Dean and Director, FATE School

Adebambo Adebowale

Mr. Adebambo Adebowale is the Dean and Director of the FATE School. As the Dean, Bambo oversees the strategic leadership and direction of the FATE School’s curriculum, programming and impact focused strategies across the school’s incubation, pre-incubation, owner-manager and accelerator programs.

Bambo brings to this role over 2 decades of experience in providing capacity building, mentoring and advisory support to the small and medium enterprise space in Nigeria including being a volunteer of the Foundation since 2002 where he has served as Faculty, Advisor, Mentor and Course Director across all our key flagship programs. His expertise includes business planning and strategic planning, financial management, investment readiness and growth advisory support to entrepreneurs. He is also the recipient of two FATE Annual Awards for Faculty and Advisor of the Year awards. He has over 25 years of experience in the corporate sector.

Prior to joining FATE Foundation, Bambo was the Head of Business Development at Mitsubishi Corporation, Nigeria & Ghana. His previous professional experiences included the UK Inland Revenue Service, PwC, and General Electric’s European Equipment Leasing Business.

Bambo is an active member of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industries having previously Chaired the Auto & Allied Sector group. He serves on the Boards of a number of non-profit organisations as a trustee and director and also provides advisory support to businesses on venture capital, systems integration and automotive systems.

He is a lover of golf and cricket and farming.

Senior Programs Manager & Head Growth & Alumni Services

Oluwaseun Oshoniyi

Oluwaseun Oshoniyi is an expert in Business Development and Non-profit Management with specializations in Strategy, Process Improvement, Business Intelligence, and Stakeholder Management. Her 11 year experience includes working within the private, public and development sectors.

Oluwaseun’s career trajectory includes working as the Head of Membership Relations at The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, where she promoted business growth through customer acquisition, partnerships, and business development. At WAVE (West Africa Vocational Education), Oluwaseun designed and executed organizational strategy, innovation, and data management as the Business Intelligence Analyst and Human Resources Coordinator. She has also worked as Programs Officer at the Public Service Institute of Nigeria, Abuja.

She earned both Master of Arts and Bachelor of Arts degrees in Public Administration from Nelson Mandela University. Oluwaseun’s rich educational background aids her skills in customer acquisition, customer relationship management, project management, critical thinking, and decision-making. She is also an Associate of Chartered Institute of Personnel Management and an Alumnus of The Covenant Nation Community Groups.

She is currently the Senior Programs Manager, Head Growth and Alumni Services at FATE Foundation, where she leads the Growth Services Unit in supporting the growth of aspiring and emerging entrepreneurs through the provision of business advisory services, mentoring support, Alumni Community networking and access to financing to start, grow and scale their businesses.

Senior Programs Manager and Head, StartUps & Youth Enterprise

Aghogho Akporido

Aghogho Akporido is an experienced program manager with expertise in program design, management, delivery and evaluation; strategy development; instructional design; stakeholder engagement; capacity building and consulting.

Aghogho has over a decade of work experience spanning four sectors: agribusiness, journal publishing, learning and development, and nonprofit. He has held top management positions in all four sectors providing strategic, management and leadership support.

At FATE Foundation, Aghogho oversees the development of strategies and effective implementation of all Startups and Youth Incubation Programs.

Before joining FATE Foundation, Aghogho worked as an Executive Secretary at Knowledge Exchange Centre (a CSR initiative of XL Africa Group Ltd), where he designed, developed and managed numerous youth-led programmes (entrepreneurship and employability programmes) which have impacted over 3,000 participants across Nigeria and Africa.

Aghogho is an alumnus of Lagos Business School, where he obtained his MBA. He has a certificate in Nonprofit Leadership and Management also from LBS.

Aghogho is a certified business development service provider from Enterprise Development Center, Pan-Atlantic University.

Senior Programs Manager, Women -Led Enterprise

Eniola Temitope Ahmed

Eniola is a Certified International Labour Organisation Start and Improve your Business Trainer. She is passionate about grassroots’ led initiatives targeted at promoting food security economic and community development. She is adept at creating programs that leverage on the collaborative effort of government organisations, the private sector and other NGOs to provide professional and institutional support for targeted audiences.

