In an age where global headlines often echo social crisis, violence, and poverty, stories of hope – quiet, consistent, and deeply human – often go unheard. But in the lives of hundreds of young people from underrepresented backgrounds in the UK and many local communities in Nigeria, one such story is being written daily.

It begins not in a government office or a policy boardroom but in the heart of a woman, Lola Owolabi.
Owolabi didn’t set out to become a community leader, mentor, or youth advocate. She did not have a master plan or a multimillion-pound budget. She had empathy, memory, and conviction fueled by her own lived experience of invisibility and dismissal.

Born and raised in the UK to Nigerian parents, Owolabi understood from an early age what it meant to feel overlooked, to be in a room full of people and still feel like a shadow. These early moments of exclusion did not just linger, they formed the foundation of a lifelong mission.

In 2008, Owolabi established Proudtobeme, a nonprofit that has since grown into a cross-continental youth development organisation. What began as informal mentoring sessions with a few teenagers in London has now evolved into a lifeline for hundreds of young people navigating trauma, marginalisation, and socioeconomic disadvantage in both the UK and Nigeria.

From its grassroots origins, Proudtobeme has grown into a force of transformation, guided by one unshakable belief: that every young person deserves to be seen, heard, and proud of who they are.
At its core, Proudtobeme exists for those who have been written off, the so-called “troubled” youth, the young offenders, the single mothers, the school dropouts. The organisation does not seek to “fix” them.

Instead, it offers them tools, space, and community to rediscover their voices and reshape their futures.
“Every child is a story, not a statistic,” Owolabi said, noting that sometimes, all they need is someone to believe in them deeply and consistently.

One of Proudtobeme’s flagship initiatives is the Ready Bootcamp, a dynamic, intensive programme that immerses youth aged 13 to 25 in a transformational learning journey. Participants are taken through sessions on leadership, emotional intelligence, entrepreneurship, and employability. But these are no ordinary workshops. The tone is raw, honest, and deeply personal.

In these boot camps, teenage boys openly discuss anxiety, young girls passionately draft business plans, and former gang members calmly rehearse job interviews.

“I came in broken, unsure, and scared. I left knowing I had something to offer,” one of the attendees said.

These boot camps offer a safe space where vulnerability isn’t punished but welcomed.
That permission to feel, to dream, to fail and to try again is woven into every interaction. There is no top-down hierarchy. Youth are co-creators, co-leaders, and co-dreamers. What sets Proudtobeme apart isn’t just its programming, but its relentless commitment to care. Owolabi and her team remember birthdays, offer one-on-one check-ins, and stay up late texting young people through breakdowns. It’s not charity—it’s connection.

This ethos of deep care caught the attention of BBC Children in Need in 2023. The resulting partnership was more than symbolic; it was catalytic. With new funding and support, Proudtobeme rolled out 10 community-led projects, each designed to address critical challenges faced by underserved youth.

Among these were Beyond 2030, which brought HIV awareness to over 50 young people, and BAME in STEM, a mentoring programme guiding over 80 minority teens into science and technology careers. These weren’t surface-level workshops.

They were environments of healing, trust, and expansion.

In So, the Self, the team tackled mental health through the lens of identity and social media. The result was one of the most honest and emotional group sessions the organisation had ever held.

Project Lead Kevin Osei witnessed the transformation firsthand. “We saw a breakdown of barriers. We saw a confidence surge. These young people started walking into rooms they once thought were off-limits,” he said.

“We had boys crying,” Owolabi once recalled the impact of one of the mental health sessions, “Not because they were weak, but because they were finally given permission to feel.”

While rooted in the UK, Proudtobeme’s vision is global. Its programming model, adaptive, culturally responsive, and emotionally intelligent, has been replicated in Nigeria, where Lola and her team are finding just as much urgency, hunger, and hope among youth.

In communities across Lagos and other parts of Nigeria, the same questions arise: Who believes in me? Can my life be different? Am I more than my mistakes? And Proudtobeme answers with a resounding yes, not through rhetoric, but through relationships, resources, and real-time mentorship.

Workshops in Nigeria mirror their UK counterparts but are uniquely tailored to the local context. From leadership and communication skills to digital literacy and entrepreneurial training, these programmes are creating a new generation of African youth who are not just surviving, but stepping into leadership roles in their communities.

Owolabi describes the Nigerian expansion as “a return home.” Though she was born in the UK, her roots remain deeply Nigerian. She sees the work not as an export of a British model, but as a reclamation of African brilliance. The impact of the work is engineered to show that young people in Nigeria are capable and brilliant and only need access, exposure, and encouragement to be the best they can be.

The stories pouring out of both countries are a testament to the programme’s impact. A teenage mother who now runs her own catering business. A young man recently released from juvenile detention who is now a peer mentor. A once-silent girl who now runs public speaking sessions in her school. These are not anomalies. They are evidence of what happens when empowerment meets consistency.

Unlike many development organisations, Proudtobeme is not obsessed with scale in the traditional sense. Owolabi is not in pursuit of flashy numbers or viral campaigns. Her measure of success is more intimate: has a young person discovered their voice? Are they walking taller? Do they now believe they belong?

That philosophy is what has drawn an expanding network of volunteers, donors, and collaborators to the organisation’s orbit. Corporate partners offer mentorship placements. Local artists run creative expression workshops. Alumni of the boot camp return as peer mentors, creating a powerful cycle of giving back.

But this work is not without its challenges. Funding is limited. The demand far outweighs the organisation’s current capacity. And the emotional toll of holding space for trauma, of walking with young people through depression, abuse, and rejection is immense.
Still, Owolabi remains steadfast. Her faith is both spiritual and strategic. She believes her teams are not just investing in individuals, they are building communities; they are shaping nations.

The organisation’s future is bold. Plans are underway to train more facilitators, establish peer mentorship networks, and create digital tools that will allow young people to access Proudtobeme’s resources from anywhere in the world. There is also a vision to launch different academies across continents, anchored in the same principles of care, creativity, and courage.

None of this, Owolabi is quick to point out, would be possible without the volunteers who give their time, the donors who invest in the mission, and the youth who trust the process. To her, these people are the heroes driving the purpose of the organisation forward.

For the young people themselves who have encountered Proudtobeme, Owolabi is more than a vessel. She is a lifeline, a mirror reflecting back the truth of who they are before the world told them otherwise.

In a world that often tells marginalised youth to shrink, to apologise for their presence, or to accept invisibility, Proudtobeme whispers something radically different: Be bold. Be brilliant. Be proud to be you.