Help shape the future of school leadership across Africa
The next generation of great schools will not be built by theory alone. They will be built by experienced school leaders willing to share what they have learned. That is why SMI exists.
School Management Institute is building a global network of school founders, directors, education consultants and institutional leaders who believe that better school leadership creates better schools — and better schools shape better societies. If you have built, led or transformed a school, there is someone somewhere who needs the wisdom you already carry.
Most school owners are not failing because they lack passion. They are failing because nobody ever taught them:
SMI exists to change that.
Our mentors are not motivational speakers. They are practitioners. People who have built schools, led institutions, solved operational problems, grown student populations, managed teams, survived difficult seasons, and learned lessons that cannot be taught from a textbook. At SMI, mentors help school owners move from exhaustion to structure, confusion to clarity, and survival to sustainable growth.
Most education programs teach concepts. SMI teaches implementation. Every cohort combines live classes, practical frameworks, real-world assignments, operational systems, technology exposure, and mentorship from experienced education leaders.
Mentors are not invited to 'talk'. They are invited to guide transformation. This is hands-on impact.
We are building a diverse faculty network across Nigeria, Africa, the Middle East, Europe, Asia, and beyond. You may be a fit if you are a school founder, proprietor, administrator, consultant, former school executive, EdTech leader, or academic strategist.
"You do not need to be famous. You need real experience, practical wisdom, strong values, and a desire to help school owners grow."
Teach specific SMI curriculum modules with practical focus.
Provide one-on-one guidance to school owners.
Help founders avoid critical operational mistakes.
Guide practical application of frameworks in their schools.
Give back meaningfully
Influence the future of education
Join a global network
Build legacy beyond your institution
"This Is Bigger Than One Cohort."
SMI is not building a temporary training program. We are building a long-term education leadership movement. Today, Nigeria. Tomorrow: Africa, multiple countries, and eventually globally.
SMI mentors are volunteers who believe in the mission of school transformation. We ask for professionalism, clear communication, and practical insight. Mentorship is flexible — participate per cohort, monthly, or as ongoing faculty.
"Somewhere right now, there is a school owner overwhelmed and under-supported… One conversation with the right mentor can change the trajectory of that school forever. That mentor could be you."
Currently running a school with hands-on leadership experience in day-to-day operations and strategic direction.
Specialist with deep knowledge within the school space — operations, finance, EdTech, governance, or related fields.
The people you would join — school founders and education leaders from across the globe.
No mentors confirmed for your city yet — but the global pool mentors every cohort. See the full global pool →
Tasiyiwa Katie Mapondera
ICF PCC À EMCC EIA | Executive Coach & Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Builder
Harare, ZimbabweTasiyiwa Katie Mapondera is a dual-credentialed executive coach ù ICF Professional Certified Coach (PCC) and EMCC European Individual Accreditation (EIA) ù with 17 years at the intersection of entrepreneurship, education, and leadership transformation. Based in Doha, she founded Q L and D LLC, an innovation strategy and learning & development consultancy, and Q Teacher Supply ù the first registered supply teacher agency in Qatar. As Co-Director of Founder Institute Qatar and Innovation & Entrepreneurship Specialist at the University of Doha for Science & Technology, she has built and mentored startup ecosystems across the Middle East and Africa. She serves as an Advisor at EduMESS, Associate Director at Empower World, and earlier in her career managed the EdTech Innovation Incubator at the Software & Information Industry Association in Washington DC and consulted for the Supreme Committee that delivered the FIFA World Cup Qatar. In the SMI programme, Katie brings the rigour of a credentialed coach alongside the street-level wisdom of someone who has founded institutions, mentored founders through high-stakes growth, and built learning ecosystems from the ground up.
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Kehinde Ogunremi
PhD Educational Consultant | School Systems Expert, Teacher Development & Learning Outcomes
My leadership journey has focused on helping schools improve academic outcomes, strengthen systems, develop teachers, and build positive school cultures. Through leadership, training, mentoring, and strategic support, I have worked with school owners, administrators, and educators to drive sustainable growth and meaningful improvement in schools.
