Nkiruka Stella Okonkwo
Nkiruka Stella Okonkwo is a seasoned development consultant, facilitator, and nonprofit leader with nearly two decades of experience across gender equity, policy development, and youth and women empowerment. She is the founder of Fresh & Young Brains Development Initiative and managing consultant at Alexijan Consults, where she leads strategic planning, policy reviews, and capacity-building initiatives for government agencies and civil society organizations. Recognized for her expertise in facilitation and stakeholder engagement, Nkiruka has moderated high-level dialogues for institutions such as the United Nations, the African Union, and various national policy platforms. Her facilitation work spans critical themes such as climate change, gender equality, SDGs, and governance—guiding multi-stakeholder conversations with clarity and inclusivity. She holds advanced qualifications in social work, law, development policy, and leadership, and is currently pursuing a doctorate in Humanitarian and Development Studies. Nkiruka brings deep contextual knowledge of African development systems, a strong cross-cultural sensibility, and a proven ability to foster alignment in complex policy environments.
Ogbo Awoke Ogbo
Ogbo Awoke Ogbo is a certified executive coach and business transformation consultant committed to driving Africa’s economic growth by empowering entrepreneurs and institutions. With a background at Shell and Chevron as a Remote Sensing & GIS specialist, he transitioned into leadership consulting and has since advised over 200 companies across Africa and Southeast Asia as a Stanford Seed Business Transformation Advisor. He serves as adjunct faculty at Lagos Business School and China Europe International Business School, specializing in leadership, scaling strategy, and governance. Ogbo is also a respected media voice, hosting radio and TV programs on leadership and entrepreneurship, and has facilitated board and leadership retreats for organizations including MTN, Flutterwave, and Chicason Group. He holds an M.Sc. in GIS from the University of Ibadan and a B.Sc. in Zoology from the University of Port Harcourt, with certifications in executive coaching, MBTI®, and emotional design psychology.
Harouna Abdolaye
Dynamic, and committed leader and manager with 21+ year of experience in organizational management, strategic planning, and business development focusing on social cohesion and peace consolidation, on countering stigmatization and reducing the filling of marginalization of community at risk, on community mobilization and on countering violence extremism with community based resilience approach. Exceptional interpersonal talents, able to bring together community leaders, local organizations, and government agencies to consolidate strategies of dialogue, and stability. Excellent project management skills, capable of building effective and enthusiastic teams to complete projects on time, within budget, and with tangible impact. Harouna Abdoulaye participated as a panelist at the United Nations General Assembly on the Rehabilitation and Reintegration process of former violent extremists in September 2017. He is also a facilitator and leadership advisor and experienced in Art of Living and personal development. He is seeking for opportunities to share his experiences and to learn and adapt from others experiences in order to foster his sense of creativity and innovation.
Kingsley Atang
Kingsley Atang is a motivated and creative individual, a youth development practitioner with over 10 years of accumulated experience in the field of Youth Development, Governance and Advocacy. He has coordinated project grants funded by DFID-YPAC, USAID-SACE, USAID-ISWF, PIND-NDYEP, IFES-NEVR, Ford Foundation- STUNT among others and drove the development of strategic partnerships. Using the collective impact model he led a cluster of over 53 youth groups to advocate for policy reforms that expand access to empowerment and entrepreneurship opportunities. He is currently the Operations and Development Manager with Youth Alive Foundation Nigeria www.yafnet.org , a non-profit organization that seeks to play a significant role at facilitating a just equitable and progressive society for youths. Prior to joining the development sector with YAF he worked in the energy sector as a Health & Safety Officer in a security upgrade project in ExxonMobil. His enthusiasm, passion, and dedication motivates him to involve himself in a variety of events and interests. He strives hard to turn his ideas into reality and works hard to achieve perfection in whatever project he undertakes. His thirst for knowledge helps him constantly in improving himself to reach new heights of success. His strategic areas of specialization is public relations, leadership and stakeholder engagement, policy development with special focus on youth empowerment and community mobilization. In his passion for contributing significantly to community and youth development, Kingsley is actively dedicated to reputable coalitions that promotes good governance. He is currently a member of Akwa Ibom State Guild of Community Advocates, a member of Civil Society Hub, Global Wellbeing Envoy and member Junior Chamber International. He loves organizing & managing events/outreaches as a hobby which led him to be part of the event management team of Evergreen Processing, Management and Logistics Ltd.