“Hello there! My name is Ibukun Ola. I’m an Environmental Scientist, and community development enthusiast. I’m a doctoral student at the Mine-Water Working Group, Institute of Mining and Special engineering, TU BAF. My research focuses mainly on environmental damage cases (with inclination towards hydrocarbon impacted sites).  Prior to my current position, I had completed a master’s degree in environmental engineering from the Lübeck University of Applied Sciences, Germany. Asides academics, I love to continually learn and seek knowledge about the world we live in. I enjoy reading about history, societal evolution, politics, business, and I am an avid lover of football. I joined the EMPOWER project because key elements including Good Governance and Social Entrepreneurship Programmes were promised from the onset and they indeed formed the focus of the project. Additionally, I was in search of a group comprising of people with desires to make exceptional contributions to the development of their societies and are as well ready to take future challenging leadership roles, the EMPOWER project offered such a platform.”