Eniola is an Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen (ifa) Cross Culture Refugee and Migration Fellow and has overseen the training of over 3000 programme beneficiaries for the German Agency for International Cooperation, GIZ Nigeria through Amelior Consult, in their career path and entrepreneurial training programmes across 3 mandate states, Lagos, Abuja and Edo states.

At The FATE School of FATE Foundation, Eniola is the Senior Programs Manager and Head of Women-Led Enterprise, where she is responsible for the design, delivery and implementation of the tripartite project aimed at supporting women-owned nano and micro businesses across Nigeria in line with The FATE School’s strategic direction and focus areas.

Eniola is interested in research and youth development and serves as a youth instructor in a faith-based organisation in Lagos helping young people achieve their purpose in life and on time.

Programs Manager, Head Learning and Influence

Cindy Ezerioha

With a decade of experience in the non-profit sector, Cindy has dedicated her career to advancing women’s empowerment and providing learning opportunities to youths.

Her expertise includes delivering technical and vocational education and training (TVET), Incubation programmes and overseeing enterprise initiatives.
Cindy holds a Bachelor’s degree in Social Work and a Master’s degree in Research and Public Policy from the University of Lagos.

As Head of the Learning and Influence department at FATE School, FATE Foundation, she leads monitoring and evaluation/impact reporting, quality control, and volunteer management efforts.

Previously, Cindy managed incubation programs at FATE Foundation, supporting 200+ businesses at various stages of development to establish structure and processes.

She also served as Executive Secretary of Awesome Treasures Foundation, where she implemented capacity-building projects for 1000+ women and young girls and guided impact reporting and storytelling strategies for various organizations.

Cindy’s interests include entrepreneurship, innovation,inclusivity studies, sustainability, and impact reporting. When she’s not working, she enjoys swimming, watching movies, and connecting with people.

Lead, Incubation Programmes

Great Ukazim

Great K. Ukazim is a highly experienced Program Manager and Lead Incubation Programs at FATE Foundation, where he plays a crucial role in designing, building, and implementing various startup programs. He has a passion for business growth and has successfully nurtured over 200 businesses. His vision is to help businesses leave a lasting legacy and individuals achieve success.

Great also dedicates his time to volunteering as a facilitator, mentor and jury at organizations like Myfarm Base Africa, Kings Home, and Enactus amongst others. He is a certified Business Development Service Provider by SMEDAN.

With over 10 years of management experience in both profit and nonprofit sectors, Great is a Social Solutions Developer, Business Growth Enabler, Human Capacity Builder, and Advisor to over 1,000 youths. He specializes in diverse inclusion-based models, product development, and learning programs, using strategies like design thinking and data analysis to solve problems and make informed decisions.

In addition to his role as a Program Manager, Great is a certified business analyst professional, a growth expert, speaker, and trainer, with a deep understanding of fostering growth in people, organizations, and businesses.

Associate, Accelerator Programs

Semilore Oludipe

Oluwasemilore is the Associate, Emerging Entrepreneurs Programme at FATE Foundation. He is responsible for the day-to-day delivery of the Programme, alongside the Curriculum Development and Review, Recruitment and Implementation.  

Prior to joining FATE Foundation, He worked with Metamor46 Limited a consultancy firm in Lagos, Nigeria as an analyst, where he gained experience in Strategy and Corporate Culture Development, Definition, Cascading, and Implementation for multiple organizations in different growth stages. 

Oluwasemilore has an educational background in Computer Science with a BSc from Afe Babalola University. An adept musician, he is avid for personal development, and an enthusiastic sports fan. 

Lead, Mentoring and Volunteer Program

Eseosa Aikhionbare

Eseosa Aikhionbare has over 9 years experience as an administrative and human resource professional, in the health and finance sector, with specialization in people management, administration, data management and analysis.

