Everything changed when conflict erupted between separatist fighters and the military. Ayuk was forced to flee, leaving his businesses and his life behind to become a refugee in Nigeria’s Adagon settlement.
There, he witnessed a new, insidious kind of crisis. Women and girls, once supported within their families, now confront new vulnerabilities beyond their control. He saw men taking advantage of their desperation, leading to sexual harassment and abuse.
“Most of these women became vulnerable,” he recalls. He also saw a landscape of economic exclusion, where talented people with business skills were unable to rebuild their lives because they lacked capital. The crisis wasn’t just about displacement; it was about the death of potential.
We give you a particular amount of money to expand your business and then… you refund that money… so that we take that money and give it to another person
It was a radical idea in a world of predatory lending: a bank built entirely on shared trust.
Ayuk Peterkings
But Ayuk isn’t stopping there. As an Amahoro Coalition fellow, he has launched a new, for-profit venture: Help Partnership Limited. This advisory company moves beyond free aid, partnering with both refugee and host community businesses to co-invest and share profits.
It’s a sustainable model designed for growth. With a target market of over 30,000 refugees and a wider community of 261,300, Ayuk’s vision is expansive. He plans to be working with 5,000 businesses within the next decade.
From the ashes of his own crisis, Ayuk Peterkings Ayuk has not just rebuilt a life; he has engineered a new economic engine for an entire community.
