BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Mrs Oyinkan Ade-Ajayi (Chair)
Mrs Oyinkan Ade-Ajayi (Chair)
Oyinkan Ade-Ajayi is an alumnus of Cambridge University and University College London, graduating with a Bachelor of Education (B.Ed Hons) and Masters in Education (M.Ed Early Years) respectively. She also has an MBA from the London Business School. Her work experience cuts across the worlds of education, publishing, consumer marketing and fundraising.
Oyinkan has early years and secondary teaching experience. She however continued her interest in children’s education through her commissioning and editorial work and also through her own publications – Parenting Quarterly – a parenting magazine published in the early 2000s. She is also the author of Heritage Schools Nigeria, an illustrated history of Nigeria’s oldest and most impactful secondary schools. Between them, the 21 schools featured, shaped the country’s educational landscape and impacted generations of students.
Whilst living in Cape Town, South Africa, Oyinkan worked for the Red Cross Children’s Hospital’s fundraising department. As part of the team, she attracted donations from the corporate sector, not-for-profit organisations, and high-net-worth individuals. The funding helped this much-loved national institution provide additional buildings and specialist equipment for sick children.
Oyinkan is currently a Non-Executive Director on the board of FrieslandCampina WAMCO Nigeria Plc where she chairs the Board Audit and Risk Committee. She is also a member of the board Governance Committee.
Mrs. ‘Yemisi Ayeni (Founder)
Mrs. ‘Yemisi Ayeni (Founder)
‘Yemisi is the Founder of the Dr. Jumoke Aromasodu Education Foundation Ltd by GTE. She started the Foundation in August 2015 using a ring-fenced pool of her personal funds, and formally incorporated it in December 2022.
She is a 1985 honors graduate of Economics from the University of Manchester, UK, and a 1989 Chartered Accountant and Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.
She started her professional career as an auditor with Price Waterhouse, London in 1985, returning to Nigeria in 1991 as a Senior Manager in the Corporate Finance Team of Price Waterhouse, Lagos. In 1994, she joined Shell Nigeria and held a wide variety of roles during her 21 years with Shell, retiring as Managing Director of Shell Nig. Closed Pension Fund Administrator Limited in April 2015.
Until her retirement, ‘Yemisi was a Council Member of the Nigerian Stock Exchange and the Chair of the Exchange’s Demutualization and Technical Committees. She was also Vice Chair, Pension Fund Operators’ Association and the Chair of the Association’s Institute Committee; Chair of LEAP Africa and a member of the Executive Committee of WIMBIZ.
Since retiring, she has served as Chairperson of NASCON Allied Industries plc, and Non-Executive Director on the Boards of Stanbic IBTC Pension Managers Ltd and Guinness Nigeria plc. She is currently a Non-Executive Director of Dangote Sugar Refinery plc; a member of the Investment Committee of Acumen Fund Inc. and the Leadership Council of the Aig-Imoukhuede Foundation; and Vice-Chair of the Queen’s College Old Girls’ Association’s Board of Trustees.
Mrs Doyin Abiola-Tobun
Mrs Doyin Abiola-Tobun
A seasoned entrepreneur and executive leader, Doyin brings a wealth of experience in technology, infrastructure, and financial services to her role on the Board of the Dr. Jumoke Aromasodu Education Foundation. She joined the Board in January 2024, providing strategic oversight and governance in support of the Foundation’s mission to fund quality primary and secondary education for children from underprivileged backgrounds.
Over a career spanning 20 years, she has founded and scaled businesses, secured international investment, and delivered innovative solutions across complex and high-stakes environments. As Founder and CEO of ARK, a technology company specialising in inventory management solutions, she successfully raised seed financing from local and international venture capital firms. Earlier, as Co-Founder and Executive Director of Concrete Lilies Services Ltd., she led the growth of a significant corporate client segment and expanded the company’s operational reach across Nigeria. Her career also includes roles in infrastructure financing at Africa Finance Corporation and wealth management at Stanbic IBTC Bank.
She holds a Master of Public Administration in Public and Economic Policy from the London School of Economics and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Stanford University, where she received the Dean’s Award and completed her four-year programme in three years.
A Member of the Chartered Institute of Directors Nigeria and a Lifetime Member of WIMBIZ, she is deeply committed to empowering communities and expanding opportunity — values that align closely with the Foundation’s transformative work.
Mr ‘Femi Ayeni
Olufemi “Femi” Ayeni is a media entrepreneur with a 40-year career spanning banking, telecommunications, and broadcasting.
He founded Ultima Limited in the mid-1980s, pioneering the manufacturing and installation of satellite dishes across West Africa — including Nigeria’s first commercial installations and landmark projects for Radio Seychelles, Cameroon’s national broadcaster, and Ghana’s Presidency under President Jerry Rawlings.