At Fate foundation, Eseosa functions in the capacity of mentoring and volunteer program lead. Where she coordinates the end-to-end process for mentoring across all accelerator and incubator programs. In addition, she also provides strategic support in managing FATE Foundation volunteer

Eseosa is an Alumnus of Adekunle Ajasin University and University of Benin, where she obtained her bachelor’s and master’s degree respectively. She has also undertaken special programs in health and safety offered by WSO.
Eseosa is passionate about helping the vulnerable in the society, baking, managing events, catering and podcasting on personal development.

OCIF Manager

Michael Ayinla

Michael Oluwadamilare Ayinla is a certified finance & accounting Professional with over 7 years work experience at various accounting & finance capacities across diverse industries. He obtained his bachelor’s degree in accounting and was qualified as an associate member (ACA) of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) in December 2019.

Before he joined FATE Foundation, he has worked with a couple of organisations as the Head of Finance, where he performs core accounting functions. The organisations include but not limited to Elegance Farm and Product Co, Elegance Debosin Nig. Limited, Emo Media Limited, and Anchor Homes Development Limited.

At The FATE School of FATE Foundation, Michael is currently the Orange Corners Innovation Fund Manager where he oversees the implementation of the OCIF strategy for Nigeria, Monitor disbursement of Track 1 & Track 2 funds in line with guidelines & Ensure regular reporting to the Netherland Enterprise Agency (NEA)

Associate, Women-Led Enterprise

Funmibi Ogunbowale

She directly supports the Learning and Influence Unit in the design and delivery of all Impact policies, and development of impact evaluation techniques for the Foundation’s learning impact assessment strategy.

She is also in charge of monitoring, analysing, and evaluating of the impact of programmes on entrepreneurs in terms of business growth. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in English Education (B.Ed) from the Lagos State University (LASU) and she enjoys interacting with people.

Program Officer, Scale Up Lab

Oluwadarasimi Akinola

Youth Enterprise Programs Officer

Emmanuel Owoeye

Emmanuel Owoeye is an experienced and committed researcher as well as a professional in the fields of transport management, logistics, and supply chain management with over 7 years of experience which cuts across transport technology, teaching, banking, marketing, administration, and health. Prior to joining the FATE School, he worked as a Senior Consultant for NutriTech Solution Systems Limited, a health and nutrition company that manages, prevents, and reverses lifestyle diseases.

At FATE Foundation, Emmanuel supports the design and development of the program curriculum, training plan, modules, and delivery of the Aspiring Entrepreneurs Program (AEP). Similarly, he also assists with the required research and analysis to conduct needs assessment of startup businesses.

He holds a Bachelor of Technology, a Master of Technology, and a Ph.D. (in view) in Air Transport Management Technology, all from the Federal University of Technology Minna. He has written and published over 3 international journals on the pipeline distribution network in Nigeria and the traffic demand pattern. His expertise includes research, writing, and editorial planning. He loves football and playing table tennis.

Alumni Community Officer

Oluwasegun Ogungbemi

Olusegun has expertise in project management, program development, and management, with five years of experience working in both the business and social development sectors to develop and implement marketing strategies for businesses, as well as high-impact innovative programs and leadership and strategic professional courses for NGOs.

He holds a Bachelor of Technology in Project Management Technology from the Federal University of Technology Akure. He has certification in the following courses: The Fundamentals of Digital Marketing from Grow with Google Africa, Understanding Modern Business and Organisations from the University of Strathclyde, and Management and Leadership: Growing as a Manager from The Open University.

Prior to joining The FATE School of FATE Foundation, he worked at Ideation Hub Africa as a Program officer for courses and conferences, developing and driving educative resources for development practitioners while creating a new income pathway for the organisation.

He also worked at Centre for Women and Youth Wellbeing and Advocacy as the Project Lead; ideating, Planning and executing the vocational training and empowerment scheme targeted towards empowering the unschooled and less privileged, especially in the rural; areas in Ondo state.

