Fellows

Abigail Bokoyeibo has five years of experience as an advocate for women and girls development, renewable energy access, and business development in the nonprofit sector. She earned a Bachelor’s degree in Banking and Finance from the University of Calabar in Nigeria. While working as Business Coach and Facilitator at the International Institute of Tourism and Hospitality, Bayelsa, Nigeria, she trained students on vocational skills, entrepreneurial skills and business development, and also consulted for the business unit of the Institute. As the Founder and Team Lead of a Nonprofit Young African Women Connect initiative, she developed and led programs that build the capacities of young women on hand skills and empower them through trainings on self-growth, entrepreneurship, business, career, leadership, personal finance, and advocacy. Previously, Abigail worked at Solar Sister as a Business Development Associate, where she recruited, trained and mentored rural women to become energy solution providers and solar entrepreneurs. Through her work, 30 women became active renewable energy advocates and solar entrepreneurs; each making an average of $1,000 annually through her mentorship. Abigail has volunteered in different organizations as a facilitator, youth advocate, and agent of change, including CornerStone Leadership Inspiration Transform foundation, Great Reformers Initiative, and Agent of Change Initiative. Through these experiences, Abigail has developed skills in capacity building, leadership development, business development and project planning and implementation. Abigail is interested in entrepreneurship, leadership, rural energy access, social entrepreneurship, business development, and management.

Host Organization: World Vision US

Role at Host Organization: Abigail will focus on the holistic youth workforce development project model called “Youth Ready: For Work, For Life”. She will particularly work on improving the learning activities and materials that make up the project’s extensive curriculum that focuses on life skills development, livelihood preparation(employability and entrepreneurship), financial education, digital literacy, and citizenship.

Omitogun Abolaji has more than five years of experience in enterprise building, startups, and social entrepreneurship. He holds a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Geography from the University of Ibadan in Nigeria. He founded Zmcorps a network of young individuals that support several community developmental initiatives by engaging fresh university graduates posted for National service within the Northern state of Zamfara, Nigeria. Through his activities at ZMCORPS, he encouraged and promoted several socio-cultural integrations and developmental activities especially trough fundraising & donations. He leads, contributed and participated to many community development activities including organizing learning programs, sessions for uneducated and fresh graduates, fundraising for sport, dance and drama amongst communities and schools, Skill acquisition, empowerment and training in cosmetics in Zamfara state. In his quest for self-improvement, Abolaji acquired skill and knowledge from several institutions including the African Managers Initiative, Enterprise Development Center (Lagos, Nigeria), Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation University of Ibadan. He is a 2015 Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Foundation Alumni. Abolaji Keen interest in business and startup has found him worked with several startups including WAWOOH. While at Wawooh, a fashion tech startup for discovering African fashion designers and promoting trade and investment opportunities in African fashion Industry, we lead and played a pivotal role leading the startup from ideation to execution and in developing successful business strategies. In his spare time, he is a business development and a Start-up coach; and have helped in mentoring and securing over $50,000 in business funding for several startups.

Host Org: Making Cents International

Role at Making Cents International: As the YouthLead Fellow, Abolaji will support the newly launched online platform YouthLead.org, a website to inspire, support, and foster connections among young changemakers around the world. In addition, Abolaji will participate in the planning of the annual YP meeting and contribute to social media and youth outreach.

Emmanuel Olawoye is a passionate business professional. He has about 3 years of experience working in human resources and business strategy in two financial institutions (Microfinance and Commercial Banking). He earned a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria in 2015. Emmanuel has previously worked in a microfinance institution where his main responsibility was to manage employees and ensure optimal productivity. In this role, he always went beyond the call of duty by working with teams that provide access to finance for micro-businesses in the North Central region of Nigeria. He helped deepen financial inclusion in the region through the introduction and sale of mobile money, micro-lending, and savings tools. In his most recent role as a business strategy analyst, he has worked on several sustainability projects, including an environmental makeover program in Lagos, Nigeria to help fight against environmental degradation and climate change. He also helped develop Public-Private Partnership proposals for six Nigerian states to launch projects aimed at fostering economic development by improving healthcare, education, transportation, agriculture, and power generation in the states. He is deeply involved in SME business expansion and he constantly helps in the creation of business solutions to help SMEs scale and grow the economy. Through these experiences, he has become passionate about entrepreneurship, leadership, and financial inclusion. He seeks to become a global social change leader making an impact on millions of lives.

