Affairs Coordinator of the Edo National Association Worldwide (ENAW) with an overwhelming support in a keenly contested election that took place in Dallas, Texas. Prior to her election, she was decorated with a leadership award at the organization’s Council of Presidents (COP) meeting by ENAW President, Engr. Mrs. Bose Ogbeifun-Oviasu.

Having watched and followed her progress for a long time now, our editorial board decided to feature her in Alltimepost.com personality page.

So, recently in her sprawling company’s building office, located at 33 Nagog Park in Acton, Massachusetts, I sat with her for an exclusive interview that lasted about one hour and thirty minutes.

During the interview, she spoke on her leadership ambition, community involvement, family, business and vision for Edo as the newly elected Women Affairs Coordinator of the premier Edo organization in the Diaspora.

Married to Engr. Oduwa Osagiede and blessed with four children, Frances likes to see herself as a community organizer, with a passion for her community.

“My business background are healthcare and real estate. I am a real estate investor and owner of several health care offices ranging from home health agency to adult foster care services to medical transportation and also right now in the process of setting up mental health clinics. Those are some of the things that I do with my time.”

Her quest for community involvement/service and leadership ambition dates back to 2008 when Boston, her home state hosted the convention of the ENAW.

In her answer to the question of whether she was one of those children their parents brought to the annual convention in the past, she had this to say: “My parents did not bring me to ENAW. I actually found ENAW on my own and that was during the convention that was hosted in Boston in 2008.

“There was this whole word about Edo National Association, I don’t think the ‘W’ was there then, it was just ENA. They said ENA was coming to Boston. I was really interested and wanted to be a part of it,” she recalled.

For her, the experience was very inspiring in her burning desire to be a part of her community – setting the stage for what would follow. “I went there and I saw so many people I hadn’t seen for years. It was very, very impressive.

“So the following year 2009 was San Francisco. I went with friends; I am like let’s go.” To maintain the momentum, she joined a local club, known as Edo Association of Merrimack, mostly dominated by older people – Edo senior citizens.

While there, she founded the Edo Community Association of New England with the purpose of bringing the youths together for a common purpose and pulling the younger generation of Edo people into the ENAW as the future torchbearers.

“I wanted to make sure they are people of my age or younger.”

As president of a local organization affiliated with the ENAW which offered her the opportunity to represent her club and speak at the organization’s Council of Presidents meeting, she had an insight into the challenges confronting the organization.

According to her, she took it as a challenge to find a way to make it better and apparently found that the only way to be able to effect a change was to seek leadership position, “so we can carry everybody along rather than complain about what is not working.”

To actualize that dream, she decided to run for the office of the Women Affairs Coordinator of the ENAW.

One thing was clear – to see how she could help other women to rise in the spirit of women empowerment that always dominates talks.

“In my mind women empowerment is being able to belong to a platform where we can truly empower each other, lift each other up so that if I have information, you don’t need to go through a lot to find the information that I already have and vice versa, you know. A lot of communities do stuff like that for themselves.

“So I figured, you know, let see if we can create that similar vision for Edo women in the Diaspora because ENAW is not just going to be in America and Canada – it is supposed to be worldwide, so we intend to bring more people in.

“So the Edo people in the Diaspora need to figure out ways to lift each other up. So my vision for this office is very simple. There are three pillars that I want us to focus on.” She named them as: Inclusivity, Welfare of women in the Diaspora, Welfare of Women in Nigeria.

“We want to make sure we create a platform where everybody feels welcomed and heard. We want people feel included. So, whether you are of Edo heritage by birth, by marriage or otherwise, you are welcome to be part of ENAW.”

Inclusivity

Inclusivity, the first on the agenda of the three, according to her is also intended to break the barriers of age without any prejudice against the seniors whose advice she said is crucial in the implementation of her agenda.

She wants the younger ones to feel welcomed, reflecting on how she used to feel intimidated in the midst of the older women because there were no people of her age when in their midst.

“I feel may be this is not the room I belong, so part of the reason why I stepped to run was to break that barrier so that other people who are like me or younger can feel welcomed here, they will feel oh, if she can do it, maybe I can, too.”

Care of women in the Diaspora

In what sounded very unusual but which is a stark reality, Frances insisted that the care of the women in the Diaspora must be prioritized as it is uppermost in her mind.

According to her, they worry too much about the people at home and in the process, neglect their own care which is very vital if they are going to be able to help people in the homeland.

“A lot of time what has happened is we come together, put funds together, try to do stuff back home and then we repeat it again and again forgetting that the people who are here putting the funds together need tending to as well. So we have neglected ourselves enough and now it is the time to prioritize us.”