Under his leadership at St. Luke’s Event Centre as the Facility Manager, Oluwasegun developed business and marketing plans to achieve revenue goals and a bank loan payback plan of about 20 million naira within the 10 months of opening the facility, delegated and oversee staff activities, and advised management on measures to improve efficiency and achieve the cost-effectiveness of the facility.
At The FATE School, Oluwasegun is the Alumni Community Officer, where he develops, coordinates, promotes and evaluates special events, programs, and projects for FATE School Alumni Community, with a focus on ensuring Alumni members, are effectively engaged and supporting post-programs at The FATE School.

Oluwasegun takes delight in solving business problems, helping businesses and social impact organisations grow and scale up through strategic planning and leadership and profitable collaborations.

Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Officer

Rebecca Adewole

Rachael holds a Bachelor’ Degree in Agricultural Extension and Rural Development.

Prior to joining The FATE School, she worked as an Executive Assistant at Velox Integrated Rice Company where she bridged the communication gap between internal and external stakeholders and carried out research and feasibility study on competitive partners to identify gaps and unique selling points, resulting in better marketing strategies. She also functioned as a Research and Data Analyst at AgroHive where she garnered experience in research, business acumen and communication.

At The FATE School, she ensures proper monitoring and evaluation of all programs carried out in the organization ensuring timely completion of programs and inculcating necessary lessons from the evaluation.

Rebecca is interested I volunteering, sewing and exploring new things.

Recruiter, FATE School

Oreoluwakitan Awobade

Oreoluwakitan Adeola Awobade has over three years of experience in Specialisation/Expertise, People Operations, Talent Acquisition & Management. I have a Bachelor of Science Degree in Chemical Science.

Prior to joining The FATE School, she worked at HYT Consulting as an HR Associate, where she offers HR Administration, Talent Acquisition, Payroll and Performance Management.

At FATE Foundation, she coordinate marketing, advertising, and promotional plans for participant recruitment activities for the FATE School of Entrepreneurship, manage the recruitment and shortlisting of entrepreneurs in line with entrepreneur selection criteria and program requirements, develop recruitment strategies for FATE School of Entrepreneurship, implement and administer processes and procedures to enhance the recruitment cycle, onboard entrepreneurs for programs and ensure regular and timely communication as required and prepare and communicate progress reports on all ongoing activities and projects to the Head, StartUps & Youth.

Oreoluwakitan interest lies in visiting new places, listening to music and reading.

Officer, Growth Support Services

Emmanuel Adesina

Adesina Emmanuel Adelere holds a Bachelor of Education Degree in Educational Management.

Prior to joining FATE School, he worked with United Bank For Africa as a Customer Experience Expert/ social media Officer where he played a significant role in attending to Customer’s complaints, requests, and inquiries, handling escalations and public interactions on various social media platforms, ensuring customers go back delighted each time they communicate with me.

At FATE School, Emmanuel is responsible for developing and implementing business support programs, growth strategies, initiatives, and services, including funding linkages to promote and strengthen alumni businesses toward achieving the goals and objectives of the FATE School.

Emmanuel enjoys cooking, reading, meeting people, and visiting new places.

Incubation Programs Officer

Olajumoke Oke-Baatimo

Olajumoke Oke-Baatimo area of specialization lies in Youth empowerment and inclusion, holding a bachelor’s degree in medical laboratory science. With 5 years cognate experience in non-profit project design, implementation and delivery.

Prior to now, Jumoke supported and managed the delivery of Aspiring entrepreneurs’ program- Futuremakers which trained 320 entrepreneurs consisting of 80 Persons with disabilities and 240 tertiary institution students across 16 tertiary institutions and 4 states in Nigeria at FATE Foundation

Jumoke is currently the Incubation Programs Officer at FATE Foundation and I support, Coordinate and monitor the delivery of incubation programs including Entrepreneurial training, Business development support, mentoring and master classes.

Jumoke’s hobbies are playing volleyball and swimming.

Volunteer Programs Intern

Edward Soremekun

Edward Aduragbemi, Soremekun is a result-driven young graduate with over a year of progressive practical experience in Agriculture. He graduated from the Federal University of Technology Akure from the department of Crop, Soil and Pest Management.

