Nigerian Woman Makes History With UK Telecoms Champion Award

Nigerian-born product leader, Miss Obiageli Okafor, popularly known as Obii, has made history as the first African to receive the Women in Telecoms Champion Award at the Comms Council UK Awards 2026.

Okafor, a Senior Product Manager at global cloud communications company 8×8 and co-founder of the nonprofit organisation PMHelp, received the prestigious honour on July 17, 2026, in recognition of her outstanding contributions to the UK telecommunications industry and her efforts to expand access to technology careers for professionals across Africa and beyond.

Speaking with journalists in Enugu on Monday, she described the recognition as unexpected.

“I was genuinely shocked,” she said.

“My first thought was gratitude—for everyone who believed in me, from my family and colleagues at 8×8 to my PMHelp community, and for the younger version of myself in Nigeria who could never have imagined standing on a stage in London receiving recognition from an entire industry.”

The Women in Telecoms Champion Award recognises women making exceptional contributions to the UK telecoms sector, where women account for fewer than one-fifth of the workforce, according to industry body techUK. The gender gap is even wider in senior management and leadership positions, prompting organisations such as Ofcom and leading telecoms companies to intensify efforts to attract, retain and promote more women.

Reflecting on becoming the first African recipient of the award, Okafor said the achievement sends a powerful message to aspiring professionals across the continent.

“Being the first African to receive this recognition shows that there are no barriers to what we can achieve. Talent has no borders, and African women belong in every room where technology is being built and decisions are being made,” she said.

Before relocating to the United Kingdom, Okafor built her career as a product manager in Nigeria and Dubai. She revealed that her early days in the UK were marked by repeated job rejections, forcing her to take on three jobs to make ends meet before rebuilding her career and eventually securing her current position at 8×8.

Her experience inspired the creation of PMHelp, a nonprofit organisation that has provided mentorship, career guidance and professional support to more than 52,000 people across over 70 countries.

She is also the co-founder of Capstone, an AI-powered platform that enables product managers to gain practical workplace experience through real-world simulations.

The award comes as Okafor launches her debut book, Impossible to Ignore, a career visibility guide that shares strategies for building a strong professional presence. She said the approach outlined in the book helped grow her LinkedIn audience from just over 2,000 followers to more than 11,000 within a few months, leading to increased recruiter interest, speaking engagements, industry recognition and new career opportunities.