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Folasade Adefisayo
Former Commissioner for Education, Lagos State | CEO, Leading Learning Ltd
Folasade Adefisayo brings something no other mentor in this programme can offer: she has led from the school desk and the cabinet table. As the Honourable Commissioner for Education for Lagos State (2019û2023), she shaped education policy for Africa's most economically significant state. Before entering government, she spent 12 years transforming the Corona Schools Trust Council ù Nigeria's most prestigious private school network ù rising from Executive Director and CEO to Director, and leaving the institution measurably stronger. Today she leads Leading Learning Limited, hosts the Purpose-Driven School Leadership Webinar Series ù now in its 7th edition on school governance and sustainability ù and holds a Fellowship at the University of Chicago Leadership and Society Initiative. Holding an MA in Education (Distinction) from the University of Nottingham and an MBA from the University of Lagos, Folasade bridges policy, practice, and strategic leadership in a way that is uniquely valuable for school founders who want to build institutions designed to last.
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Adeleke Adesina
PhD | Business Systems Coach & School Founder | Lecturer, University of Lagos
Dr. Adeleke Adesina holds a PhD in Chemistry Education from the University of Ibadan, an MEd from the University of Lagos, and certifications from the UK's Systems Academy, the School of Consulting London, and Finland's School of Education ù giving him a rare blend of academic depth and global practitioner credibility. A Lecturer at the University of Lagos for over a decade, he is also the founder of five businesses, including The Rock Empire Group of Schools in Lagos, which means he brings lived school-founder experience into every coaching conversation. As Founder of ADELEKE ADESINA COMPANY, he has spent 17 years helping executives build the systems, structures, and processes that move organisations from founder-dependency to scalable performance. In the SMI programme, Adeleke equips school leaders with the business architecture their institutions need ù the workflows, operational structures, and organizational design that allow a school to run profitably and grow without the founder being the bottleneck.
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Mary Ekemezie
Lead Consultant, ME Consult
My Leadership Journey My leadership journey is rooted in corporate excellence, systemic capacity building, and a deep-seated commitment to institutional governance. I began my professional trajectory handling high-stakes corporate and commercial transactions, eventually rising to the position of Managing Associate at Udo Udoma & Belo-Osagie (UUBO), one of Nigeria’s premier full-service law firms. Driven by a passion to bridge the gap between theory and practical compliance, I transitioned into entrepreneurship as the Founder and Lead Consultant at ME Consult, and the Founder of ME Academy—an NBA-ICLE accredited training and e-learning platform. Beyond corporate borders, my leadership spans public policy and community development. I am an alumna of both the NIA Leadership Institute and The School of Politics, Policy and Governance (SPPG). Currently, I serve on the board of the African Christian Professionals Forum, guide institutional policy within the National Assembly Business Environment Roundtable (NASSBER) Expert Network, and chair the Employment and Industrial Relations Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association Section on Business Law. Key Accomplishments Educational Entrepreneurship: Founded ME Academy, successfully designing an accredited e-learning ecosystem that bridges critical knowledge gaps and instills corporate governance in startups and SMEs. Industry Leadership: Recognized as a National Leader by Who's Who Legal for outstanding expertise in labour and employment law. Academic Contribution: Served as a visiting lecturer at Wavecrest College of Hospitality, translating complex corporate and hospitality law into actionable training for students. Institutional Governance: Actively shaping national policy frameworks through the NASSBER Expert Network and managing legal compliance and structural strategies for market-leading corporate transactions. Relevance to Mentoring School Leaders While my primary background is in corporate and employment law rather than building primary or secondary schools, my expertise directly addresses the operational vulnerabilities that face modern school administrators. Effective school leadership requires managing an institution like a thriving, compliant enterprise. My background makes me uniquely relevant to mentoring school leaders in three critical areas: Employment Law & Talent Management: Schools are highly staff-dependent institutions. My recognized expertise in employment relations equips me to mentor school leaders on building healthy workplaces, managing staff transitions, and navigating labor compliance smoothly. Corporate Governance & Sustainability: Through my work at ME Academy, I specialize in helping organizations establish robust internal systems, regulatory compliance, and risk management skills that are essential for school leaders trying to build institutions that survive long-term. Experience & Youth Mentorship: Having served as a tertiary-level lecturer and as a volunteer facilitator teaching ethics and human dignity to young girls through the Women's Board, I understand the practical dynamics of instructional delivery and holistic student development.