Host Organization: Charter Cities Institute

Role at Charter Cities Institute: At Charter Cities Institute, Emmanuel will serve as the Operations Manager Fellow: developing processes and procedures to streamline the growth of the Charter Cities Institute, and helping the organization continue to expand and retain its operational excellence.

Eyitayo has more than eight years of experience in the development and social impact investment sector. He has led projects and strengthened labour and enterprise forces in West Africa. Eyitayo studied Physiology at the University of Ilorin. He also received a certification from Lagos Business School in Finance and Data Analysis. He is a certified PMP project manager and a Lean VI Sigma Professional. In 2014, with the grant support of the United States Government through the consulate in Nigeria, he Co-founded TIE Nigeria, a governance and social leadership driven organization. The organization launched a ‘Speak to leadership’ programme which was measured to improve women and youth participation in 4 communities, engaged more than 131 youth leaders on the 2015 electioneering procedures and also created platforms for engaging public officer holders. He was a 2014 Carrington Fellow of the United States Consulate, Lagos where he served with the governance team for a year and moved in 2015 to become an Associate Fellow of the Nigerian Leadership Initiative and Social Innovator fellow of Leap Africa. Eyitayo also worked on a Commonwealth sponsored project between 2012 and 2013; the project provided enterprise support to more than 14 startups across Africa and engaged about 370 entrepreneurs on business leadership. Between 2013 and 2014, he was the Project and Strategies Lead of Initiatives of Change, Nigeria where he worked on 4 major development projects. He developed better models for volunteers management and team trainings. He managed the project “celebrating the unseen projects” and 4 governance dialogues which had about 160 top influencers in Nigeria discuss the future of political participation. He enjoys developing training programmes, managing enterprise support projects and mobilizing grassroot learning. He is more focused on human and institutional capital development in Nigeria. He currently serves as the Founder and Project team lead of PM Hub Nigeria, an organization working in 2 West African countries, 4 states and 15 universities developing the business competence and corporate leadership skills of young people.

Host Organization: Creative Associates International

Role at Host Organization: Eyitayo will provide support to a variety of internal and external clients using iterations of the CreativeU e-learning platform to promote active use of the courses, communities of practice, and resource libraries. He will also work to build new content partnerships to generate additional modules and resources with international and national partner organizations.

Fidelis has a Bachelors Degree in Philosophy and a Masters Degree in Diplomacy and Strategic Studies. He has 4 years experience as a Human Capital Development Practitioner, Social Sector Leader and Project Manager. He is currently the C.E.O at Diploage Finishing Academy, and the Executive Director, Youth Aid Development Foundation, where he designs, coordinates and implements human capital and social development projects (including leadership development programs, employability and professional development trainings, advocacy, talent acceleration programs for graduates, startups, entrepreneurs as well as empowerment initiatives for Persons with Disabilities in Nigeria). Fidelis works with grassroots and community/faith-based organizations, educational institutions and international non-profit in promoting high-impact programs that enhance the capacity of unemployed youth, startups, entrepreneurs and Persons with Disabilities, in developing professional skills, access jobs, gain decent employment and become productive members of the society. Fidelis has volunteered as a leadership development consultant with many grassroots organizations, civic hubs, startup companies and Non-Government Organizations(NGOs). Through these experiences, he has developed apt competence in leadership development, programs design and management, capacity building, project management, social work, training and development, consulting for nonprofits, youth employability, and community mobilizing. He is committed to building high-impact ecosystems that provides leadership and economic opportunities for 100 million unemployed youth and Persons with Disabilities in Nigeria. Fidelis enjoys topics on Inclusive Development, Leadership, Employment and the Future of Work.

