Toyosi Akerele
FOUNDER / CEO
Toyosi Akerele is a respected inspirational and mindful young leader who is celebrated for National Leadership in the service of a larger cause.
A worthy alumna of the United States Government’s Prestigious International Visitor Leadership Programme for emerging Leaders, she was in June of 2011 described by Mrs. Michelle Obama, the First Lady of the United States of America as one of her personal inspirations in a televised address to America as a prelude to her arrival in Africa for the Young African Women Leaders Forum of which Toyosi remains the only Nigerian member till date.
Toyosi, who has spent most of her growing years shaping Nigerian Communities where Youth Education and Capacity Building can help ensure National Development is a respected advisor, content expert and commentator on issues of Entrepreneurship, Education and Governance. She is thoughtful, reflective, and she strengthens others through shared vision, insights and perspectives to look at the world in a different way. She is a creative problem solver highly skilled in attracting and sustaining Return on Investment in Business Ventures and she is a strong communicator with ability to present messages and influence diverse audiences.
Renowned for her objectivity approach to developmental issues, Toyosi is the Founder / CEO of RISE NETWORKS – a Leading Social Enterprise in Nigeria. She conceptualised and designed effective programmes to deepen the links and learning opportunities for Young people in knowledge acquisition, Enterprise and Nation Building. The RISE National Youth Forum, the flagship project of RISE NETWORKS has attracted hundreds of thousands of Young People in over 20 Nigerian States in the last 5years.
An instinctive entrepreneur and consummate young professional, Toyosi’s leadership skills were recognised early in 2007 when she was selected as one of the 101 Young African Leaders by the African Business Leaders Forum of the Business in Africa Magazine.
Toyosi has been actively involved in National and International projects and processes on the need to provide a platform for youth inclusion in policy formulation and implementation.
An accomplished writer, author and public speaker, Toyosi’s thought leadership is evident in her first book, STRATE-TRICKS{strategies and tricks, the winning formula for emerging businesses} and other writings and interviews published in a wide variety of journals, newspapers and magazines, including the Nation, the Guardian, Forbes Magazine, Punch and This Day.
She has spoken and delivered Papers at numerous venues including the Nigerian Economic Summit, Wimbiz 10th Anniversary Forum, Youth Africamp organised annually by Open Society Institute of East Africa and the United Nations Media Workshop on Africa Governance Report. Her media commentary and interviews include appearances on Channels Television, BET, Nigerian Television Authority, Africa Independent Television and South Africa Broadcasting Corporation.
Toyosi is the recipient of numerous awards including recent recognition by Crans Montana Forum in Europe as a 2012 New Leader of Tomorrow, 2012 This Day Awards for Nigeria’s Women of Distinction, Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2011 of Success Digest Entrepreneurial Awards, The 2011 Excellence Awards of the School of Media and Communication – Pan African University, The 2008 Future Awards (Best Use of Advocacy Category) and the 2007 Nigerian Youth Leadership Awards jointly organised by Leap Africa, International Youth Foundation and NOKIA.
With a huge expanse of knowledge and experience in Human Resource, Media, Marketing, Enterprise Risk and Project Management, Toyosi is also a Business savvy Executive as she has vested interests in a world class Printing Firm with state of the art equipments and topnotch staff strength. As a result of the company’s insistence on global best practices and excellent standards in Quality, its services have been useful to Multinationals, Corporate Organisations and Public Institutions. With Retail and Supply Chain for SMEs as one of her Passions, she also owns printmagicng.com – Nigeria’s first online Print Store that delivers 24hours Printing Service at low cost to Small Businesses via the Internet as well as the sought after risebookstore.com. The newest addition to Toyosi’s innovative prowess is the introduction of passnownow.com – Nigeria’s prime Learning based social Community that employs contemporary solutions and innovation to teach, engage, entertain and empower Young people growing from Teenage into early adulthood.
Toyosi was born and raised in Nigeria, received a 2nd Class Upper Bachelors’ degree in Civil Law from the University of Jos, has studied Strategic Management at Executive Level at Cambridge University’s Judge Business School, obtained a Certificate in Youth Inclusive Financial Services from University of New Hampshire, Durham, USA, holds a Certificate in Media Enterprise from the School of Media and Communication, Pan African University and an Executive Masters’ Certificate in Project Management from The Project Management College, UK.
