7 Leadership Development experts you should engage in 2022

One major secret to individual and organizational success is constant education and upskilling of management and staff. While hard skills are very important for work productivity, employees with soft skills which includes Leadership skills tend to achieve superior performance than those without them.

The concept of coaching in the 21st century has made this a possibility and is becoming a powerful tool for a high-performing workforce. In today’s competitive business age, it’s important for companies to have not just good leaders, but great ones.

If you want to be a better leader, then it’s important to engage top Leadership experts who will give you the right advice and propel you to greater heights. While there are lots of Leadership experts making waves in Nigeria, we have carefully selected a list of the 7 Leadership Development experts you should engage to boost your personal life, career or business.

 

Linus Okorie

Linus Okorie is a renowned leadership development coach and human capital development consultant. For over 20 years, Linus has been known as a relentless icon in the quest for good leadership in public and corporate governance in Nigeria. His vast experience in leadership coaching, mentoring and advocacy across the world for over two decades has distinguished him as a trusted name in leadership excellence.

He is the Founder and President, Guardians of the Nation International (GOTNI), a leadership development non-profit organization, which has developed 15 leadership brands to train and nurture youths, elected officials and the general public on effective leadership skills and values. Consistently, Linus Okorie has carved a niche as an authority in leadership development with a career development path defined by the principles of selfless service, dignity and integrity.

Since inception, Linus Okorie has piloted GOTNI to become Nigeria’s foremost leadership capital development organization including the establishment of GOTNI Leadership Centre (GLC) in Jabi, Abuja.

He is currently working towards building the much anticipated Global Leadership Centre at the Oguta lake, Imo State where excellent leaders will be groomed for the growth and development of Nigeria and the African continent.

He is pioneering the emergence of a new breed of well-equipped and competent leaders to filtrate the public and private sector hierarchies in Nigeria and the rest of Africa.

Linus Okorie has a Masters degree in Organizational Leadership from Regent University, Virginia Beach, USA. He is an alumnus of the International Visitors Program (IVLP) sponsored by the US government under the Department of State – a program that has produced 300 presidents of various countries since its inception.

Linus Okorie is also an alumnus of the Executive Leadership Education programme of Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, Boston, USA with a certification in The Act and Practice of Leadership Development.

In recognition of his exceptional contributions to leadership development, he has recently bagged 2 honorary doctoral degree awards and was inducted into the College of Fellows at the African Business School. He is board member of Imo State University alumni and many others.

Kemi Ogunkoya

KEMI OGUNKOYA FIMC, CMC is a renowned Leadership Development Strategist, Management Consultant, Author, Creator of The Dozen Model Leadership Framework and a member of the Forbes Business Council. For over a decade, she has conducted and facilitated high impact leadership development workshops across; Africa, North America and Asia. She delivers Keynote speeches across Nigeria across public institutions, private institutions and educational institutions.

Kemi prides herself in the ability to help corporate organisations enjoy seamless leadership transitions and executive onboarding to eliminate deficiencies that invariably minimise their costs and let them focus on growth.

Kemi has been tagged the lioness of leadership development in Africa. She has helped over 7,000 business leaders and 90 organisations nationally and internationally create amazing results equipping businesses and their leaders with the appropriate leadership competence to effectively perform their jobs and businesses.

Kemi has rich experience across industries including but not limited to; Oil & Gas (Downstream), Aviation, Financial Services, Educational Sector, SMEs and the public sector. She has created some of the most remarkable transformations for her clients and has coached top African leaders and Fortune 500 leaders.

She is an alumna of The Said Business School, University of Oxford, She is a Certified Management Consultant, a Masters Neuro-Linguistics Programming Practitioner certified by the INLP Centre in California, USA and an Emotional Intelligence Certified Specialist. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Education & Economics from the University of Ibadan and has an MBA in Management Consultancy from the University of Wales, Cardiff UK.

Kemi has received several awards, most recently; the Role Model of the Year 2020 and The Eloy Awards Female Entrepreneur of The Year 2020, She has been recognised by the African Chamber of Commerce and Industry for her role and contribution to youth development in Africa. Kemi has been featured in multiple media both nationally and internationally and is a regular contributor on Forbes.com.

Kemi is also the Co-Founder of SpeakersHQ; a speaker’s bureau company. She is the Chairman board of trustees of The PowerWoman Network and The Lead Africa Now Initiative. Through the Lead Africa Now Initiative, Kemi is equipping 1,000,000 African leaders with leadership skills.

She is the convener of the Business Edge Workshop, Leadership Guardian Summit and the Aspire Conference. She is a mentor on The Cherie Blair Foundation. Kemi is the author of The Leadership Guardian, Goal Mastery Book and Magical Pills. Kemi is a recipient of the Eloy Entrepreneur of the year in 2020. She also became a member of Forbes business council same year.

 

Remi Dairo

Remi Dairo is the President of the Institute of Productivity and Business Innovation Management (IPBIM) a globally focused African institution of productivity and innovation learning. The institution is in partnerships with some of the world’s best institutions around the globe.

