A mother of one who received a Mastercard scholarship completes her master’s degree at Cambridge and receives a Gates grant to pursue a doctorate

Candid moment of African descent female excitedly holding her diploma after the college graduation ceremony. Her friends around her. School building background on campus.

A mother of one who received a Mastercard scholarship completes her master’s degree at Cambridge and receives a Gates grant to pursue a doctorate

Inioluwa Afolabi, a mother of one, received a MasterCard scholarship and completed her master’s degree at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom. Additionally, she received the Gates fellowship to pursue her doctoral studies at the same university.

Before relocating to the UK for her postgraduate studies, Nigerian Inioluwa earned her bachelor’s degree in Pure and Applied Chemistry from Ladoke Akintola University in her home country.

“I’m happy to be celebrating the win that seemed impossible,” Inioluwa said on LinkedIn, hailing her accomplishment. Considering that she never saw herself at the University of Cambridge, she described her path there as a breakthrough.

She claimed that even if she wanted to be hopeful, all she could think about were the financial constraints and challenges that come with being a mother while studying, and that she was first informed that there were few full scholarships available for international students in the UK and that Cambridge was regarded as a university for wealthy students.

But according to Inioluwa, her voyage to Cambridge was driven by desperation since she wanted to pursue her passions rather than accept part-time work as the only means of surviving as a recent immigrant in the nation.

When Inioluwa saw the Gates Cambridge scholarship advertisement while settling into the nation, she stated all of her preconceived ideas about Cambridge being unaffordable for someone like her were dispelled.

Despite meeting all the prerequisites for admission, she was admitted without the scholarship, leaving her without any financial support as a mother who was also a student. Luckily, she received the Mastercard Foundation scholarship and was among the first students at the university to receive it.

According to Inioluwa, receiving the scholarship was a game-changer that opened up a world of limitless opportunities. She graduated from the University of Cambridge with a Master of Philosophy in Chemistry.

She earned the 2023 Outstanding Postgraduate Student Cambridge Africa award, received two additional renowned scholarships, and was granted the Gates Cambridge scholarship for her PhD after completing her master’s.

She claimed to have defended her thesis without making any changes while speaking as a student speaker at the Guild of Cambridge benefactors’ 25th anniversary.

Without her husband’s steadfast support and dedication to making sure their marriage never stood in the way of her aspirations, Inioluwa said, the accomplishment would not have been possible.

She stated she is thankful for her daughter’s presence, whose life has given her more self-confidence and defied the stereotype that having a kid limits one’s potential.

“I hope that this achievement serves as a reminder of God’s faithfulness to see me through my doctorate and all other endeavors that I set my heart on,” Inioluwa stated. She expressed her gratitude to the Mastercard Foundation scholarship for providing her with this transformative experience.

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