For Oluwafisayo Victoria Ogunkunle, financial instability was not an abstract idea. It was the backdrop of her childhood. Early in her life, her family faced major challenges when her father lost his job, leaving her mother to shoulder much of the responsibility for the household. For over a decade, her mother anchored a family of six while managing a small primary school in rural Ondo State.
During that time, Fisayo’s family suffered a devastating loss when her mother passed away, leaving a void in both the family and the school she had worked tirelessly to sustain.
“At the time, I thought maybe I would not attend university because of money issues,” Fisayo says softly, reflecting on the reality that settled over her life as a teenager.
After graduating from secondary school, the university gates felt firmly shut. For two years, she stayed home due to financial constraints. To support her family, she and her father kept the small school running. During this period, Fisayo took on multiple responsibilities, supporting her family at home while also teaching at the school.
“It wasn’t easy. Sometimes I had to teach several classes at the same time,” she recalls. Her days were filled with responsibility, housework, and teaching children from morning until evening.
There was no money for coaching or preparatory classes. Determined to move forward, she studied on her own during late hours. She registered for JAMB with low expectations but strong determination. Despite a year of widespread poor performance nationally, her late-night revisions paid off: she scored 251.
“After everything I went through during those two years, getting that result felt like a victory.”
Fisayo had spent years applying for opportunities such as EducationUSA but had never reached the interview stage. When she first learned about the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program at Pan-Atlantic University (PAU), she thought it was too good to be true. Yet she applied anyway.
The long shot paid off. She was shortlisted and travelled to Ilorin for an interview, followed by a period of anxious waiting. The turning point came when a PAU staff member called and asked what outcome she was expecting.
“I said I was expecting a congratulatory message,” she remembers.
He delivered exactly that.
“I was so happy. I cried so much because this is really a life-changing opportunity for me.”
Today, the dusty paths of rural Ondo have been replaced by the modern campus of Pan-Atlantic University. For a young woman whose dreams were once constrained by financial hardship, studying at an institution where tuition runs into millions of naira feels extraordinary. It is an opportunity she does not take for granted.
“I’m in a school where thousands of students pay millions of naira in tuition, and I’m here with everything free. It’s fully sponsored by the Mastercard Foundation. This will go a long way in my life and in my family.”
Fisayo’s journey began with supporting education in her community. Today, she is a Mastercard Foundation Scholar discovering the power of her own voice. A natural speaker, she is learning to pair her passion with academic rigour and purpose.
“I like to talk. But I feel I shouldn’t just leave it at talking. I should use this passion, use this talent in a good way.”
Her focus is now on building a world-class media organisation that interviews, documents, and shares the stories of emerging entrepreneurs. By sharing stories of resilience, she hopes to build a lasting repository of encouragement and inspiration for thousands of young Nigerians facing similar financial barriers.
Having experienced firsthand the challenges that financial hardship can place on educational aspirations, Fisayo understands the power of opportunity. Through storytelling, she hopes not only to amplify voices that might otherwise go unheard but also to remind young people that difficult circumstances do not have to define the limits of their future. The same determination that kept her studying late into the night now fuels a larger vision: using media to inspire possibility, preserve stories of resilience, and create pathways of hope for others.