Remi’s passion for a productive and innovative nation sparked up different brainstorming and strategy sessions with his team; researching into different dimensions towards solving Africa’s most daunting challenges; productivity and innovation in the contemporary realities, eventually the birth of the School of Productivity in 2007 with thousands of graduates all over the world and later got upgraded to Institute of Productivity and Business Innovation Management (IPBIM) in 2016.

Remi’s books “Product-Activity: 12 keys to unleash human performance” and “Workers Companion” with the 4k productivity method have been widely read and applied in the workplace globally. His new book; Improving Organisational Productivity: Defining Philosophy, Product, Process and People that he co-authored with John Heap; President of World Confederation Productivity Science is on high demand on Amazon.

Remi developed a Personal Productivity Program (PPP); a software that helps people to find their personal productivity capacity in life, business and career!

He has been featured on various international and local media on different ‘Productivity’ programs such as Channels Television, TV Continental Intl, The Punch, The Guardian, The Sun, New Telegraph, The Nation, Thisday, Business Day, Star FM, Nigeria Info, Radio Continental, Metro FM, amongst others.

He was a voice from Africa on issues of productivity and innovation at the Nigeria/UK Diaspora Conference in the United Kingdom and World Productivity Congress, Halifax, Canada and he was the only African who spoke at the World Productivity Congress held in Bahrain in 2017 amongst many other conferences within and outside the continent of Africa!

He is the chairman Kemi Remi-Dairo Hearing Foundation based a NGO based in Nigeria and the US, He is a board member, Life Coaches Association of Nigeria (LCAN) and Passion House International. He was awarded Global Productivity Researcher by the World Confederation of Productivity Science (At the World Productivity Congress, 2017). He was also award recently amongst few coaching in Nigeria; Master Coach Award in honour of his contribution to the coaching industry in Nigeria 2019.

 

Adaora Ayoade

Adaora Ayoade is an accomplished executive and leadership coach.

She is also the CEO of EZ37 Solutions Ltd, a leading HR consulting firm—accredited by the International Coaching Federation (ICF)—that provides certification in professional coaching.

EZ37 Solutions offers a variety of services which include Coaching, Human Resources (Learning & Development, Recruitment, Background Verifications), Business Consulting & Advisory, Capital Solutions and Government & Public Sector Solutions.

Adaora is the current President and Board Member of the Nigeria chapter of the International Coaching Federation, which is the leading and largest organization of professional coaches globally, with a presence in 148 countries.

She has over 20 years of senior-level experience in facilitation, team development, and coaching combined, as well as corporate coaching across various sectors.

Adaora is a Credentialed Professional Certified Coach (PCC) by the International Coaching Federation and is a certified trainer with the International Finance Corporation (a member of the World Bank Group).

She is also a member of the Global Coach Training Community Leadership Team of the International Coaching Federation (ICF). As a result, she is one of three global Co-Leaders and represents Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA). In this role Adaora contributes to a rich arena of continuous knowledge sharing on leading edge practices, developing trends, tools and tips for the providers of coach training to advance their professional development and deepen their subject matter expertise.

She has an international client base and excels at transforming high-potential individuals into dynamic leaders. Adaora has coached numerous individuals, teams and groups across different levels of the leadership cadre to articulate their vision, goals, and career objectives. Adaora specializes in enhancing employee engagement within organizations.

Adaora’s educational achievements and qualifications include a Harvard Business School Programme, an MBA from Business School Netherlands, and an MSc and BSc from the University of Ibadan. She is also a member of various National and International institutes and associations including the Institute of Directors, International Coaching Federation, Chartered Institute of Personnel Management, and Society for Human Resource Management.

 

Fela Durotoye

Fela DUROTOYE is the Founder/CEO of the GEMSTONE Group, a Leadership Development Institution aimed at building & empowering a generation of exemplary leaders who would be committed to national development as they attain personal & professional excellence.

Fela is an Executive Leadership Coach, a Business Management Consultant, and an Inspirational Speaker.

As an Executive Leadership Coach, Fela is renowned for helping leaders attain clarity, around their core essence, vision & mission. As a Business Consultant, he is known to help leadership teams align around a common strategy.

He has a unique command of inspirational leadership that enables even the most successful executives & workforce of organizations to aspire to exceed their collective goals to greater heights beyond their perceived boundaries of possibilities.

Fela has garnered over 27 years experience of coaching CEOs & consulting for organizations to enable them to achieve Exponential Business Growth in their Key Performance areas.

The list of corporate clients in the private sector that have been assisted by Fela Durotoye in their quest for phenomenal service leadership culture and corporate transformation management vary through different sectors of the economy.

He is a guest lecturer on LEADERSHIP at the prestigious STANFORD UNIVERSITY- Seed program to CEO’s of businesses with operations across the African Continent.

He presently sits on the board of several companies across the spectrum of Nigerian’s economic space.

However, at the core of his heart, Fela defines himself as a Nation Builder & he has been at the forefront of the movement to build a New Nigeria for over a decade. He is renowned for history-making on the national and global stage and is the recipient of several social, industry and national awards for his leadership development and Nation Building activities.

He graduated Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Computer Science with Economics, as well as a master’s degree in Business Administration (M.B.A).