To back up her argument and concern she said: “In the women department there are a lot of women that have children that are dealing with autism; some of these women, they don’t know where to go for resources. They feel overwhelmed, there is no support.

“Meanwhile we have the next person who is probably a social worker who has all the information and experience but we have not created the platform for us to be able to share these experiences, you know and be able to help each other so we can have like a community resource center of some sort.”

Continuing, she noted: “We have women that are dealing with depression, meanwhile we have mental health counsellors, doctors and all these people in our midst. Again, how are we using the resources that we have as a community to strengthen each other? We need to create a way for us to be able to do that.”

She also touched on another aspect of the problems that people in the diaspora face –

Immigration, the rough road of which many people have no knowledge of how to navigate because they do not have the needed information and resources to do that.

Her vision of a community resource center is one that will cater to people in this bracket; they would be appropriately directed on who to meet or see for help, she said.

“Looking for information on immigration we have a lot of qualified lawyers in our midst. “If you look at the Hispanic community, the Haitian community, the Jewish community, they are so well organized, they have all these resources already available to their people. I think the Edo people should have something similar to that.”

As a strong advocate for a better life for women, she believes that if the ENAW women department can start this it would evolve into other areas of human endeavor that would be beneficial to all, including future generation of Edo people in the Diaspora.

Part of the implementation process, according to her is to organize seminars and bring in professionals with expertise in varied fields of human endeavor to educate people on the right way to do things and avoid those things that are capable of land people in trouble.

“Knowledge, they say is power, so we need to educate ourselves more” to be able to follow the right paths of those who have broken barriers to be where they are today and not experience the pitfall that mostly arises from ignorance.  To be woven into this initiative is the mentorship program that will involve mentors and mentees to help people attain their potentials, she hinted.

Care of women in Nigeria

The last part of the three-pronged vision is the care of women in Nigeria, which according to her would be driven by empowerment of women in the homeland by helping them to create a means of livelihood.

The whole idea is to discourage handouts and piecemeal and rather give them the skill to be independent and able to provide for themselves and families forever with the establishment of ENAW Vocational Skills Acquisition Center.

“So that instead of oh we bought this for this kid or paid for that for the other kid we are actually giving them life skills that they can use to start taking care of themselves. So, we are not giving a fish, we want to teach them how to fish.”

The skills acquisition center, she stated will assist women to develop their skills in areas such as tailoring, hairdressing, catering and makeup; “anything that we think is marketable in the economy where they live in.”

Also to benefit from the scheme are women who already have the skills but lack the startup money.

According to her, the Center would be open to both young and old as long as the person is a woman. To add impetus to the scheme, she said the vision aligns with that of the in-coming ENAW President, Engr. Charles Iguobadia whose plan, she said is to create a workforce hub in Edo State to help with putting people to work by creating different ways for the to be able to generate self-sustaining income.

“So, I think we can work together collectively to deliver the best not just for the women, but for ENAW as a body. So, I look forward to the many family changes coming with this newly elected administration. I am excited and I am ready to work.

“I am welcoming everybody and inviting everybody to partner with us, to join us so that we can succeed because our success is a community success.”

On the question of how the trainees of the center would be assisted to set up after graduation, she had this to say: “Depending on the number of students – looking for 100-200. It will be incentive-based – the best students will be helped with funding based on performance during the training.

While answering a follow-up question on the training curriculum, which represents a critical part of the program, she said it would encompass financial literacy training which will focus on management of resources.

Her words: “So, we are going to train people on how to run their businesses, how to balance their books, how to make sure they account for the company so that when they set up their own, success is never guaranteed, but the probability of success is fairly higher.”

The good news for those who fall below the distinction level on the merit-based scheme is that options are left open for them to be financially assisted. Here is how she put it: “So, depending on the funds we raise if we can set every single person up if they are done with the training we would love to but not until we select the best of the best and start with those.”

On the question of the possibility of exploring the opportunity of helping to secure microloans for their business, she said: “Oh yes and that is part of the financial literacy training – we are going to teach people about micro financial loans. As a matter of fact we are already making contact relating to that.”

Elucidating on that, she said those who failed to meet the distinction threshold would be helped to secure loans from the financial institutions once they acquired the required knowledge to manage business and are certified by the center whose credentialling would serve as an evidence of proficiency and a boost for credit worthiness.

The Okuta of Boston and the 24 bits (Rolling Stone) connection

For some time now the title, ‘Okuta’ of Boston has followed her everywhere and is becoming a signature name in social arena, making tongs to wag as to how it came about.

