Words By –  Jemi Ekunkunbor

Dr. Tope Mark-Odigie wears many hats: she is the CEO of REB360, a real estate company focused on empowerment and wealth creation; the founder of WIRE Africa (Women in Real Estate, Africa), an NGO committed to facilitating the participation and financial empowerment of African women through real estate; and a familiar face on TVC’s popular breakfast show, Your View.

Raised as an only child, Tope began her journey as a budding makeup artist, fully aware of the responsibilities life had placed on her shoulders. Driven and constantly pushing her limits, she transitioned from running a thriving beauty business to establishing a career in broadcasting—eventually earning a doctorate.
Today, as a transformational speaker and innovative solution provider, she has consulted for and partnered with corporate organisations, non-profits, and government agencies to develop practical solutions for unemployment, behavioural transformation, and mindset reform—key components she believes are essential for collective societal progress.

In line with her mission to inspire growth and drive positive change, Tope recently launched the Funding Families Project, through which she plans to sponsor IVF treatments for 40 couples battling unexplained infertility. The initiative was unveiled two weeks ago in celebration of her 40th birthday.

A mother of three boys, Tope is no stranger to the emotional toll women go through to have a child as she is a product of waiting!  In this exclusive interview, she reflects on her upbringing as an only child and how the drive to “become” has propelled her into a space of purpose and impact.

You have chosen to embark on an ambitious project to sponsor 40 couples to undergo IVF treatment, what inspired this?
The Funding Families Project was inspired by my parents’ journey and the fact that I am an only child with parents who had secondary infertility.  I was purely a miracle.
I also have very close family friends who went through infertility challenges.  For about seven years now, I have volunteered for a foundation that supports women and families going through infertility or are dealing with infertility challenges. Because of these, I understand the struggle, I’m close to the struggle and I empathise with the struggle.

How do you intend to find these 40 women?
I made the announcement on social media that I want to fund 40 families and we got over 1,000 comments. The form was filled by 360 women before we shut it down. And then we created a WhatsApp group from where we’ll do some further selection. The group has 162 women.

What would be the criteria for choosing them?
In simple terms, we’ll prioritise people who are okay but just need funds for IVF. The goal is to not let money hold back families from having children. They have to be married for at least five years and the women must be below 50 years old.

There’s a lot of stigma surrounding barrenness, leading women to do desperate things just to have a child. Shouldn’t society begin to rethink the pressure it puts on women who are waiting?
 This pressure and stigma needs to stop because in some cases, just by reducing the stress and the pressure on a woman going through infertility, with the right nurturing environment, she is able to conceive without any medical intervention.
Sadly, the African society, especially within Nigeria, largely believes that infertility is 100% the fault of a woman.

From your experience with your mum, what drove her going from medical to exploring spiritual options?
For my mum, the economical implication of pursuing medical solutions was both very expensive and highly experimental. Again, she was hoping for another miracle.
She believed that if God gave her one  miracle child, that is me, then He would do more. So, the primary focus was let’s just pray for another miracle.
Another reason was, IVF wasn’t so popular then and it was ridiculously expensive, way above my parents’ reach.

Adoption is becoming a popular option now for many women but it’s getting out of the reach of ordinary women because of the financial implication; can’t your initiative cover such women?
The Funding 40 Families Project is to help families that money is the only reason they don’t have children. But the foundation that I partner with and volunteer for, Quiverfull, also provides support for adoption, but more from the counseling perspective to prevent families from going through the illegal route to adopt children.
Currently, legal adoption in Nigeria can be like passing through the eye of a needle. Adoption in Nigeria is extremely complicated. There are so many families on the queue for adoption with very few children who are eligible for adoption.

You went on to have a set of twins, would you say life compensated your mother adequately?
My twins are a miracle and answered prayers because before my parents had me as an only child, they had a set of twin boys that didn’t survive. I told my husband the story and that I really would love to have twin boys. We both prayed about it. I was over the moon when my desire was confirmed. So, yes, the twins compensated, over and above! I’m a mum of three boys now I feel very blessed.

