15. Odiso Leadership Academy
A high-level introduction to the organization that is now my sole professional responsibility, and my role in it.
Thus far in these blog posts, I’ve been rather vague in regards to what I’m actually doing. I’ve preferred to avoid details in part to leverage this as a space to process the transition into social entrepreneurship, and in part because of privacy’s sake. Now that I’m in it, it’s time to open up more on the practical side.
Hold on to your seats — it’s about to get wild.
I’m now officially employed on a contract basis with Odiso Leadership Academy, a Nigerian education-focused NGO, serving in the role of a co-founder, program coordinator, and creative strategist. As the org primarily functions in Nigeria, all foreign-based operatives are required to be employed on a contract basis, as international tax forms are much simpler for contractors than employees. Given that we’re a fledgling operation, we’re opting for the more straight-forward option.
As to the mouthful of a title, I am avoiding being called a CEO, and that’s about the best I could come up with, though I am open to other suggestions.
We have spent the past 3 months researching, planning, strategizing, and building a network to support the mission of OLA, which is to “Accelerate education reform and the demonstrated multiplier effect of girls’ education for excellent academic achievement and career preparedness in science, technology, engineering, arts, agriculture, and math (STEAAM).” This has produced several levels of programming beyond the Academy focus in order to build value, traction, and exposure. The added benefit of these smaller programs is to make sure that we have a framework that is nearly bulletproof for when the Academy launches. The more problems we can fix in smaller efforts, the better for our future students and for our ambitions to scale over the next 5 years.
“And I have to say — the view is beautiful.”
I’ve spent the majority of my first day in the OLA stratosphere, mapping out the way we work and the considerations that need to be kept in account as we move into this phase of implementation. And I have to say — the view is beautiful. It’s not just about the partners we’ve brought on board or the value we’ve designed into our program, but the space it inhabits in this time in Nigeria itself. And as we move forward into revealing more and more of ourselves and our objectives to the world, that is a key element that I aim to keep central: it’s not just what we’re doing, but whom we’re serving. OLA is being created for such a time as this, and such a people as these.