Okuta in Benin means rock/stone, denoting dexterity, doggedness, solidity, etc.

“You are the Okuta of Boston eh,” I asked.

What followed was a prolonged laughter from both side. “I don’t even know how the name came about. People gave it to me (more laughter).” She traced the origin of the title to the 24 bits, a group of musical band who performed at the ENAW convention in Detroit, Michigan in 2024.

“They heard about me but they didn’t quite know me.”

Frances said the title was a tribute to her for all that she did for them while they were in Michigan, as visitors who needed a lot of logistical support to navigate the environment and be able to fulfil their contract with ENAW.

“Although I am not from Detroit I went there to help, I was hospitable to them because they needed to figure their way around. So, I did my best to help with guidance. I just did the little I could to make them comfortable.

“They were talking to people about me and trying to figure me out. So when they left the convention they had the conviction in their mind that they needed to do something for this lady that they met, I guess I had an impact in them but I don’t know how but they felt… I did my mind, I did my heart, but I didn’t do much. To them, it was well received.”

What followed after the convention was a big surprise.

“After they left, they decided to surprise me. So they went into the studio and they made a song in my name and that’s the whole genesis of Okuta of Boston, it is from them.”

Soon after the release everyone started calling her Okuta of Boston, making her to wonder what she did to deserve this glowing tribute.

The song titled: ‘Oghomwan’ Atie’ – Frances, Okuta of Boston, spread fast and rented the hall last year when the group came to perform in Boston Massachusetts.

When asked how she is balancing family life with business and community activism, she said: “Well when God create us, God create us with responsibility and that responsibility is your immediate family. So, family is priority. I think balancing work life, community activism and family life is a bit of a struggle, but ultimately comes down to prioritization, knowing what is important and when to act and making sure that things get done when they need to get done so that, that way you are not always two steps behind trying to catch up.

“So I prioritize my family life with the help of God. God has been kind to me to the point where the people I now need to do some of my business are there, so I have help with work life and even the community activism that you talked about.”

She stressed on leadership and strong organizational foundation and the provision of the needed tools as the bedrock of any successful enterprise or vision. These she said has been put in place.

“I want to use the time that I have to see how I can give back to my community and that is where the leadership in the community comes in, so to also encourage us as a community to do better for ourselves.”

In driving home her message during the interview, Frances who sounded philosophical and as one who cares about her legacy said: “I also hope to set an example for my children. They have to look beyond themselves. I don’t want to see my family is good and that is the end of it. I want to see how we can go beyond that and give to other people.”

What is your message for the community, I asked towards the end of the interview.

For her, the message is simple: “Let’s remember to be our brother’s keeper.” She expressed her appreciations for the overwhelming support she has received from the community.

“I want to thank the community for their support, for believing in me. I have received a lot, a lot of congratulatory messages. Even getting to the place where I am now, there have been a lot of people working behind the scene, knocking on doors, making calls to make this possible. I believe all those people did everything they did because they were believing in better future and they thought they could realize that through me,” she noted.

On the task ahead she called for cooperation and collaboration of everyone, saying: “This project (Skills Acquisition Center) we are working on is a project that directly benefits each and every one of us. Yes the people back home will be able say ‘Yes, I went there and I learned this skill. “But those of us here,” she noted can ask their relatives in need of skills to go there and explore the opportunity provided by the center to better their lives and families.

“Education is good, but we all know the job situation in Nigeria. It is not easy to get jobs.”

According to her, the women department of ENAW will promote education with sponsorship that is “merit-based for the best of the best.”

For some time now the Women Affairs Department of ENAW under the leadership of Mrs. Meg Uzzi has continued to sponsor indigent students’ West African Examination by paying their enrollment fees.

Asked what the status of this scheme would be upon assuming office as the new Women Affairs Coordinator, to be continued, discontinued or if there would be some modifications to the scheme?

Her response: “I am glad you mentioned that. I just said there will be education component. So, I think it is a good project, I think we should continue it with a modified version.

“I think we should have it done in a way that we select the people who really have the brain for school, so it would be merit-based, choose the best students through incentivization to be able to track what they are doing.

“A percentage of those that have the best results will be selected and sponsored through university. So, when people have been selected for the WAEC scholarship, they know they are on the path to potentially getting scholarship to the university.”

As we all know, projects of this magnitude such as the skills acquisition center is capital intensive which raises the issue of sustainability. So, what are the plans to sustain the project?

In her response, she said the working of the center would be fashioned in a way that it would be sustainable and that details were being worked out.