Founder & President
Tope G. Fajingbesi
Tope is an agricultural and social impact entrepreneur, a published author, and an educator. She is the founder and president of She-EO – a global platform for women of African descent to have important conversations that matter. In addition to being the founder and coordinating trustee of United for Kids Foundation, Tope created and hosted the Impact Africa radio show, which inspired Africans and Africans in the diaspora to participate consciously and actively in African development from 2013 to 2015. Impact Africa earned Tope an invitation to a meeting with Senior White House officials during the planning stage of the US-Africa Leaders’ Summit in 2014.
Tope frequently speaks to global audiences with a mission to inspire. She delivered a powerful address at Hillary Clinton’s final presidential campaign rally in Michigan in November 2016, the keynote speech at Grand Rapids City High School’s commencement ceremony in June 2017, and one of the two keynote speeches at the Future Harvest Conference in January 2021. Prior to becoming a full-time social impact entrepreneur, Tope worked for 2 of the “Big Accounting” Firms, a Fortune 100 energy company, and notable nonprofit organizations in Washington D.C. She has also taught agricultural business courses at the University of Maryland, College Park since August 2019.
Tope is set to commence a Doctoral degree program in Human and Organizational Learning at The George Washington University in the Fall of 2023 where she plans to focus on lifelong learning and leadership issues and opportunities for women of African descent. She is an alumnus of the University of Lagos in Nigeria, Emory University, Salzburg Global Seminar in Austria, and the University of Oxford. She is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, and a United States of America Certified Public Accountant.
Tope is dedicated to serving her community. She served as the Treasurer of Future Harvest from 2020 to 2022, as the interim chairperson of the Women’s National Democratic Club’s Foreign Policy and National Security Task Force in 2021, and as a member of the Montgomery County Maryland County Executive’s Economic Recovery Advisory Group in 2020.
Tope is married to Niyi Balogun, who she co-owns Dodo Farms, a Certified Naturally Grown produce farm in Montgomery County (Maryland) with.