“I was never your typical African girl,” says Izendu Emenike A Aghachi with an engaging grin. She liked to challenge the boys and always came top of her class, even in traditionally male-dominated subjects such as science and maths.
Born in eastern Nigeria during the civil war, Aghachi knows what it means to fight for survival. While her parents were picking up the pieces after the war, her father died in 1971. She was two years old. Her mother, a primary school teacher, saw her three children through life and education.
In 1985 Aghachi finished her schooling as the best student in the Abuja federal capital territory. Intrigued by the idea of creativity based on scientific knowledge as embodied by engineering, and by mechanical engineering in particular, she enrolled for a degree in that field. In 1992 she graduated with a BEng Hons from the University of Agriculture Markurdi in Nigeria.
While still at university, she married Dr Vincent Aghachi and followed him to South Africa.
Izendu Aghachi started lecturing at the now defunct Technikon Northern Gauteng at the same time she enrolled for a master’s degree in mechanical engineering at Wits University. Her research topic, “Static strain aging of mild steel”, reflected her interest in the way objects are composed and the way they work. Responding to the challenge of producing steel with the necessary strength to be used in structural applications such as bridges that carry heavy traffic, she subjected steel to severe conditions to monitor its compressive and tensile strength.
“What completely amazed me was that this led to a change in the original yield stress of the material, improving its strength,” she says.
Subsequently, Aghachi got a senior lecturer’s position with the Tshwane University of Technology. She is currently working on her PhD in dynamic stress analysis of composite structures at Wits University.
Composite materials are used in a variety of products, from skateboards and golf clubs to bath tubs and car parts. “Each composite structure has different macro and micro mechanical properties and each of these needs to be textured differently,” Aghachi explains.
How does she balance her multi-faceted life? “It is important to learn self-mastery,” she says, “You need to spend at least 20 minutes a day reflecting on your life. I’ve mastered myself — I don’t need wealth to enjoy life; I find relaxation and enjoyment in everything I do. Whatever you radiate creates your environment.”