Sharon Okpoe wasn’t born with a silver spoon or nurtured to become an engineer, a lawyer, or a doctor. The tall 17-year-old girl with a friendly face is from Lagos, Nigeria—specifically its infamous Makoko slum, where shacks built on stilts sit above dark, pungent water. Her father is a fisherman, and her mother ekes out a living selling roasted fish. In Makoko, teenagers—especially girls like Okpoe—have few career choices or opportunities for advancement. In Nigeria’s schools, boys…

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Read more stories by Festus Iyorah.