Host Organization: Barack Obama Foundation

Role at Barack Obama Foundation: At the Obama Foundation, Fidelis will serve as an International Program Fellow, playing an important role in the development and execution of programs that will empower the next generation of civic, business, and social sector leaders. Fidelis will help to design and evolve the organization’s Africa and Asia Leaders convenings and year-long training programs, their Scholars program, and their alumni engagement.

Innocent has four years of experience in the nonprofit sector. He holds a Bachelors degree in Agricultural Economics from Ahmadu Bello University in Nigeria, and a Masters of Science in Agriculture and Resource Management from the University of Bonn in Germany. Innocent has worked in various fields, ranging from humanitarian and disaster relief with the Nigerian and German Red Cross to rural development with Programme of Action for Health and Rural Development (PAHRD-Abuja). He also served as the Associate Impact Specialist for the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture-Sustainable Tree Crops Program (IITA-STCP) in Nigeria. Innocent has professional experience in natural resource management, food policy analysis, and environmental and energy efficiency. He has participated in numerous Model United Nations conferences such as the Committee on Sustainable Development (BIMUN-Bonn, Germany) and the Economic and Social Council (OxIMUN-Oxford, UK), from which he has acquired key international diplomatic skills. Innocent also served as Head of the European Student Delegation to the 2009 International Student Energy Summit (ISES-Calgary, Canada) and recently led a group of young energy entreprenuers in Nigeria. Innocent aims to positively impact lives by tackling energy poverty, food insecurity, and the effect of climate change on livelihoods in developing countries. He is a member of the International Association for Energy Economics (IAEE) and aspires to become a successful development expert.

Host Organization: UN Foundation

Joshua has three years of experience in the nonprofit sector, having earned a Bachelor’s of Science in Economics from Tai Solarin University of Education in Nigeria. Joshua is the founder of BIP Tycoon Consults, a training and consulting enterprise that focuses on employability, entrepreneurship and business development. Within the first year of operation he has trained over 500 youths on job readiness, business start-ups and brand management. Previously, Joshua worked with a social enterprise to improve the capacity of undergraduates and recent graduates in corporate leadership and project management. Joshua also has extensive volunteer work serving as the Director of Training and Curriculum Development at One African Child, where he trains other volunteers on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD)  and Global Citizenship Education (GCED). Other volunteer work includes serving as Project Manager for Enactus Nigeria, where he implemented 10 community development projects which improved the livelihoods of over 3000 beneficiaries, and as an Ambassador for Goal 8 (Good Jobs and Economic Growth) at the Enactus Nigeria National Competition 2018. Joshua enjoys focusing on the topics of employment, entrepreneurship, economic growth, and has a strong passion for youth empowerment.

Host: BronxWorks

Fellow role at Bronxworks: Serving as an Employment Specialist, Joshua will help to support youth in a variety of ways. This includes developing and facilitating work readiness workshops, resume help, planning retention events to keep youth engaged in services, and identifying and engaging employers.

Victoria has over three years of experience in communications, social and community development, and leadership development. She earned a Bachelor’s degree in Strategic Communication from the African University College of Communications, an affiliate of the University of Ghana, where she graduated with First Class Honors. She previously worked as an Event Coordinator at GEMGirl Initiative, where she was involved in several social development programs such as Feed the Homeless 2015 and 2016, Breast Cancer Awareness 2016, Social Entrepreneurship Awareness 2017, and Gem to Gem Initiative. Victoria has also volunteered with Victoria Michael’s Foundation, a subsidiary of the Africa Literacy Development Initiative (ALDI) in Ghana. She’s previously served as an Innovation Analyst with Sankore Investment in Nigeria and as a Business Development Executive and Conference Manager with corporate learning company Innovare. Most recently, Victoria served as an IT Firm’s Communications and Marketing Executive. There she developed various communications strategies and integrated them into the corporate culture. She is very passionate about innovation, community development, gender equality, and youth leadership.

Host Organization: BronxWorks

Role at BronxWorks: At BronxWorks, Victoria will serve as the Executive Coordinator, providing executive, administrative and strategic support to the Executive Director, members of the Executive Team, and Senior Program Leadership.