In 2004, he transformed Ultima into a content powerhouse, localising global television formats for Nigerian audiences. Under his leadership, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? and Project Fame West Africa became the country’s longest-running TV franchises, collectively airing 23 seasons and shaping a generation of viewers.
Ayeni’s vision led to the construction of West Africa’s first purpose-built broadcast studio in 2013, and the launch of GET (General Entertainment Television) — Ultima’s digital terrestrial channel focused on education, entertainment, and inspiration. In 2020, he expanded into radio with 88.5 UFM Lagos, creating a platform for emerging Nigerian talent.
Since 2021, Ultima has produced two seasons of Lions’ Den — the Nigerian adaptation of Dragons’ Den/Shark Tank — with 26 episodes, and 104 episodes of Family Feud Nigeria. In 2025, Ayeni created and produced Next Afrobeats Star, Ultima’s original music reality show designed to discover and elevate the next generation of African artists.
Before founding Ultima, he held senior roles at Fidelity Bank and Philadelphia National Bank in the U.S. He holds a BSc in Business Administration from the University of Lagos and an MBA in Finance & Entrepreneurial Management from Wharton, University of Pennsylvania. He has also served as an Independent Non-Executive Director at Ecobank Nigeria.
Femi Ayeni’s legacy is defined by innovation, infrastructure, and impact — building the platforms, talent, and content that continue to shape Nigeria’s entertainment, telecoms, and business landscape.
Ms Lelabari (Lela) Kogbara
Ms Lelabari (Lela) Kogbara
After obtaining a BSc in Zoology from the University of Ibadan Nigeria, Lela qualified as an accountant in the UK and completed an MSc in Transdisciplinary Practice at Middlesex.
She has spent most of her personal and professional life trying to shift the needle on inequality and injustice. She is currently a director at Place Matters, a UK charity whose mission is to ensure that communities are at the centre of tackling the root causes of inequality in the places where they live and work, focussing on issues such as poverty, early childhood, education and healthcare.
She was a senior leader in UK local government for 25 years until she retired as Assistant chief Executive at the London Borough of Islington in 2016. During her time employed in local government she had responsibility for finance (including schools funding), policy, equalities, data, ethnic minority achievement, employment, arts and culture, community safety and more. After her time in local government she was a senior adviser in the UK Civil Service at the Department for Education and the National Health Service (NHS) for England.
Lela has been a volunteer member of several charitable boards and was also co-founder and director of Black Thrive Global. She is currently Co-chair of Social Finance Ltd, a UK not-for-profit organisation that brings together governments, social investors, and the voluntary sector to design, fund, and scale effective solutions for better lives. She is a trustee of DFN Project Search, a national charity that transforms employment opportunities for young people with learning disabilities or autism; and a trustee of the Anti-Apartheid Legacy Trust, dedicated to preserving and educating the public on the heritage of the international movement against South African apartheid.
Onikepo Braithwaite
Onikepo Braithwaite
BBA Economics (1986) Oglethorpe University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
NYSC at Union Bank 1986-1987
LLB (Hons) (1990) University of Lagos
BL (1991)
Legal Practice since 1991
Editor of This Day Lawyer since October 2016. My pen name is The Advocate
Director of Nigerian Gas Cylinders Manufacturing Co. Ltd, Ibadan, Oyo State
Author; Published 3 books:
1) Essays of the Advocate; 2) Contemporary Issues in Nigeria’s Constitutional Order, Law &
Justice; 3) Law, Society & the Citizen.
X (Twitter) @TheAdvocateTD
Tosin Aro
Tosin Aro was born in Lagos, completed his secondary and tertiary education in the UK, and now lives and works in Australia. He holds the degrees of LLB (Hons) and LLM gained from the University of Bristol (UK) and is admitted to practise law in the High Court of Australia and the Supreme Court of Queensland. After nearly 25 years with one of Australia’s highest profile law firms, Tosin opened his law practice (Aro & Associates Pty Ltd) in 2023.
Tosin advises clients across Australia on all aspects of native title, First Nations cultural heritage, and First Nations land rights law. He has market-leading expertise in agreement drafting and negotiation and has acted in significant proceedings in the High Court and other superior courts across Australia. He is regarded as one of Australia’s foremost native title lawyers.
Tosin also sits on the boards of two educational charities:
- LiteHaus International Ltd is an Australian NGO thatpromotes digital education by repurposing end-of-life computers and distributing them to needy students across Asia-Pacific;
- Dr Jumoke Aromasodu Educational Foundation Ltd/GTE was established by Tosin’s sister (Yemisi Ayeni) in 2015, and incorporated in 2022, with objectives including catering for the education and welfare of underprivileged girl children and their carers.
