Ify - a champion for children, always

Ify Adenuga exudes energy and warmth. She is a child of UNICEF.

Ify's first-hand experience growing up during the civil war in Nigeria in the late 1960s underpins why she’s still passionate about helping children thrive today.   

She remembers fleeing her home, foraging for food to stay alive, nursing her sick siblings, dealing with death and grief, and receiving UNICEF powdered milk – "licking it off her hands" is a key memory she has shared with UNICEF. 

“I was one of those children who was benefiting from UNICEF's work.” Ify reflected. “I could almost see myself in many of UNICEF's photos around that time in the 60s. It resonated with me. UNICEF gives children the opportunity to be healthy and develop and be who they want to be.”

The heart of Britain's most creative family

Ify has written Endless Fortune, a book about her life, which tells her story of arriving in the UK as a penniless student.

She later became mother to four hugely successful and admired British creatives: Junior (music artist name Skepta), who won the Mercury prize Award 2016 for his album Konnichiwa, Jamie (JME), also a music artist, their sister Julie who is a DJ on Apple 1 Music radio station, and their younger brother Jason, a computer animator who takes care of all the design work for the family's record label Boy Better Know.

Ify is the very core of one of the UK music scenes’ most remarkable families.

Ify’s success in raising high achievers and maintaining a great family has been met with so much adulation and admiration from other women and the Nigerian diaspora community at large. She is seen as a perfect role model for young and older mothers struggling with raising teenagers. 

Supporting young people

Ify continues to work with organisations across the UK and Nigeria to guide and support young people.  

Ify said in an interview with Chum magazine, “I’ve spent the last two decades not just raising my own family but also facilitating others in my profession to live independently within safer and stronger communities both in the UK and my homeland. This has been my greatest life challenge and continues to be, in the face of all the difficulties, to safeguard young black people in the U.K. 

"Over in Nigeria young people not only face hunger and impoverishment but also lack of opportunities. I continue to join work with strategic partners home and abroad to explore, initiate and deliver guidance, support and services to tackle these barriers to people’s development and wellbeing. My overall objective remains to relate and share in our world, comfortably, confidently and inclusively for all.” 

Ify's gift to UNICEF

Ify has chosen to support UNICEF as part of her work to help children and young people. She donates 20% of her books’ sales to support children in her ‘home’ village in Nigeria to allow them to attend secondary school.

Ify has donated her time to UNICEF as a speaker and has also arranged birthday fundraisers, asking her friends to donate to UNICEF rather than buying her a birthday gift. 

“My message to fellow supporters is not to give up, because children bear the brunt of all the world’s woes today.” 

Ify is also helping the next generation to thrive by including a gift in her Will. A legacy gift can contribute towards creating lasting, sustainable change for children and young people who face an uncertain future.  

“Whatever I'm going to leave behind in my Will, I just want it to carry my hopes for the children UNICEF works for.” 

A lasting legacy 

At UNICEF UK, we are united by the belief that every child deserves a healthy, happy childhood. 

A gift in your will can make a real difference. You could help keep a child safe from violence, give them the food they need to survive, provide them with water in times of drought. You could help a child survive and thrive.  

For more information about leaving a gift to UNICEF in your Will, please visit UNICEF's website.

Visit Ify's website to read more about her story and her book.