Financing the Education Gap: Can African Countries Afford their SDG 4 Benchmarks?

Hakeem Subair is the CEO and Cofounder of 1 Million Teachers.

The 1 Million Teachers program is a reward-based teacher development initiative aimed at building a critical mass of highly trained educators to address the teacher deficit, primarily in Sub-Saharan Africa.

He is also an adjunct professor and student advisor specializing in innovation, change management, and entrepreneurship.

Folasade’s main focus as the Commissioner for Education is to provide equitable education for all children in the State irrespective of socio-economic status, gender or ability. Before she was appointed a Commissioner under the Governor Babajide Olusola Sanwoolu government in August 2019, she was the Principal Consultant/CEO of Leading Learning Limited, an educational consultancy firm that she set up.

Folasade has over 40 years of working experience spanning banking operations, organizational restructuring, human resource management, international trade and education. She retired from Corona Schools’ Trust Council in 2014 after twelve years of service firstly, as Executive Director and CEO for 8 years and subsequently as Director of Corona Secondary School, Agbara. After she started her own consulting practice, Folasade consulted for public and private schools, state governments, NGO’s and development partners. Her areas of passion and professional focus include student learning, teacher training, leadership training, school set-up and school transformation.

She is deeply concerned about the learning crisis in the Nigerian education sector and has volunteered to work with the Federal Government and various state governments in transforming public education. In 2017, she took up an appointment with the State of Osun where she managed a mega school – Osogbo Government High School. She also worked with a school management group in supporting the implementation of PPP initiative for managing public schools.

In line with her passion, Folasade has also been engaged in voluntary work with the Federal Nigeria Society for the Blind, Volunteer Corps, Bridge International Academies and various school boards.
Folasade is a Merit Award winner of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and a University Scholar of the University of Ibadan and obtained Distinctions at both the iPGCE and MA Education programmes of the University of Nottingham.

Ms. Bunmi Lawson is the pioneer Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of EDFIN Microfinance Bank Limited. EDFIN prides itself as the first specialized Education Microfinance Bank with unique and well researched products and services tailored to cater for the needs of its customers and the Education Ecosystem. EDFIN Microfinance Bank under the eminent leadership of Bunmi Lawson officially commenced operations in April 2019 with its registered office at Surulere Lagos State and has projections to grow into a globally recognized bank of choice for education financial solutions in Africa. Its shareholders include Gray Matters Capital, an investment company based in the USA.

Ms. Lawson holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration from the IESE Business School, University of Navarra and is an alumnus of the Lagos Business School. She is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria and a Member of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria. She is also a Fellow of the following Institutes: Institute of Credit Administration of Nigeria, Institute of Credit & Collections Management of Nigeria and Association of Investment Advisers & Portfolio Managers of Nigeria.

She is a Board Director in the following companies: Enhancing Financial Innovation & Access (EFInA), Trium Venture Capital Limited and formerly on the board of CRC credit bureau Limited; She is an Advisory Board Member of Bridge International Academies, Nigeria; Vice President, Women in Finance, Nigeria and a member of the Board Trustees Fintech Association of Nigeria.

She has attended several executive courses both locally and internationally at renowned institutions including Harvard Business School, INSEAD and the Boulder Institute for Microfinance and has successfully completed the CBN/CIBN Microfinance Certification Programme. She has presented several lectures/speeches both locally and internationally on Microfinance and other areas of capacity building for small scale industries and young entrepreneurs, SME Financing as well as been part of special workgroups on various issues for the development of the Nigerian economy.

Prior to joining EDFIN, Bunmi was the Managing Executive Director of ACCION Microfinance Bank, one of the largest Microfinance Bank in Nigeria, FATE Foundation Ltd/Gte, a leading business development service provider, a co-owner and Executive Director of VLA Lawrence & Associates, a Human Resources services organization and has over 34 years post graduate experience in finance, insurance, marketing, auditing and banking.

She is a mother with 2 lovely adult children.

Elvis Boniface is an Education Evangelist; an inquirer, learner and Educator passionate about changing the education narrative in Africa because he believes education is a goldmine that never runs out of gold. Learning is his lifestyle, credo and religion.

He’s the founder of Edugist, a newsroom, research centre and lab giving education a voice in Africa by providing insights and interventions through reforms, technology and innovation in education. He works at the intersection of education and technology using the media as overarching and veritable tool to change the education narrative. He is the Convener of the Nigeria Student Venture Prize, the first and only student venture prize in Nigeria that identify the talent and technology of tomorrow and empower them to take their ideas to the next level.