Prior to now, Edward Interned at FUNAAB Soil Lab, where he organized trainings on Soil Physics for students, assisted in conducting various Soil Physical and Chemical Analysis for different set of people. He also worked with other teams in identifying various issues facing SMEs and provided support in soil preparation, irrigation, weeding, and pest management, analyze project data (Analysis of Variance) using Minitab and conducted soil sampling and analysis to determine nutrient requirements and make recommendations.

At The FATE School, he assists in program coordination, participant engagement, research and administrative support, He also support the coordination and logistics of ScaleUp Lab accelerator programs.

His interest includes reading, surfing the internet and learning new things.

Director, The FATE Institute

Amaka Nwaokolo

Amaka Nwaokolo has over 13 years’ experience cutting across the business and development sectors in Nigeria. She heads the FATE Institute at FATE Foundation where she implements the Institute’s Research & policy Advocacy initiatives around entrepreneurship in Nigeria targeted at achieving policy and programme design, review and implementation.

Since 2015 when she joined FATE Foundation, she has led the development 12 research reports including the Mapping Study of Nigeria’s Entrepreneurship Ecosystem and the State of Entrepreneurship report. She has also led the delivery of 10 annual Policy Dialogue programmes and policy workshop sessions which bring together key policy and entrepreneurship ecosystem players across public, private and development sectors in Nigeria to discuss entrepreneurship thematic issues and develop key agreements that influence the Institute’s policy advocacy focus. Amaka also represents the FATE Institute’s advocacy efforts across critical stakeholder groups in Nigeria such as the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) where she serves as the Co-Facilitator on the MSME Community of Practice.

She has a Bachelors of Science Degree from Bowen University, Osun State and a Certificate in Business & Entrepreneurship from Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut.

Lead, Research Programs

Oyebola Agunloye

Oyebola is a Research Associate with the Research & Policy Team at FATE Foundation with years of experience in the public and private sector which include conducting public expenditure analysis, reviewing national and sub-national government’s revenue, analyzing public debt, reviewing and analysis of public audit reports, as well as economic (monetary, fiscal and trade) policies analysis.

As a Research Associate, Oyebola has provided data-driven, and well-articulated insights with regards (but not limited) to youth entrepreneurship and support, research and capacity building as well as policy dialogue and advocacy.

Oyebola is a graduate of Business Administration from Babcock University.

Policy Programs Associate

Rilwan Abuh

Rilwan is trained in Plant and Environmental Ecology, holding a Bachelor of Science degree in Botany and a Master of Science degree in Plant Ecology. With over 6 years of experience, he has served as an anti-corruption education specialist, community development advocate, and process efficiency supervisor.

Before joining the FATE Institute of the FATE Foundation, Rilwan held the position of Lagos State Coordinator at Step Up for Social Development and Empowerment in Nigeria (Step Up Nigeria). There, he led initiatives such as the Catch Them Young Initiative, the Citizens Watchdog Initiative, and the Mainstreaming of Anti-corruption Education projects. Additionally, he worked at Union Bank of Nigeria as a process efficiency supervisor, conducting reviews that introduced streamlined procedures, significantly reducing service delivery time, and benefiting MSME clients.

In his current role as the Policy Programs Associate at the Fate Institute, Rilwan is tasked with building the institute’s thought leadership within the Nigerian entrepreneurship ecosystem.

Outside his professional commitments, Rilwan actively engages in volunteering for community development initiatives. His interests also include human networking, football, and reading.

Policy Programs Officer

Victoria Oladipo

Oladipo Victoria Olaitan is a professional with expertise in policy, research, and advocacy. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Political Science and International Relations, as well as a Master of Science in International Relations.

In her career, Victoria has gained valuable experience in content writing, having written for the Fifth Alley, and has also served as a research programs intern at The FATE Institute. Currently, she serves as a Policy Programs Officer at The FATE Institute, where she provides support for the organization’s programs through policy workshops, policy conversations, advocacy, and thought leadership.

In her free time, Victoria enjoys exploring her interests in politics, books, and philosophy.