Since 2017, the Kayode Alabi Leadership and Career Initiative (KLCI), a nonprofit organisation has trained and provided educational support for over 8,000 young people. In this interview, the founder and one of the Nigerians selected to join the 2023-2024 Western Union Foundation Fellowship Cohort by Watson Institute, Hammed Kayode Alabi, shares the inspiration behind the initiative, his life story and aspirations for youth-driven Africa, among other issues.
WHAT was your motivation for starting this initiative?
Again, my journey, my experiences, and the fact that I was tired of being a bystander. I didn’t just want to change my circumstances. I wanted to be a piece in the life of one child. I wanted to help them change their circumstances through access to education, skills, and opportunities and they would do that to another person. When they pass the baton down, that is how change happens.
What are the challenges you encountered when you started and how did you overcome them?
Yes, I did face a lot of challenges and I haven’t overcome all of them. I am still cracking them as I am walking the journey and creating systems and structures in place as I overcome those challenges. For example, when we started, funding was a challenge, and building a donor base. So, I had to go out, attend events, and programmes, join fellowships, and join a network of people working in the same industry and space as mine. This exposed me to opportunities and small funding. I was also able to leverage my network and storytelling. By telling powerful stories about my work, I was able to get loyal team members, and volunteers who have dedicated their sweat, resources, time, and money to ensure the organisation grows. This is how we overcame many of the resource deficiencies we had as an organisation. Obviously, there were other challenges around structures and systems especially overall corporate governance and being positioned for funding opportunities but we are cracking it as we move and now we have a capable staff team and board members working to put things in order.
What do you see in the future of Africa in relation to empowering young minds to take leadership roles?
I want to see an Africa driven by young people and children in underserved communities creating solutions to their problems and the world’s problems at large. Then repositioning where the continent should be on the world map. An Africa that creates and produces. I also want to see the children we work with develop the necessary skills that would lift them out of poverty and create an environment that is livable for themselves and their peers. Education creates a pathway to economic development and I believe by empowering young people to be solution providers, we are edging towards that path. Education in the first place is geared towards equipping learners with the skills, knowledge, attitudes, and values to solve societal problems. So our model is geared toward this mantra!
In the next five years, I want to see Africa driven by innovative and people-centered design solutions created by children and young people living in underserved communities. More importantly, seeing them develop the necessary life and 21st-century skills needed to cope with the demands of the 21st century, be able to compete globally, and locally and contribute to community development.
Do you see yourself partnering with other African countries or individuals to promote career, skills education, and leadership development?
Yes, I see myself working with other organisations on the continent. This has already started. In 2022, we partnered with Refugee Outreach Collective to work on one of their projects “Global Classroom Inside Dzaleka Refugee Camp in Malawi.” We trained refugee learners on the skills they need to cope with education in the 21st century. They learned about personal leadership, study skills, vision boarding, and time management using our digital curriculum. We look forward to collaborating with more organisations on the continent to advance and drive the education agenda.
What are the challenges you’re facing right now in your journey?
This is a tough one. I think the major challenge is creating a sustainable system to support young people and professionals. People reach out to me to help them raise tuition funds for their MSc programmes locally and outside the country or to attend a fellowship. Some want me to guide them through their fellowship or scholarship applications. Some want me to review their CVs, personal statements, or essay responses to their scholarship or university applications abroad. Some need career advice. Some want to grow their initiative and some are struggling financially and many more that I can’t mention. So, I am constantly struggling with how I can support them all. I know I can’t help everybody and I can’t be there for everyone. So it’s draining saying yes to all. I have created a system where I do a session every year for those wanting to apply for scholarships and write their personal statements. I have granted interviews on how people can apply for these opportunities. I have written a blog post and social media posts about it. I wrote a book that documented my experience. I have also done several live sessions and I have also created a Calendly link to get people to book a personal appointment with me. However, more and more keeps coming. So it is always difficult to put oneself out there, be there for yourself, and also try to help and pass the baton down. I am still battling with the struggle but constantly I am learning to deal with it through boundless generosity and referring people to others. There is a limit to what I can take. It is still a process but I know I will continue to learn the best way to engage as I grow.
