By Yusuf Adeoye
Dr Siju Iluyomade is one woman who embodies the archetype of a virtuous, graceful and Godly woman, a philanthropic icon known for radiating faith, hope, and love through fashion, faith, and impactful charity, inspiring others with her elegance and dedication to service.
Siju is an architect of renewal, her lifestyle is tailored to put smile in people’s faces. Without a doubt, she stands today as one of the most compelling champions of social justice, skill acquisition, and economic empowerment of women. And this is not by some lofty declarations. It is simply by a quiet, relentless labour of service that has changed the destinies of thousands of underprivileged. And counting.
In the last 17 years, Siju has turned compassion into infrastructure, and vision into impact. Through her Arise Foundation, she has rewritten the story of countless women who once lived on the fragile edges of possibility. She has taken the everyday struggles of the vulnerable and transformed them into testimonies of dignity, strength, and rebirth.
So, when you hear Arise Foundation today, it is about one woman, one heart that builds villages, a soul where compassion connects with unyielding courage, a portrait of service and strength. This is who Dr Siju Iluyomade is. This is her life. And nothing really could diminish the staggering strides of this ultra-committed change agent.
As the convener and founder of Arise Women Conference, a non-governmental organization, her efforts to empower the less-privileged and support government in every area of endeavour have been acclaimed as one of the most outstanding charity initiatives today.
Regardless of religion, tribe, ethnicity, Dr. Siju Iluyomade has continued to give her all to better the life of many, using her Arise Women Foundation to intervene in so many areas of human needs. She institutionalized the Handmaidens Women in Leadership Series (HWILS) to build intentional leaders. In the last 17 years, the projects have achieved so much by putting structures like hospitals, school buildings, computerized library and boreholes, in place. These are some of the many infrastructures she has built in many communities like Dafara, Kabusa in Abuja, Ondo, Imo, Kebbi and Lagos States, just to mention a few.
Iluyomade’s Arise Walk for Life has become more than an annual movement. It is a unifying ritual that dissolves boundaries. Men and women, young and old, from every tribe and faith, walk side by side in a shared celebration of health, hope, and humanity.
She runs projects that are lifelines.
not just interventions. They are transformations. She is a visionary leader who would not let down the hundreds of thousands of women and even men who look up to her every year to hear the sound of Arise Women Conference.
Recently, World Women Organization bestowed on her its prestigious Icon Award, a testimony to her global footprint. The legendary Ikoyi Club 1938 decorated her with the Amazon Leadership Award, affirming her as a force of grace and influence. Her classmates, the distinguished Class of 1985 Nigerian Law School, Lagos, led by their Chairman, Emeka Ngige, SAN, OFR, celebrated her on December 16, 2025, for her courage, conviction, and unquestionable excellence and outstanding contributions to the legal profession and humanity.
Her unrelenting devotion to humanity has always earned her several encomiums with arrays of distinguished awards to depict it.
Before now, in recognition of her contributions to legal education and development, the International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) Lagos Branch, Nigeria presented her with a Merit Award. There is the Award of Recognition presented by the Nigeria Association of Women Journalists ( NAWOJ ), the conferment of Honorary Doctor of Laws Degree by the Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko (AAUA), Ogun state, an Award of Recognition and Distinction by Her Excellency, Dr Zainab Bagudu, the First Lady of Kebbi State and her Foundation, Medic Aid and a special award by the
Committee of Wives of Lagos State Officials (COWLSO) for her remarkable humanitarian cause.
Still, she was adorned with the Award of Excellence by er Excellency, Dr Ibijoke Sanwo-Olu, the First Lady of Lagos State as the Inspirational Woman of the year (2019). Added to this repertory of awards is yet a Recognition Award from the Association Of Resident Doctors, Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH, 2022) and the prestigious international Recognition Award by the
World Women Icon Award Organization, USA.
These awards is a tender echo of lives she touched and shinning emblem of a life spent uplifting people, empowering women and shaping communities with grace and grit. These honours are some of the depictions of life she has reinvented, families restored, and communities reborn.
The success of the last edition of Arise Women activities in 2025, greatly shows the dogged attribute, undimmed vision and never-relent spirit of Dr. Siju Iluyomade who amidst natural challenges, still strive to put smiles on faces of thousands in the society.
**Adeoye is a Lagos based journalist
