Women2Watch
April 1, 2026
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There are people who go through life quietly enduring their pain, and then there are those who pick up their pain, hold it to the light, and decide to use it to illuminate the path for others. Timi Edwin is one of such people.
She is a sickle cell warrior, a nonprofit founder, a policy advocate, a community builder, and above all, proof that a life lived in service can be the most powerful medicine of all.
Living with Sickle Cell Disease from a young age, Timi’s early years were marked by recurring health challenges, hospital visits, and the emotional weight that often accompanies chronic illness. At different points in her life, even her education was threatened by the severity of her health, a reality that could have easily altered the course of her future. Yet her story did not settle into limitation.
Instead, Timi pursued her education with persistence, and today, she holds degrees from Covenant University and Business School Netherlands and brings more than a decade of corporate world experience to everything she does.
Through the CrimsonBow Sickle Cell Initiative, , Timi has created a structured and compassionate response to the needs of sickle cell warriors across Nigeria.
The scale of what Timi and CrimsonBow have built is remarkable especially when you consider that it grew from one woman’s personal pain.
As at 2022, over 13,000 people had been positively affected through CrimsonBow’s work and the support of various partner NGOs.
By the end of 2025, CrimsonBow had conducted ten clinic outreaches in a single year, with more than 5,000 people living with sickle cell benefiting from free monthly clinics, receiving medications, routine tests, medical consultations, vaccination, genotype testing, and counselling.
Through the “Project Empower a Warrior” (PEW) initiative, now in its fourth edition, CrimsonBow empowered over 300 individuals living with sickle cell disease through business grants and work tools.
As National Coordinator of the Coalition of Sickle Cell NGOs, Timi has been actively involved in policy lobbying and government roundtables, successfully securing a free health insurance policy for 150 people living with sickle cell disease.
She has joined calls for mandatory newborn genotype screening across Nigeria, emphasising that sickle cell is not a death sentence, while advocating for a stronger health insurance system and affordable healthcare for those living with the condition.
She has partnered with organisations like Lafarge Africa, the Ford Foundation, the Sickle Cell Foundation Nigeria, and the Rabiu Olowo Foundation, building a coalition of corporate and civil society allies all united around one cause.
In many ways, Timi Edwin’s life is a study in transformation of pain into purpose and struggle into impact. But beyond her story is a reminder that you don’t need grand gestures to make a difference.
Timi started where she was, using her voice and her experience to create change and that’s where her story meets ours. Because in our own ways, we all have the power to make an impact. No matter how small it seems, it counts.
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