In all that you experienced with your mother and now trying to help 40 other women, what would you say that life has taught you?
My experiences have taught me pain to purpose. Don’t waste your pain, don’t waste your experience. I don’t believe that God will take me through a painful experience without a purpose.
So, this Funding Families Project is me turning my pain – the pain I’ve seen and felt around me, the pain that I experienced with my parents – and giving it more meaning by using it to help others and wipe their tears.

What was it like growing up as an only child and how did that shape the way you navigated life?
Growing up as an only child was lonely and I felt pressured. Putting a positive spin on my loneliness would be that I can stay alone comfortably  and be functional introvert. I can self-entertain because I had to do that for years.
The pressure taught me that my parents don’t have another option, so I have to succeed. The pressure meant that I must not lose myself, I must not lose my way, I must not lose my identity, I must be responsible. When people have four or five children, they can say, “one of them can be successful and help the others.” In my case, my parents do not have any option. So, I must turn out well, I must help them. I must protect them. I must preserve them. I must nurture them. I must make up for the snide comments they received because they have just one. I must make them proud.
So yes, it influenced my life by helping me to channel the necessary strength to push through whenever I face any challenge, and not give up no matter what.

You’ve come full circle, moving from being a make up artist, to going on television and then real estate, bagging a Doctorate etc., all under 40; what was the journey like for you?
This is indeed a full circle moment for me. I remember 18 years ago, I used to do makeup as Ewabela for people that were on the front cover of Vanguard Allure. I went from doing makeup for women on Vanguard Allure to being on the cover of Vanguard Allure.
I went from being a contributor in Vanguard Allure Beauty Section to being on the cover of Vanguard Allure under 40, and I am very humbled and grateful.
I’ve always channeled every disappointment into a driving force to push me to succeed.
This full circle moment is humbling because for a long time, I felt like I was playing under the radar, not the level that will  bring pride to my God, to my family, and to myself. But in the saying of Tom Hiddleston, “You keep putting one foot in front of the other, and one day you look back and you’ve climbed a mountain.” I kept putting one step in front of the other in the direction of my dream, and success happened.
At 30, I did not own one plot of land but at my 40th birthday celebration in the Game of Money conference 2.0, where we hosted 1,000+ Nigerians to teach them how to manage, multiply and make more money, I gave away six plots of land.
I’m a living miracle, hardwork, perseverance and intentionality personified. I do not take the grace of God in my life for granted. I know that I have something to prove and daily I commit to doing so. So, this full circle is very humbling and I am extremely grateful for it.

Now at 40, what do you look forward to?
One of the things 40 years has shown me is that my life is about impact. I love to impact my world through teaching. In my heart of hearts, I am a teacher. When I was doing makeup, I trained over 250 people for free. Many of them graduated and have earned money and built businesses with the skills I impacted on them.
With Real Estate, I have trained thousands of people who had never made a million naira in their lives, but through my training and my platform, have become multimillionaires, land owners, business owners within the Real Estate space.
So, the next decade is for greater impact. I see millions of lives being impacted by my teachings, my life, my story, which is why I’ve been intentionally documenting my story. I have written two books. Over the next ten years, I will be writing much more; I see ten more books ahead of me. I’m so excited about all that will happen for and through me in this new decade.

Do you really agree that life begins at 40?
For me, my life began at 30! The epiphany I had when I clocked 30 was a life-changing.
Many people have it at 40, I had mine at 30. But the result of what happened to me at 30 is becoming clearer as I enter my 40s. I do not want anybody reading this in their 20s to believe that life begins at 40. No. I also don’t believe anybody reading this article in their fifties should feel that they missed out because their life did not begin at 40.
Your life begins when you come into the awareness, the consciousness of how powerful you are and your ability to create.
For some people, it begins at 20, for some it begins at 30, like mine, and if it is beginning for you today after reading my story, that makes me extremely happy.