Mary Nzimiro

Mary Nzimiro, birthname Mary Nwametu Onumonu,

Trained to enter business by her mother, when her husband's job took them to Illah, she traded in salt and palm oil which she sold in the markets of Nkwo and Eke. After relocating to Onitsha and Opobo, they finally settled in Port Harcourt in the mid-1940s.^[2] Her husband gave up his desk job to help Mary Nzimiro with her business. In the commercially-developed city, she was able to trade in textiles, gunpowder and cosmetics. As a result of her sense of business and her reputation for trustworthiness, she became an agent of the UAC, becoming the company's main representative for Nigeria's Eastern Region in 1948. In this capacity, she sold bulk consignments of goods to wholesalers and retailers in Nigeria, Ghana and Sierra Leone. She also opened her own textile and cosmetics retail outlets in Port Harcourt and neighbouring cities.^[1]

The UAC directors arranged for her to make several business trips to London, Manchester and Glasgow. In addition, she opened two petrol stations, one with

On the political front, she was a member of the influential National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons, becoming a member of its executive committee in 1957 and vice-president of the NCNC Eastern Women's Association in 1962. During the Nigerian Civil War (1967–1970), she organized Igbo women in support of the Biafrans. As a result she lost most of her property in Port Harcourt and returned to her native Oguta where she died on 16 January 1993, aged 95.^[1]

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