Toyosi Akerele, Rise Networks and social entrepreneurship

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.