Toyosi enjoys travelling, writing, brainstorming, dancing and is a long time collector of all genres of music.
Olajide Griffin
GROUP ADMINISTRATIVE MANAGER
Olajide Griffin is currently the Group Administrative Manager of the RISE GROUP.
He is young, amiable, pro active, responsible, and creative minded, who is bestowed with the responsibilities of running the day to day affairs of the RISE GROUP.
He has also worked as a Business Development Executive of the RISE Group before assuming his current position.
Olajide is a graduate of Accountancy at The Federal Polytechnic Offa, Kwara State. He began his working career with Teju Specialist Hospital Ibadan as an Account Officer in charge of the financial records of the organization and shortly thereafter moved to Planet One Entertainment Limited Lagos as the Credit Control Executive where he recorded notable achievements including implementing effective cost and credit control for the organization. With his vast administrative and Managerial skill, he became the Head of the Account Unit.
He has attended various Managerial Trainings with FATE FOUNDATION and he is presently ongoing his certification with The Institute of Chartered Accountant of Nigeria, and with a Masters’ Degree in view from the University of Lagos.
Olajide was born and raised in Lagos, Nigeria from a humble Christian family. He enjoys reading, travelling, interacting and meeting people.
Unity Oladehinde
ADMINISTRATIVE COORDINATOR
Unity Oladehinde is a Multi-skilled IT Professional with over 9 years of Information Technology experience and technical leadership skills. A dedicated and hardworking team player, self-directed with ability to take initiative. His experience in the IT world dates back to 2003 when as a young person he took up a seemingly lucrative job of administering the network of an internet surf centre before moving on to acquire higher education in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from the famous Yaba College of Technology, now City University of Technology, Yaba. He has always believed in service to humanity and thus has always been involved in human, education and sexuality development courses.
Unity last worked with Watchtower Society Ltd/Gte where he took up technical roles and developed interactive video applications that was and is still being used nationwide by the organization.
Unity is the Administrative Coordinator and Programs Executive at the RISE Networks.
Ufuoma Bubu
COMMUNICATIONS EXECUTIVE
Ufuoma is an enterprising graduate of Theatre Arts from Delta State University Abraka, Nigeria. His commitment to leadership and excellence had shown from his undergraduate days where he represented the department of Performing Arts at the Student Union Government. He was also a member of the committee that set up the Faculty of Arts Students Association in Delsu. He started his working career with Net-Access Communications as a Business Development Executive, from where he moved to British American Tobacco as HR Assistant to the Talent Team. At BAT, he organized interviews and managed communications to candidates for the BATN Management Trainee Recruitment for the year 2010.
He is a member of Chartered Institute of Personnel Management Nigeria. He is also an alumnus of After School Graduate Development centre/Samsung Real Dreams Program.
Tony Ali
CONTENT ADMINISTRATOR
Tony Ali is a confident, energetic and dynamic individual, with vast knowledge in Procurement/Supply, Administration and New Media.
He is an alumnus of the University of Ibadan, he is also a member of the Nigerian Institute of Management, and has a proficiency certificates in project and general management.
Falana Ibironke
CONTENT ADMINISTRATOR
Falana Ibironke is a graduate of University of Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti state where she earned a 2nd Class honours degree in Political science/Education. She also has a Diploma in Microsoft Office Suite from NIIT.
Her love for imparting knowledge inspired her to the teaching profession. She was a Class teacher at Sapphire Stones College, where her passion for excellence and a zeal for the profession informed her rise to the post of HOD Administration.
Ronke as she is fondly called enjoys dancing, reading and listening to music.
Omotuyi Akinbobola
CUSTOMER DEVELOPMENT EXECUTIVE
Omotuyi Akinbobola is a Graduate of Systems Engineering from the University of Lagos. He was born and raised in Lagos, Nigeria. Akinbobola has a passion for leadership and service, during his time as a student of the University of Lagos, he held the post of Asst. Gen. Sec. Systems Engineering Department 2003/04. He was also provost of his Community Development Group during his National Service year.
He worked at Vconnect Global Services as a Marketer and also at Eden Gardens and Constructions as Personal Assistant/site supervisor.
Akinbobola likes Sports, traveling and listening to music.
