Our Board

Dr Ndidi Nnoli-Edozien is a board member of the IFRS Foundation’s International Sustainability Standards Board. In 1999, she founded the Growing Businesses Foundation and in 2019 the Circular Economy Innovation Partnership. She was the pioneer Chief Sustainability & Governance Officer at the Dangote Group from 2017 till 2020 where she initiated and operationalized sustainability at Africa’s largest business, for which she was recognized as the 2020 Sustainability Executive of the Year by Cemex Africa. Immediately prior, she served as faculty responsible for sustainability, ethics and social entrepreneurship at Lagos Business School, Pan-Atlantic University.

She is a co-founder of the ToroNet Association, Geneva, which is a blockchain and stable coin solution to enable financial and digital inclusion. She is Co-Chair, Research Group, Finance and Economics [Frankfurt- Hohenheimer Leitfaden] based on which she commenced development of her SevenPillars Methodology 15 years ago. She became Associate/Fellow of the University of Edinburgh in 2019, and also member of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Stakeholder Council and the Nigeria Integrated Reporting Committee. She served as founding Co-chair of the Private Sector Advisory Group (PSAG) on SDGs, linked to the Global PSAG-UN SDG Fund and inaugurated by the Nigerian Presidency in 2017. She holds a B.Sc. (Economics), International Relations from London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE) and a Ph.D. in Sustainability & Governance, Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, Frankfurt. She is an alumnus of Wharton Business School and has attended executive programs at INSEAD and Judge Business School, Cambridge. She has published books, serves on several non-profit and social enterprise boards and has made it her life mission to support Africa sustainable development.

Bólájí Akinboro is an accomplished entrepreneur and business leader with a track record of driving sustainable innovation and impact across a range of sectors. With diverse experience spanning fintech, agritech, Ed-Tech, FMCGs, and the emerging De-Fi sector, Bolaji is an Endeavor (the worlds largest network of high impact founders ) entrepreneur ; he is a true pioneer of sustainable business in Africa and beyond.

Bólájí is the co-founder of Tọ̀rọ̀Net Chain, a blockchain protocol designed to power the tokenized (web 3.0) economies of the global south. He is also the co-founder of the Pan- African Fintech- Cellulant that opened the door to large fundraising rounds for fintech in Africa.

Bólájí is an operator of complex programs; He has executed the largest government-led Agtech intervention on the African continent , the Growth Enhancement Support (GES) Program, which reached 8 million farmers over 3 years, and led the operations of the International Development Organization – Plan International – in Malawi for almost 5 years. He is a true leader in the field of sustainable business and an inspiration to all who seek to create lasting impact in their communities and the world. Bólájí is focused on shaping the future & he sits of various boards such as Infrastructure sector Advisory Board of the African Leadership academy. He Chairs of the board of Voriancorelli Company, a pan-african AgTech company; co-chairs the board of the Circular Economy Innovation Partnership, which is driving the creation of a regenerative circular economy in Nigeria, and chairs the advisory board of Strategy & Execution Limited, which guides private institutions in Africa in developing their unique corporate culture of sustainability and the implementation of ESG strategies.

Additionally, Bólájí is known for his groundbreaking work in sustainable education, having projected managed Africa’s first multi-country, multi-language teacher education program in the maths and sciences that was delivered via distance learning funded by the WorldBank, African Development Bank , The Canadian International Development Agency and many other sponsors. Bólájí foundation as a leader & enterpreneur is from the Fast Moving Consumer Goods Industry, where set up the operations of Procter & Gamble in Lagos & Ghana & Pharmaceuticals with Roche Nigeria Limited. Through his work, Bólájí has demonstrated that big things can be achieved sustainably. He is a true leader in the field of sustainable business and an inspiration to all who seek to create lasting impact in their communities and the world.

Caren is a highly accomplished CFO with over 25 years’ worth of experience in financial management, administration management, business development, audit management and strategic planning. Possesses experience in management positions at Africa’s leading corporations in various industries as security, construction, aviation, shipping & logistics as well as municipal and infrastructure projects. With her position as an advisory board member on the SevenPillars and Sustainability Culture Creation, she helps organizations cocreate an authentic sustainability culture with all stakeholders, based on core values, and produce measurable outcomes through sustainability KPIs.

With increased focus and pressure from investors, regulators, employees, and other stakeholders make ESG a topic that is not only critical at the board level, but also essential to cascade throughout organizations operationally. She helps develop specialised strategy and execution, to become more efficient and provide cutting edge solutions to meet the client’s requirements.

Samson Olukolu is an institutional business development expert and impact programs specialist with a passion for sustainable developments. He has a track record of success inraising impact investment funds and implementing impact programs in agriculture and circular economy, particularly around plastics, in Nigeria. He is currently the Program Director for the Empowering Collectors Initiative, a $1.5m program funded by The Coca-Cola Foundation to recover & recycle over 1 billion waste plastic bottles littering and causing menace to the environment. He has also raised and managed an $8.9m grant for the Young Africa Works program, an initiative designed to create work opportunities for youths in an agricultural marketplace where produce sellers, buyers, truckers, financiers, and food processors interact.

In this role, he designed & implemented strategies to address the challenges that discourages and makes it difficult for youths to participate in Agriculture. He is also a member of the advisory board of Strategy & Execution Limited – an advisory firm focused on guiding private institutions in Africa to develop their unique corporate culture of sustainability and the implementation of ESG strategies. Samson is a strategist and a problem solver who designs and implement sustainable initiatives that solves real world problems to lift millions of deprived and disadvantaged youths & women out of poverty.