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The Story Of The Lady Behind ARISE Foundation
For Dr Siju Iluyomade, life has been fair to her. The pretty woman who turned 60 on Jan 8th 2024, has many reasons to thank God. She has been blessed with many good things of life that many do not achieve before attaining her age. She is the selfless and amazing woman who never looks her age. She has been able to keep up her good stature over the years.
Call her an outstanding achiever, a great woman, the mentors mentor and an astute philanthropist, then you are right on point. Dr Siju, the delectable woman of influence and character, has over the years become a rallying point to adding value to the women folk in Nigeria. Her name Siju Iluyomade is now synonymous with philanthropy. This is on account of her efforts in lifting needy individuals, while also supporting communities, in one way or the other.
Her efforts to empower the less privileged and support the effort of government in every area of endeavour have been acclaimed to be one of the most outstanding among the lot who follow the same passion as hers. Regardless of religion, tribe, or ethnicity, corporate lawyer and philanthropist, Dr Siju Iluyomade has continued to give her all to better the lives of many, using her Arise Women Foundation as a vehicle to intervene in so many areas of human needs. This trait of hers, many agree, resonated in the birth of the non-government organisation (NGO). Not only that, Siju, as she’s fondly called, is known to have nurtured charitable hopes and determination to help women efficiently thrive in life.
Her Arise Team has had a successful human capital development and empowerment programmes for over 100,000 less privileged people, especially women, in the society. In 2019, she created a significant impact in the lives of the needy. Hence, in the year 2020, the Pastor’s wife, who is also a notable Corporate Lawyer, already increased her humanitarian and charity activities not only in Lagos and Abuja—where their activities presently concentrate on— but also in many parts of the North where a lot needed to be done. Bringing it forward to 2023, she has empowered over millions.
To many, Dr. Siju Iluyomade is the super-stylish wife of Pastor Idowu Iluyomade (also known as Pastor ID), the Senior Pastor at the Redeemed Christian Church of God City of David Parish, Victoria Island, Lagos. In truth, Iluyomade’s fashion sense and sheer magnetic presence are enough to convince one that she is ‘other’—that is, that she is different, a natural-born leader and pillar of change and transformation. And this is what she has done with her faith-based non-governmental organisation (NGO) for women empowerment and Handmaidens, Women in Leadership Series (HWILS), Arise Women.
With Iluyomade, you get philanthropy, grassroots development, all-round nation-building, and unintentional tips for how to dress, address, and impress. She has always been at the fore front of many resolutions. She has built many followers through this especially women. She is the brain behind the weekly women service, handmaidens fellowship which she holds every Wednesday at her parish, Redeemed Church, City of David. She launched out the online service for the programme immediately there was lockdown and thousands of women besieged all her media platforms to connect to the programme. It is a service which women don’t want to miss because of the style, way and reason of coming together to worship God thereby connecting and networking with other women. As we write this, it remains the biggest women platform online where women come together to worship. Many people connect to the service all over the world.The programme which is also an avenue where women help themselves, pray for themselves and motivate each other has grown in leaps and bounds in just few weeks that it started online. Apart from running the weekly service online, she also has a Whatssap group which has over 300 members who gather together to pray and worship.
The Handmaidens Women in Leadership Forum which is a platform for bringing all women together irrespective of their Race, Tribe or Religion was initiated to enlighten and empower them sufficiently to enable them to have the desired impact on the society that they are uniquely crafted to have. The objective of the fellowship is to challenge more women to take on positions of responsibility in line with scriptural principles and ensure they impact their homes, businesses and society positively in growing the nation.
The founder, Dr Siju Iluyomade has always been in the news for her outstanding achievement in empowering women through her many pet projects like the Arise Women and Handmaidens, women in Leadership series. She is known to always gather over 50000 women together annually to praise God and help one another.. Give it to her, the original legacy builder as she is fondly called, Dr Siju has impacted the lives of many through her programme and she continues to expand her horizon as she supports and empowers women across the globe. She is a lawyer by profession with over 35 years post call experience. She has been in legal practice with her husband, Idowu Iluyomade since 1987 and is a founding partner in the law firm Iluyomade & Co.Her formative years were spent at Queens College Lagos, an all-rites boarding school and there she realized early that women enjoy each other’s company and draw strength from each other. This informed her decision to start the Handmaidens, over 20 years ago as a vehicle to empower women to fulfill their destinies in Christ. It was birthed as a Faith and Life clinic.She is the MD/CEO of Handmaidens Women in Leadership Series (WiLS),. Also, she is the convener of “Behind Closed Doors”, targeted at addressing root issues and bringing out The Total Woman in every woman.
She co pastors RCCG, City of David Parish alongside her husband, Idowu Iluyomade, the Special Assistant to the General Overseer for CSR and Regional Pastor of region 20. Since 1999, she has tirelessly provided world class hospitality at the Redemption Camp during the Holy Ghost congress .
She works actively feeding delegates during the annual convention and hosts the annual Redeemed’s day celebration for all RCCG schools in region 20 (Apapa family) . Her behind closed doorsforum is designed for singles and newlyweds, she is also an incurable romantic and accomplished author with a collection of poems and published works like many of her books, Arise magazine and handmaidens monthly newsletter. She has been into fashion for many decades and you can see that she is a living example when it comes to fashion and style. She is on the board of various organizations such as Visible Assets Limited, Gods children great talent, Healing Stripes Hospital, River Bank School to mention a few.
As she has made a success of her career path in life, so as she done of her marriage of over 35 years and still counting. With her husband, Pastor Idowu, they are one couple after God’s heart who is doing well in the vineyard of God. Their marriage is an example of a perfect marriage and they are constantly in open display of love for each other. They do this time without numbers and if you are a regular member of redeemed City of David, you would have been used to it. This act of love and closeness is what many of their members have emulated, and even during any wedding ceremony in the church, pastor ID always advises couples to add spice to their marriage and part of it is calling each other sweet names. This couple after God’s heart are mentors to many couples.
Siju Iluyomade is indeed living her life like its golden and as such she has gracefully strolled into her diamond Jubilee in appreciating God for the years gone by and for also living a life of impact. Siju Iluyomade is a brand no doubt, and she has come to stay for many decades to come.
-Wale Lawal
(08037209290)
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