This world demands the qualities of youth; not a time of life but a state of mind, a temper of the will, a quality of the imagination, a predominance of courage over timidity, of the appetite for adventure over the life of ease.
Robert F. Kennedy
Organising for a New Nigeria is a flagship programme of Madiba Foundation – a pan African non-governmental organization based in Abuja, Nigeria.
At the heart of this programme is a movement for Nigeria’s youth who want to see a country that Nigerians everywhere (both at home and in diaspora) can be extremely proud of.
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To re-ignite active citizenship and fresh zest amongst Nigeria’s literate youth and grassroots communities for civic participation.
To give ascendancy to youth energy, skills and vision in Africa’s democracy starting from Nigeria.
” The power of youth is the common wealth for the entire world. “
– Kailash Satyarthi
Debola Deji-Kurunmi is a best-selling author, keynote speaker, public policy advisor, corporate trainer and transformational coach for visionary leaders. Through her work of coaching, consulting and capacity build-ing, Debola deploys her extraordinary gift of unlocking potential in people, institutions and nations.
She is Founder of IMMERSE Coaching Company (a professional coaching practice), Executive Director at Ideation Hub Africa (a public policy and impact advisory firm) and President at Kingdom Leaders Global Alliance and FIREBRAND Movement (both non-de-nominational Christian Ministries). Across these organisations, she leads a vibrant 100, 000+ community of change-makers and visionaries.
She is a Certified Visionary Leadership Coach by the Oleg Konovalov Global Coaching Certification, a Gallup Certified Strengths Coach and a Certified Masteries Practitioner by the International Association of Coaching USA.
She is a highly sought corporate trainer for multinational corporations, SMES, development agencies and governments, as well as sits on the Board of organisations, providing strategic advisory on program execution, senior leadership development, policy analysis and implementation.
Debola has been severally recognized for her outstanding leadership impact, with her transformational work featured on TV, international news and media. She has received several awards including 2014 New Leader for Tomorrow in the order of business, government, and parliaments at the Crans Montana Forum in Geneva.
In 2018, she was selected by the US Government as one of Africa’s most promising young leaders and a Mandela Washington Fellow. In 2019, she was listed as one of 100 Most Inspiring Nigerian Women and announced as Nigeria’s Leading Coach at the 2021 Motherland Awards.
Recently, DDK was honored as one of Nigeria’s 50 Most Inspiring Women in Nigeria 2022 by BusinessDay.
At 2018 Mandela Washington Annual Summit in Washington DC, Debola delivered the electrifying viral speech “How to Fry Fish to Solve a Wicked Problem” for African young leaders willing to fix the continent’s toughest challenges.
DDK as she is fondly called, is an author of 21 books, and has spoken across Africa, UAE, Europe and America to leaders, high-performing teams, global development practitioners,
SME owners, and purpose-driven people.
Cynthia Mbamalu is a dedicated human and gender rights advocate and a development practitioner. A lawyer by profession with an LLM in Comparative Constitutional Law from the Central European University (CEU), she specializes in human and women rights advocacy, constitution building, elections, and inclusive political leadership. She is a co-founder of Yiaga Africa, where she leads as the Director of Programs.
In the past 16 years, she has worked especially on supporting sustainable democracies, promoting political inclusion, electoral integrity, and human rights.
As a co-founder and Director of Program for Yiaga Africa, she has participated in and led different election observation missions and currently leads the #WatchingTheVote project, a data and tech-driven initiative for electoral integrity.
She was actively involved in the advocacy that led to the adoption of the Electoral Act 2022 in Nigeria and is engaging the constitutional amendment process for gender sensitive amendments.
Cynthia Mbamalu is a founding member of the Not Too Young to Run movement and the Ready to Run campaign, committed to promoting young men and women’s political leader-ship. The Not Too Young to Run movement achieved the amendment of Nigeria’s Constitution to reduce the age for contesting elections in 2018. Ms Mbamalu also manages the Community Organizing Program for young people in West Africa and recently launched The Unamplified Podcast’ driving diverse conversations on democracy and development from a gender lens.
Cynthia Mbamalu is an alumna of the; Harvard Kennedy School of Government, Leadership, Organizing and Action Executive Program, Central European University (CEU) Course on Constitution-Building in Africa, the University of South Africa (UNISA) Course on Management of Democratic Elections in Africa and the University of Cape Town on Leading in Public Life; Women, Influence Power Programme.
