Toyosi Akerele-Ogunsiji, named by Forbes as one of the 20 most Powerful Young Women in Africa is a Data Science & Artificial Intelligence Leader, Social Entrepreneur & Policy Advisor in EdTech & Human Capital Development. She is the Founder / CEO of RISE NETWORKS, Nigeria’s leading Social Enterprise whose mandate focuses on using Tech Innovation to create advocacy, skills empowerment and learning opportunities for the inclusive growth of Youth with the core objective of preparing them for effective Value Based Leadership at all levels in the Public, Private and Social Sectors. Rise Networks owns The Rise Labs, Nigeria’s first and only Data Science powered Learning, Research and Work Readiness Lab and their trainings, projects & products are centered around Emerging Technologies and Disruptive Innovation in the realms of Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Internet of Things & Advanced Analytics. We’re knowledge focused, research and development driven and we teach and create courses in technical skills relevant for the Future of Work and we create and deliver data driven project/product models for private and public sector organizations and institutions for the good and growth of society. They designed and built the first career Job Chat bot in West Africa which was listed as part of the AI Mentoring in the Workplace Working Group of the UN AI for Good Project in 2019. Another of their flagship projects is Passnownow.com, which is Sub-Saharan Africa’s most used mobile learning portal with access to curriculum-based education content with standardized assessments and exam review questions in digital format distributed via web and mobile to underserved high School Students and Teachers.

Toyosi is an Edward Mason Fellow and Master in Public Administration from Harvard University Kennedy School of Government where she also served as Vice President for International Student Affairs and Chair of the International Student Affairs Committee. Her 2nd Book, ‘WE HAVE TO BELONG – Why the Poor Majority of my Rich Country cannot wait anymore’ was also launched at Harvard University in 2017. She also studied Strategic Management at Executive Level at Cambridge University’s Judge Business School, has a Certificate in Youth Inclusive Financial Services from University of New Hampshire, holds a Certificate in Media Enterprise from the School of Media and Communication, Pan Atlantic University. She studied Digital Marketing Strategy at the UK Institute of Digital Marketing and received a 2nd Class UPPER Bachelors’ degree in Civil Law from the University of Jos.

Toyosi has been honored as a new Leader of tomorrow by Crans Montana Forum in Europe, she’s an Alumni of the International Visitor Leadership Program of the United States Government and she’s been a Judge of the NESCAFE Get Started Africa Entrepreneurship Challenge and a Judge of the Bank of Africa’s African Entrepreneurship Awards. In 2018, she was a Judge on the Young Women Transform Prize organized by USAID, Volvo and Standard Chartered to provide sustained long-term Economic Empowerment for young female entrepreneurs across the World.


A recipient of numerous awards including Recognition by This Day Awards for Nigeria’s Women of Distinction, Young Entrepreneur of the Year of Success Digest Entrepreneurial Awards, the Excellence Awards of the School of Media and Communication, Pan African University, The Future Africa Awards for Best Use of Advocacy and the Nigerian Youth Leadership Awards jointly organized by Leap Africa, International Youth Foundation and NOKIA.

She has been listed as Top 40 under 40 by Business Day, she is also one of the honorees of the Top 100 Young Leaders’ Recognition by the Federal Government of Nigeria and is a Nigeria Leadership Initiative's Future Leaders Fellow. NLI is a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.

Toyosi, perhaps, one of the most respected emerging Leaders of Africa’s new generation, maintains Board Positions in The Right to Know Initiative, a Nonprofit focused on Human Rights, Free