How have you been able to raise and coordinate volunteers and partners to sustain KLCI?
This is an interesting question. I think we have grown naturally and organically as an organisation. When we started, it was just me, my cousin, and a friend. So as we started to recruit more volunteers, we started to put the system in place. For example, we started to have project coordinators who manage volunteers, programmes, and resources in their state. They also steward partnerships in their state and work with their volunteers to get things done and we also have a chief programmes officer, who oversees all the programmes in different states and centrally coordinates the partnerships. So, one way this has been successful is by allowing people to own a piece of the organisation. Yes, it is difficult but with trust, support, and mentoring, you will see the power of what volunteers can do. We also have several departments such as media, curriculum development, and fundraising where volunteers can work and further develop their skills. We are still working on our structure and it will continue to evolve as we continue to grow. For example, we once launched an internship programme to enable young people to develop their skills by working in our organisation. We hope to be better than we were yesterday. So I will say we are still a work in progress.
What is your volunteering experience like and what did you make of it?
Yes, multiple projects. I think, on the top of my head, I have volunteered for over 30 organisations. I think volunteering has helped me meet people and develop my competencies in the non-profit and development space. For example, I volunteered with the Sozo Networks as the volunteer manager and managed the volunteer department. I also took special projects such as writing reports for programmes, developing baseline surveys, and running programmes. For example, I co-run the Youth-in-Development Bootcamp in Lagos. So, it allowed me to utilise my skills and apply them. This helped me in harnessing and improving my organisational skills. Similarly, I volunteered with the Diana Award, where I served as a mentor and an international judge. I was able to learn how to develop a mentoring programme and the process involved. I also learned how to access applications and many more transferable skills. For every organisation I have volunteered with, I am always taking something away as I contribute to the cause. I am still volunteering and I will keep volunteering as much as I live on earth.
What’s your background and experience while growing up?
I was born and raised in Makoko. I attended Tesco Montessori School at Alagomeji, Lagos State. It was a montessori school located in an estate and took me away from the bustle and hustle happening in Makoko. This was an intentional step taken by dad to ensure I get the best education. I lost my mum when I was seven years old and my dad lost his job immediately after due to a long-term illness. I also moved to Bariga when I was 12 years old, another slum in Lagos. At one point, I also hawked sweets and spaghetti to make ends meet and my dad would also hawk CDs so that I could pay my school fees. I also stayed out of school for an academic term while my younger brother stayed out of school for a whole academic session. These were a few of my circumstances.
However, these moments brought me closer to the problems and challenges in my community and society. I saw people whose conditions were worse than mine. I saw people who I could not look up to as role models and I knew on that spot I would not end that way. I attended Lagos State Model College, Kankon, Badagry for my junior and secondary school education and I was also a mosque prefect which played a larger role in my leadership journey.
What are some of the challenges you faced while growing?
I mean I think one of those challenges is my circumstances. Having to lose my mum who happens to be my strongest support system when I was seven and more so, I was raised in a community with limited opportunities. Not to forget, my father’s illness affected his ability to continue to support me and how that nearly led me to stop my education forever but he persevered and ensured I got the best education. Education was my lifeline. It gave me and afforded me the pathway I am currently leading. I could also recall that we were asked to move from our apartment in Bariga and had nowhere to go. That would have been the first time we would have been homeless but a neighbour we were living with saved us and asked us to move in with them in an uncompleted building in Igbogbo, Ikorodu, Lagos State. The transition and feeding posed a challenge. We sometimes served as labourers for bricklayers and also cleared bushes for landowners who were ready to erect their buildings. This was how we survived until my dad’s aunt and her husband requested that I live with them and they sponsored my university education. By the way, I attended the University of Ilorin and I also won the University of Ilorin scholarship and the departmental best graduating students prize.
What inspired the path you are presently on?