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Jennifer Dammo
Founder and Lead HR Consultant
I lead The HR Hub Nigeria, an HR consulting practice I founded to help organizations build the people systems they depend on but rarely get right: hiring, performance management, staff development, and retention. My background is not in running a classroom, it is in the part of leadership that determines whether a school holds together: leading people. Over 8 years I have built and led my own team, advised founders and executives across EdTech, travel-tech, and SME sectors, and served as a mentor at Founder Institute. My EdTech retainer work puts me directly inside education organizations, where I see the same recurring failure point that holds school leaders back. They are promoted for instructional or visionary strength, then expected to hire well, manage underperformance, and retain good staff with no real training in any of it. That is exactly where I add value. I design practical, ready-to-use systems such as performance frameworks, hiring structures, onboarding and L&D programs, and team operating rhythms that a leader can actually run. I have built these for live clients, not as theory, and I coach leaders through using them. For school leaders, my relevance is direct. The hardest, least-supported part of their role is people leadership, and that is my entire field. I can help a school leader move from reacting to staff problems to building systems that prevent them, while developing their own capacity to lead a team with clarity and confidence.
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Ify Obidi-Essien
Founder & CEO
Ify Obidi-Essien is a Microsoft Global Training Partner and the founder of Tech-Savvy Teacher International, an EdTech organisation she has led for nearly a decade from Lagos with active operations across Nigeria, Dubai, Rwanda, and Kenya. Her most distinctive credential: she was among the practitioners who contextualised Microsoft's certified educator (MCE) curriculum for African classroom realities, making globally recognised teacher-tech certification accessible to educators across the continent. A Certiport Authorised Testing Centre operator and recipient of a Women and Leadership certification (Grade A, European Business University of Luxembourg), Ify bridges corporate technology standards and frontline education. Her T.E.D.A. (Tech Executive Development Academy) coaching programme develops education leaders, and her work as Project Consultant on the Charterhouse School Lagos initiative ù West Africa's first British Independent School ù demonstrates reach across elite and community education contexts alike. Ify has spoken at eLearning Africa and other international platforms, and is completing a Master's in Digital Transformation at Nexford University. She brings to SMI participants a rare combination: deep technical certification expertise, a proven system for scaling digital skills across African markets, and nearly a decade of institution-building experience.
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Toyin Sam-Emehelu
PhD | Founder, CoreSkills Transformational Academy | John C. Maxwell Foundation
Dr. Toyin Sam-Emehelu has spent 13 years doing one thing: developing leaders who transform institutions. Holding a PhD in Educational Management and Planning and an M.Ed in Educational Psychology from the University of Lagos, she founded CoreSkills Transformational Academy Limited and serves as Director of Partnerships at Equip Nigeria ù the John C. Maxwell Foundation's African arm ù working with school leaders, NGOs, and SMEs across five African countries. An Accredited and Licensed Management Trainer by the Federal Republic of Nigeria (CMD), Fellow of the Pan African Consultant Association, and active mentor with the MasterCard Foundation, Tony Elumelu Foundation, and Teach For Nigeria, Dr. Toyin is among Africa's most credentialed practitioners in education leadership and human capital development. She has distilled over a decade of field experience into 33 published books on leadership, coaching, and organizational transformation.
View ProfileSMI mentors are volunteers driven by the mission of educational transformation. While the role is unpaid, the network, prestige, and impact are high-value returns.
We offer flexible engagement models. Most mentors commit to 2-4 hours per month during an active cohort, including live sessions and office hours.
No. SMI is a global network. Most mentoring happens virtually, allowing experts from anywhere in the world to impact schools across Africa.
Yes. If you have practical wisdom in building educational products or solving specific institutional problems, we welcome your expertise.
