To empower professionals of African heritage while promoting inclusivity and empowerment for individuals from diverse cultural backgrounds within the Canadian ecosystem.
Our mission is to uplift and strengthen these professionals, enabling them to contribute to the socio-economic and political development of our society. Join us in our journey towards a more inclusive and empowered Canada.
Council of Nigerian Professionals Inc (CNP Inc.) was officially registered as a not for profit on August 31, 2018.
CNP was started out of the lived experiences of people in our community, with the intent of supporting each other in our career, settling in, and flourishing in Canada.
Most people came into the country with so much high hopes, great expectations and willingness to do what it takes to add value to Canada. The expectations quickly become a dream for a great number of people, as the culture shock and unforeseen obstacles takes over the initial euphoria.
The process of coming into the country is different for everyone, but the overarching idea is to contribute to the country and be an active and positive participant to it. In preparation to migrate to Canada, many people went through the vetting process of reviewing their skills, expertise, experiences, qualifications and more, but once in the country the dynamics changes. All the passion they came in with is suddenly doused either because of their lack and inability to even secure an interview, not to mention getting a job in their career.
Most are not aware of certain terminologies used, job search intricacies, nuances around the culture and workplace expectations. A lot of gaps that could impede their ability to be employed in a new country and a new culture seems more than most could bear, and so people go into survival mode.
This is when you will witness a Lawyer or Surgeon driving UBER or working in a factory to survive. Once the survival mode is switched on, it becomes difficult to turn it off. It is now all about putting food on the table, and not about getting a foot in the door of their career anymore. Even if they eventually do have the opportunity to start that career journey, the hurdles they would have to go through, the additional qualifications, would not make financial sense because of the pay-cut they might experience. People are mostly under-employed and underpaid which leads to so many other negative feelings and experiences of physical, mental, and financial demotivation.
Our leader and visionary, Adejisola Atiba, fondly called Lady ABHA, found too many people in the community experiencing all these emotional traumas in different variations, and she was determined to do something about it.
She reached out to some of her friends and colleagues, had a meeting in her home to talk about her dream for a better future and experience for our Nigerian community members, which includes, existing residents, newcomers, and our children. Everyone present agreed the time was ripe to make the initiative come to life, and so Council of Nigerian Professionals Inc. was registered as a not for profit on August 31, 2018. This initiative birthed the beginning of a new era in the Nigerian community.
CNP has been in the community building business for over three (3) years and below are some of our impacts in the community:
Our goal continues to be to provide the required support to Nigerians and people of African Heritage. We all know the maxim “He who seeks equity must do equity”, as we continue the conversation around inclusion, we must continue to be inclusive and so, irrespective of the background of all Canadians, if they need our support, we will give it, anytime and all the time. We will not turn anyone away.
We started as a Nigerian organization, but it has evolved to include volunteers from different parts of Africa, Caribbean, and Asia.
We continue to evolve and support everyone that wants to learn the “Art of having a Career”, not just a job. Through our various seminars, events, and webinars. CNP will continue to equip our community, provide opportunities to learn from past mistakes, and make the best of successes by standing on the shoulders of pacesetters in the community.
We plan to have an increased focus in supporting our children and youth, by co-creating programs and events with our youth volunteers, to better align to their needs.
Based on our experience in the community, we know that the federal and provincial governments are very supportive of our communities, but we know that there is room for community organizations to support all the government initiatives. We intend to do more with our children in the coming years. Some initiatives include:
2022 will see CNP continue with all our various programs and
Then, Join CNP as we continue this journey to Empower, Equip and Build our community, and Impact Canada Positively and Collectively.
CNP Inc. is an influential non-profit and non-religious council focused on empowering professionals of African heritage, while also promoting inclusivity and empowerment for individuals from diverse cultural backgrounds within the Canadian ecosystem.