My journey, experience, and circumstances. If I did not experience what I experienced, I feel like I would not be doing what I am doing today; having to lose my mum at age seven due to long-term illness, my dad becoming unemployed, staying out of school for a term and my brother for a session and having to grow fast and hawk in the streets. I wanted to change those circumstances for myself and others and education offered the opportunity to do this. At age 15, after completing my secondary school education, I started teaching in a basic education school in Ikorodu and I organised remedial classes for children in rural communities in Igbogbo, teaching them basic literacy and numeracy skills. I saw the change first hand and those little actions led me to the non-profit space and before I started a non-profit Kayode Alabi Leadership and Career Initiative (KLCI) in 2017 to help children of my kind develop the life and 21st century skills needed to forge a trajectory for their careers and change their circumstances.
How did you start off?
In 2017, after conceiving the idea and drafting out the plan, I submitted a letter to a school in Olambe-Matogun Community, a rural community where I was living, and engaged students in the street about their careers and life. I noticed many had no clue where they wanted to lead and more so, many also shared the same circumstances. So, I started Project LECT (Leadership, Entrepreneurship, and Career Training), a mentoring programme that enables students in underserved communities to get career advice from young professionals as well as become capable leaders. The programme also provides an entry into our other programmes such as Skill2Rural Bootcamp, where we leverage blended learning (ed-tech and activity-based bootcamp) to help children in rural communities and displaced young people co-create solutions to problems that they face in their communities and develop 21st-century skills such as creativity, critical thinking, negotiation, and presentation skills along the line. This programme also provides entry into our scholarship scheme to enable children who are struggling to get into university to access funding to further their education and finally change their circumstances. Today we have reached 7,550+ young people and children through our programmes and it all started with three people who went to a secondary school to organise a mentoring programme. Today, we also have over 100 volunteers running our programmes nationally.
What notable milestones and achievements have you attained?
I do not know where to start. However, I would bask in organisational achievement. For example, we have reached 7,550+ secondary school students in under-served communities through our mentorship, skills, and education for sustainable development programmes. We have also trained over 70+ student teachers/teachers-in-training who have come up with 70 solutions to solve educational challenges in underserved communities and develop the skills to be 21st-century and transformative teachers. Awarded seven grants of up to N650,000 to seven student teachers who came up with innovative education solutions to solve an educational challenge in underserved communities. We also embarked on a rural education campaign with over 200+ youth activities that leveraged social media to share stories and messages to advocate for quality education in under-served communities. Provided nine scholarships to children in underserved communities. Six of those scholarships are for primary education while three of them were awarded to participants of Skill2Rural Bootcamp to help them transition into university and cover their university costs.
Personally, I have won the U.S Consular General Award as the best fellow during my Carrington Fellowship year, where myself and four others got a $5,000 grant to train teachers in low-income private schools on contemporary pedagogies and innovative teaching methodologies. I also won the MasterCard Foundation Scholarship where I completed an MSc degree in Africa and International Development at the University of Edinburgh. I was selected for the Western Union Foundation Fellowship by Watson Institute, Melton Foundation Global Solvers Accelerator, University of Pennsylvania Global Social Impact House Fellowship, Top 25 Face of Education in Africa, Ideation Hub Talent of the Future, Africa; Winner of the Education Track, Ithra Tanween Mega Challenge, Saudi Arabia and many more. I was also invited to the UNESCO headquarters in Paris to speak about Skill2Rural Bootcamp and how I am providing access to 21st-century and alternative education in underserved communities in Nigeria. I have had 30+ recognitions and awards. I have published three books, The Africa I Dream to See; 5 Years: 10 Lessons Life Taught Me, and Career Wisdom: Ideas to Kickstart Your Career (coauthored with Abiodun Ajayi). I have achieved so many other things but I would leave it like this.
What advice or word of encouragement do you have for those who are yet to start off their passion?
I think it is not about finding passion but finding purpose. The result of pursuing a purpose is the burning passion that comes with it to continue to fulfill a purpose. Passion then now becomes the fuel. I would also add that as we find our purpose, we should be committed to the process and be present in what we choose to do because the opportunities of the future are in the present. The people who will take you to the next level are in the present. Those who will write your recommendation letters, advise you when you are down, put in a word for you and push you through are in the present. Do not be so attached to the future that you forget that the present matters. Be present and carefully chart your way to where you want to be.
