AGORA Fellowship launches capital arm as 12 fellows join alumni community - The Guardian Nigeria News

A Christian leadership and institution-building initiative, AGORA Fellowship, has officially launched its third pillar, AGORA Capital, which focuses on providing capital and strategic support to viable institutions and Christian entrepreneurs.

However, 12 graduates of its pioneer fellowship cohort were inducted yesterday into the AGORA Alumni Community.

It would be recalled that milestones were achieved at the second edition of the AGORA summit held in Lagos.

The summit brought together Christian polymaths, investors, business leaders andinstitution builders to discuss leadership, institution building, collaboration, and capital mobilisation.

Founder and Convener of AGORA, Prof. Akin Akinpelu, who spoke at the event where David Food was appointed Chairman of AGORA Capital, said effective leadership goes beyond personal influence.

“Leadership is not only about personal influence. It is also about what we build, who we bring together and what remains after we are gone,” he said.

The 12 Fellows, drawn from across Nigeria’s geopolitical zones, completed a nine-month programme that combined spiritual formation, leadership development, mentorship, peer learning and institutional strengthening.

As part of the Fellowship, participants developed capstone projects aimed at addressing challenges in education, legal literacy, gender-based violence, youth development, entrepreneurship, correctional care and environmental, social and governance (ESG) compliance.

AGORA said the projects had collectively reached more than 5,000 people across the country.

One of the Fellows, Samuel Oladehinde Agboola, developed a character-development programme for junior secondary school students, with 19 of its first 21 participants completing the programme.

Itunu Kolade-Faseyi led legal-literacy training on gender-based violence at Caleb University, reaching 142 students, while Enifome Ogbimi’s trauma-informed resilience programme has supported more than 2,000 women over five years.

Also, one of the inaugural Fellows, Omotolani Oyekunle, said the programme challenged participants to consider their influence beyond their individual careers.