TOYOSI AKERELE-OGUNSIJI

Founder, Rise Networks Toyosi Akerele-Ogunsiji is a Technology Education Professional with an impressive background in law, human capital development and social enterprise. With over 16years of experience under her belt serving across the private, public and social sectors, she has played a significant role in shaping the strategy and operations of various industries and now actively works in fields of EdTech, artificial intelligence, data science and public policy management. She was named by Forbes as one of the 20 most Powerful Young Women in Africa. In 2023, Toyosi was named one of the Top 30 Global Artificial Intelligence Ambassadors by the World’s Leading AI Network, Swiss Cognitive and was appointed an Expert in the UNDP AI4Dev Reference Group.

A PhD Candidate at the Nigerian Defence Academy researching on the intersection of Defense, Digital Transformation, National and Economic Security, a Fellow of the Aspen Institute’s Global Leadership Network, an author of 2 Books, Toyosi is an Edward Mason Fellow who holds a Master in Public Administration from the Harvard University John F Kennedy School of Government. She is the Founder of RISE NETWORKS, a leading Data Science, Analytics and Artificial Intelligence Powered Learning, Research and Work Readiness School in Lagos, Nigeria. Rise Networks owns The Rise Labs where projects & products are prototyped around Emerging Technologies and Disruptive Innovation in the realms of STEM, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Internet of Things & Advanced Analytics. They designed and built the first career Job Chat bot in West Africa which has been listed as part of the AI Mentoring in the Workplace Working Group of the United Nations AI for Good Project.

She has served as a Judge and Mentor on several high-profile Competitions including the MIT Educator Program Entrepreneurship Demo Day at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Nescafe Get Started Africa Program. She is a previous winner of the Future Awards Prize for Advocacy and the Crans Montana New Leaders of Tomorrow.

Toyosi is also the Founder of Passnownow.com, Nigeria’s foremost web and 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. They also operate a robust STEM Curriculum on coding, engineering, app development, robotics, drone design, artificial intelligence etc. to position
Children and Teens for global opportunities. Passnownow has delivered over 12 Million Lessons and roughly about the same number of tests to the students and teachers who use the platform and with a steady weekly 82% incremental growth in terms of its user base and daily inbound registrations, it has users from 32 states covering the 6 geopolitical zones of Nigeria. It has now recently extended its scope of work into the testing and exploration of the design and development of product-driven STEM programs for its target audience.

She studied Strategic Management at Executive Education Level at Cambridge University’s Judge Business School, obtained a Certificate in Youth Inclusive Financial Services and Sustainable Microenterprise Development Program from University of New Hampshire, Durham, USA, holds a Certificate in Media Enterprise from the School of Media and Communication, Pan Atlantic University and an Executive Masters’ Certificate in Project Management from The Project Management College. She also 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. An alumnus of the United States Government’s Prestigious International Visitor Leadership Program, she is a trusted & revered Industry Leader who has delivered Keynotes and speeches on various aspects of EdTech and Artificial Intelligence in various Countries around the world including the AI Safety Summit of the UK Government at Bletchley Park, Milton Keynes, England, the Global Artificial Intelligence Summit in Saudi Arabia, the Harvard Business School Africa Business Conference, Global Education and Skills Forum Summit in the United Arab Emirates, eLearning Africa in Cairo Egypt, the AI Safety Summit hosted by the Government of the United Kingdom to mention a few and is a leading Thought Leader on Digital Transformation and Public Sector Innovation.