Temitayo Otekpen Etomi

Temitayo Otekpen Etomi is a lawyer, marketing consultant and social entrepreneur that began her career at the age of 17 as a paralegal officer at the Law Offices of George Etomi & Partners. She proceeded to study law at the University of Lagos, Nigeria and then obtained her marketing education at Columbia Business School, New York.

During her college years, Temitayo Otekpen Etomi established Positive Impact Network, a youth organisation created to harness the potential of young Nigerians towards developmental goals and also anchored several youth-related initiatives, including “Project Vote”, a youth mobilisation campaign geared towards inspiring young people to participate in the electoral process. She also served as a consultant to the Nigerian government on the development of a National Youth Policy in 2003.

In 2010, Etomi established Redwire Marketing Group, a group of marketing companies with offices in Lagos and London, but took a sabbatical (in 2012) to serve as the General Manager of Operations at the Lagos State Signage & Advertisement Agency. At this government corporation, she was responsible for managing the organization’s strategy design and implementation, as well as serving as the Project Director of the Lagos Countdown End of Year Celebrations.

Upon completion of the Mandela Washington Fellowship, she returned to Redwire Group and then also founded the Young Business Leaders of Nigeria, where she replicated an adapted version of the Mandela Washington Fellowship in Nigeria, with the aim of reducing unemployment by enhancing the capacity of entrepreneurs in that country to create jobs. The organization has a network of more than 40,000 young Nigerians and continues to support young Nigerians to create jobs at scale.