“People see me and don’t believe I am suffering because of my skin,” 17-year-old Fragrance Fasa reflects. As the eldest of two children, Fragrance grew up watching her father balance pastoring with driving a tricycle to support the family, while her mother worked as the head cook at a boarding school. From a young age, she understood that her education depended on her family’s daily survival. She knew a scholarship was her only bridge to a better future.
In 2022, everything changed. While Fragrance was in Senior Secondary School 2, her father’s tricycle, the family’s main source of income, was stolen. The loss placed further financial pressure on the family, forcing them to leave Edo State and return to Delta State. Fragrance dropped out of school for a term and spent her days fetching firewood to cook simple meals of palm oil rice. Yet, with her family’s encouragement, she returned to school, persevered through hardship, and graduated in 2024. Even then, she could not afford the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) form. Determined, she worked as a teacher in 2025, saving part of her earnings to register. Her effort paid off when she scored 247.
The turning point came when a friend shared the link to the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program at Pan-Atlantic University. Sceptical but hopeful, she applied. When the university provided a stipend for her interview, her father said, “If they wanted to scam you, they would not give you money.” Soon after, the news arrived: Fragrance had been selected for the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program at Pan-Atlantic University.
Today, the smoke of firewood has been replaced by the media labs of Pan-Atlantic University, where she studies Mass Communication. Recently, when her mother was worried about paying for her younger brother’s Basic Education Certification Exams, Fragrance used part of her stipend to support the family. “My mom said she never believed she would have a daughter helping out financially at 17,” Fragrance recalls with pride.
By investing in one girl, the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program did more than educate a student; it helped stabilise an entire household. Now, standing on the path to leadership, Fragrance sees her journey as a source of encouragement for others. “There are still opportunities out there; you just have to try. If you fail, try again,” she says, echoing her father’s words: “Rise above your emotions, rise to the occasion.”