About Me
I am Akor, an academic and a consultant with over a decade professional experience in identifying, designing and implementing multiple projects and learning experiences that seeks to achieve triple bottom line (people, planet and profit) for businesses: My interests lie within the following areas:
- Startup Alternative Financing
- Institutions and startup growth
- Business Accelerators and Incubators
- Circular Business Models
- New Venture Strategy
- Training & Capacity Development
Music
Travel
Movie
Sports
Professional Experiences
Over the past decade, I have worked with diverse organisations, including academic institutions, foundations, startups and Small & Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs). By working with organisations across Nigeria, Ghana, Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda, Botswana, Germany, Austria and the United States, I bring a multicultural perspective and extensive international experience to the teams I work with, ensuring the successful delivery of set targets and milestones.
College of Business, University of Louisville, Kentucky, USA.
Graduate Research Assistant August 2024 – Present
Vanguard Economics. Kigali, Rwanda.
Head of Corporate Services January 2023 – July 2024
- Co-developed and managed a highly visible organisational-wide transformation strategy and plan to ensure business sustainability.
- Designed the annual operational roadmap across business development, communications, human resources and finance teams in the company.
- Expanded operations and managed company incorporation in a new market - Kampala, Uganda.
- Provided oversight for incorporation of holding company and a subsidiary company
- Established partnerships with Rhodes University South Africa.
- Provided inputs on special projects within Research Capacity Development, SMEs Development and Entrepreneurship.
African Leadership University (ALU). Kigali, Rwanda.
Entrepreneurship Faculty. July 2020 – December 2022
- Designing and facilitating year 2 and year 3 modules: Introduction to Ventures ( ENTR-RW-20315-1), Introduction to Global Challenges (ENTR-RW- 20215-1), New Venture Management (INBT-RW-30515-1) and Business Operations and Management (INBT-RW-20715-1).
- Supervised 12+ undergraduate capstone Projects.
- Business Incubator Coach at Social Enterprise Growth Lab (SEGL).
Wit21 Hub, Ibadan-Nigeria.
Research Lead.July 2018 –May 2020
- Developed entrepreneurial programs for children/teenagers in Cross River, Adamawa, Enugu and Oyo States in Nigeria.
- Established Partnerships with Character Scotland in implementing the Inspiring Purpose project in Nigeria.
Integrated Ekodev System Konsults. Calabar, Nigeria.
Research Associate. December 2016 – July 2018.
- Support in design of research project proposals.
- Field data collection, coding, cleaning, and analysis.
Consultancy Projects
Impact Hub. Kigali, Rwanda. Circular Business Model Consultant
Project: Africa & Middle East Regional Workshop
- Designed and facilitated a session on Introduction to Circular Economy and Circular Business Models.
Project: Circular Economy Acceleration Program
- Coach at Circular Economy Acceleration Program: Organised coaching sessions to support the transition of Sanit Wings to embed Circular Economy principles in its product packaging.
Project:Ireme Invest Circular Economy Program
- Designed and organised coaching sessions to support the transition of 6 Start-up & growth stage SMEs to circularise their wastes.
Impact Hub GmbH, Austria. Consultant Facilitator
Project: Embedding Circularity Workshop Series.
- Designed and delivered three workshops that built the capacity of 18 entrepreneurship support organisations from Africa, Europe, Asia & North America.
- Utilised a range of approaches, technologies, and techniques to create a visually, stimulating, interactive & topically relevant learning experience.
African Green Growth & Development Forum (AGDF), Nigeria. Consultant Business Cluster Analyst.
Project:Setting a Green Economy Agenda, Linking Circular Economy and Natural Capital for Public-Private Partnership Investment.
- Circular economy business clusters & stakeholders’ management & analysis.
- Mapping & funding linkage analysis for circular businesses across Nigeria.
Project:Waste/Circular Economy (CE) Analysis for the Enhancement of Nigeria’s Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) 2021-2025
- Mapping of SMEs within Organic, Plastics, Medical and E-Waste sectors in Nigeria.
Energy for Impact, Kenya. Consultant Innovation Assessor.
Project: Afri-plastic challenge.
- Analysed and reported the feasibility of Rounds 1, 2 and 3 of the Afri-plastic challenge supporting innovators across Africa to eradicate plastic waste, marine pollution and empower women and girls in the blue economy.
Completed Projects
In my several roles across different organisations, I have a played a key role in the completion of the these recent projects with the following supporting publications for dissemination:
Awards
“85 th Academy of Management Conference”
A Best Reviewer for the Entrepreneurship Division
ALU Circular Economy Program (2021). Co-Principal Investigator (2022)
Project title
Assessing the circularity status of manufacturing companies in Kigali, Rwanda.ALU Circular Economy Program (2021). Co-Principal Investigator (2022)
Project title
Implementing circular economy and sustainability policies in Rwanda: Experiences of Rwandan manufacturers with the plastic ban policy.Africa Institute of South Africa and South African Human Sciences Research Council (2020).
Travel grant to the 14th African Young Graduate Scholars Conference at the University of Botswana.
Theme: Innovating for Sustainable Development: The Research-Practice-Policy Nexus.MAXQDA Research for Change fellowship, Berlin Germany. (2019).
Honourable Mention Award for MSc Thesis:
Impact of Credit Thrift Cooperatives on Financial Inclusion and Growth of Micro-Businesses of Women in Adamawa State.Embassy of France in Nigeria/French Research Institute in Africa (2018).
Research Grant for MSc Thesis:
Impact of Credit Thrift Cooperatives on Financial Inclusion and Growth of Micro-Businesses of Women in Adamawa State.Young African Leadership Initiative (YALI). 2017. YALI Leadership Award.
In recognition of outstanding leadership performance
among 120 fellows from the West African Sub- region.LEAP Africa. 2014
Social Innovators Programme Awards.
In recognition of the innovative efforts and remarkable impact in improving the lives of Nigerians at IYDEA -NigeriaBlog
As I journey along my professional path, I share my musings on this blog section of my website. I hope these reflective pieces inspire you on your own professional path as well. Welcome to my blog!
Welcome to my blog :)
I have always enjoyed reading blog posts by individuals who share their professional journeys and experiences. Their stories give me …
Get In Touch
Do you want us to collaborate on an upcoming project, panel discussion, podcast, delivery of keynote speech, or facilitating workshops within my areas of interest, feel free to get in touch.