Dr. Olusoji Adeniyi is a social development and human capital development Expert with over 32yrs industry experience in Education and career spanning over 20yrs in the United Nations system. He worked locally and internationally serving in 5 countries accross 3 continents but taking early retirement in 2015 to focus on his lifetime passion of developing human capital and bridging learning gaps.
He Founded Primetrainers Africa & Wealthways Consulting as vehicles for sharing knowledge and opportunities for after-service vocation, the sustainable development goals. He believes education is a right and inclusive education accross gender considerations are key to genuine global transformation.
As a consultant, he supported the Federal Ministry of Education and the World Bank on Early Grade Reading Assessment, (EGRA) Early Grade Mathematics Assessment(EGMA) Education Sector Analysis(ESA),Transforming Education Systems at States (TESS)National Technical and Vocational Education (TVET) and the National Skills Management Framework review process among others.
He serves as the Regional Consultant on Human Capital Development (HCD) for the 6-states in the South-South Region under the HCD Core Working Group of the National Economic Council in Nigeria since 2021. Olusoji is a climate change advocate, Education reform champion and UN -certified six-sigma trainer and development expert.
Esinet Kolade is a seasoned development professional with extensive experience in strategic communications, crisis communication, media relations, public relations, and advocacy. Her expertise spans both emergency and non-emergency contexts across Nigeria.
Renowned for her stakeholder and community engagement skills, Esinet excels in corporate communications, psychosocial support, child protection, gender-based violence, global mental health, social accountability, peacebuilding, and strategic advocacy, with a particular focus on reintegration and social cohesion.
Beyond her professional achievements, Esinet is a disruptive poet whose work centers on nation-building and the African renaissance. Her poetry serves as a powerful medium for inspiring societal transformation and fostering a renewed sense of identity and purpose across the continent.
A multilingual expert in strategic communications, Esinet has made a significant impact on several internationally funded projects, including initiatives by UNICEF, UN Women, the European Union, the Nigerian Humanitarian Fund, and the MacArthur Foundation. Her exceptional work ethic and innovative approach have consistently delivered sustainable development solutions and system-strengthening mechanisms.
Saadatu Hamu Aliyu is currently the Managing Partner of Hamu Legal, an innovative multidisciplinary law firm focused on providing legal advisory to early stage and high growth companies. Saadatu has extensive experience on corporate commercial transactions and the intersection of Law, policy and regulatory developments on business. With an in-depth understanding of the Nigerian legal system she has advised clients locally and internationally on banking, fintech, real estate, energy, intellectual property, asset acquisition, and project financing.
In recognition of her desire of change and public impact, Saadatu was from July 2016 to July 2017 the Curator of the Global Shapers (Abuja Hub), the youngest arm of the World Economic Forum, which nominates exceptional young leaders like Saadatu under 30 with desire and potential to create change and impact their community. As a Global Shaper she initiated and implemented diverse projects across security, governance and health that further created a synthesis of a better world.
Worthy of note is the Amana Initiative, a project that was aimed at building trust and collaboration between youths and security agencies to curb election violence and insurgency in Northern Nigeria.
In recognition of her to contribution to nation building and public impact at an early stage, she was selected as one of the 2016 Associate Fellow of the Nigeria Leadership Initiative (NLI), she is also an Alumni of the Nelson Mandela School of Public Governance University of Cape Town Emerging African Leaders Program, and has a Masters Degree in National Security from Georgetown University Law Center, Washington DC, USA.
Saadatu is a leading lawyer in the Nigerian technology ecosystem, with a track record of advising multi-jurisdictional companies from idea stage, to regulatory compliance and fund raising. Saadatu excellently delivers her contributions to the society on Law, politics, policy and development without lines being blurred.
In recognition of her sterling contributions to legal practice, she has been recognized as Managing Partner of the Year 2022 by the ESQ Nigerian Legal Awards and her team was simultaneously nominated as Law Firm of the Year, Energy and Power Team of the Year and Capital Market team of the Year for 2022.
Organising for a New Nigeria (ONN) is a flagship programme of Madiba Foundation.
With an objective to re-ignite active citizenship and a fresh zest for civic participation amongst Nigeria’s literate youth and grassroots communities.