He also an Alumnus of Kennedy School of Government Executive Education program of the prestigious Harvard University, Boston Massachusetts as well as attended High impact Leadership for a better society Program at the prestigious Yale University, New Haven (Connecticut) and the Future Candidate Program at The Leadership Institute, Arlington (Virginia) all in the United States of America.

 

Sam Adeyemi

Pastor Sam Adeyemi is founder, Daystar Leadership Academy from where he has trained thousands of people in leadership for more than two decades. He is a pastor, teacher, author and life coach and serves as the senior pastor of Daystar Christian Centre where he is on a mission to raise men and women who would become role models in society.

He is also principal consultant of Sam Adeyemi GLC, Inc., a leading global leadership

consulting company located in Atlanta, USA. The consulting firm focuses on raising high impact leaders to shape the fortunes and destinies of nations.

A global conference speaker, Adeyemi has addressed first class audiences in key centres around the world, including the Global Leadership Summit, a global conference attended by over 400,000 leaders from 130+ countries. He is a mentor to hundreds of CEOs in Nigeria and around the world.

Adeyemi is co-founder of Real Estate Africa League, Real Estate for Real People TrustBravehearts Centre – a kingdom advancement platform,Let’s Play Ten-Ten Ltd/Gte, a social enterprise involved in developing shared prosperity across Africa through entrepreneurship development and socially inclusive education.

He is renowned as a prodigious executive, entrepreneurial and life coach, first-rate learning professional and a passionate proponent of the #ProsperityParadigm. Through the optimization of potentials, the platform is organized as an alternative worldview to effectively tackle poverty – which is the number one goal of the United Nation’s Millennium Development Goals as well as the World Bank’s major challenge.

He is a Harvard University Certified Consultant, NCFE (UK) Certified Coach, Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist [Managing Projects] and New Media Strategist trained as an International Youth Foundation/Samsung scholar at the School of Media & Communications of Pan-Atlantic University where he was president of the SRD Class of 2010.

He is Development Knowledge Facilitator trained by the British Council, World Bank and the Federal Government. He also holds a Nigerian Institute of Management [Chartered] Certificate of Proficiency in Management with a distinction in small business management.

He is a principal consultant at forbes.com and focuses on executive coaching, leadership and business growth. He is the author of many books some of which are The Second Revolution, Wonders of Imagination, Think and Succeed, Start with What You Have, Ideas Rule the World, Success is Who You Are, Power to Achieve Success, Unlock Your Future and lots more.

Niyi Adesanya

Niyi Adesanya started his professional career in 2005, he has spoken in over 100 tertiary institutions and delivered keynote speeches to top officials of various institutions, including multinationals like Chevron Corporation, 9mobile (Etisalat), First Bank and the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators of Nigeria, where he had the privilege of training senior lawyers from across the country on public speaking and presentation.

Niyi is in partnership with a leading telecoms company toured over 80 Higher institutions across 30 states of Nigeria speaking to an average of 2000 youths per occasion.Niyi is also a Consultant, Entrepreneur, Founder of The Speaker Academy, Marketplace Academy and Chief Executive Officer, FifthGear Plus; an avant-garde Consulting, Recruiting and Publishing firm with the mandate to help organisations optimise their corporate potential, with clients including at least one of top three organization in major sectors of the economy.

In April 2012, he led his company Fifthgear Consulting, in a rigorous presentation that won them a vendor ship at the newly established First Academy, the training arm of First Bank Plc. Between June to December 2012, he and his team of facilitators have conducted 11 different courses for the academy in different parts of the country Also at First Bank, he gave motivational talks to the credit and risk department and operations department in 4 different regions.

His accomplishments regularly attracts attention of the media, evidenced by the series of interviews with leading News Paper houses such as This Day, Punch, Daily Independence, The Sun and Networth magazine. He also is a regular columnist in DreamWorks, an Entrepreneur and Business Magazine. He features regularly on leading Television Programs such as The Patitos Gang, Kakaki on AIT and the Funmi Iyanda show where he speaks on the subject which he is widely known for.

He is the author of three dynamic books, THE SPEAKER, LEADERSHIP QUADRANT, and INDIVIDUAL COMPETITIVENESS: The Blueprint for Peak Performance.
Leadership Quadrant talks about the keys to personal, corporate and national transformation.

This book showcased different outstanding individuals like Nelson Mandela, Aliko Dangote, and institutions like Walmart, Etisalat Nigeria to mention a few, on how they used different principles in Leadership to rejuvenate their life cycle.

Individual Competitiveness is a blueprint for peak performance which provides various strategies that inform the journey of an individual out of normalcy into discovery, efficiency and peak productive level.

The Speaker is a practical guide to creative speaking and presentation which contains valuable and practical information about the art of public speaking in every sector of the economy. The book also takes the reader through a step-by-step process with colorfully illustrated pages that stimulates the reader’s imagination.

Niyi Adesanya has won numerous awards which includes Honorary Membership, Junior Chambers International (JCI), Honorary Membership, the Rotary Family, ‘The most Promising Youth Leader’ from Growth Impact and Teenagers Digest Magazine.