By the time Toyin Akinniyi walks into the room, calm, observant, and unmistakably grounded, you sense a woman who has spent her life listening deeply. To people, but also to the shifting tides of power, politics, and possibility.

Today, she is one of Africa’s most respected voices in philanthropy and global development. But long before she began influencing policy, leading multimillion-dollar civic initiatives, and shaping digital governance conversations across the continent, Toyin started somewhere…

“I never planned to be in development,” she says with a quiet laugh. “As I studied for my first degree in English, I wanted to tell stories and understand people. I wanted to tell stories that matter, stories that change the status quo.” But after my Youth Service between 2004 and 2005 in Madagali, Adamawa State, I was sure I wanted to influence policy and society’s outcomes at scale, which led me to pivot into the development space, which I chose to learn about through my Master’s in Peace and Conflict Studies. But I continue to love storytelling…”

This knack for storytelling and quiet resolve to influence policy and societal change at scale would later change the course of her life.

The Making of a Civic Leader (Early Years and Education)

Born on 23 April, 1981 in Ikeja, Lagos, Nigeria, Toyin’s earliest dreams revolved around writing, teaching, and challenging broken systems, including as a lawyer and journalist. She and her family of six lived in Lagos, where she attended primary schools – GT Nursery and Primary School in Surulere and Ajelogo Primary School in Ketu, Lagos. Her family then moved to Ibadan in late 1989, following her father’s demise, and Toyin would then complete her primary school education at St. Matthias Primary School in Ibadan.

For her secondary school, she attended Abadina College within the University of Ibadan, graduating in 1997. She went on to earn a B.A. in English in 2004 and later an M.A. in Peace and Conflict Studies in 2008, both from the University of Ibadan.

She holds a Certificate in Artificial Intelligence from the Said Business School, University of Oxford, a Certificate in Impact Investing at the Graduate School of Business, University of Cape Town. She also has a Certificate in Reversing the Resource Curse: Policy and Practice from the Central European University, a Certificate in Communication for Development from the Caribbean Institute of Media and Communication, and a Certificate in Journalism from the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria.

Career

Between 2006 and 2008, Toyin taught Literature to IJMB students as a part-time lecturer at the Polytechnic Ibadan. She also had a stint at the Information Aid Network (IFANet), where she started her foray into the non-profit space, working on health, gender, ICT-for-development, and market development projects. She also had a stint at the Policy and Fix Nigeria units of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, where she researched the intersection of conflict, development and corruption, and supported the design and delivery of citizens’ awareness projects.

In 2009, she started pursuing her passion for communications and journalism through media development, specifically in investigative reporting, beginning at the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism, where she contributed to shaping a culture of investigative reporting in Nigeria, including through her management of the annual award for investigative journalism, the annual media lecture series, the House-to-House project to set up investigative reporting desks in newsrooms, and she designed the Report Women project.

“That experience opened my eyes to the kind of power journalism holds,” she recalls. “Investigative reporting isn’t just about exposing wrongdoing. It is about strengthening society, protecting citizens, and giving voice to those whose lives are shaped by decisions far beyond their control.”

Her work soon caught the attention of global governance institutions. At the Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI), where she moved on to from the WSCIJ, Toyin designed and managed a fellowship – an annual learning and practice opportunity for mid-senior level journalists dedicated to oil sector governance in Nigeria – as part of a broader Media for Oil Reform programme. She had also developed a platform for Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning for NRGI’s global media development work while contributing to the book, Covering Extractives. She managed media development programmes across Africa, helping journalists dig deeper into Big Oil corruption and natural resource governance, and managed diverse stakeholders – government, civil society and media partners – working within the resource governance sector in Nigeria.

“Through this media development work that spanned over 11 years, I realised that the challenges we were supporting the media to report on were bigger than any one newsroom,” she says. “They were systemic. Political. Economic. Global.”

And so began her shift.

Leaving these media development roles didn’t mean leaving storytelling or the media. Instead, Toyin carried her journalistic instincts into every room she walked into, rooms filled with policymakers, global donors, civil society leaders, and young activists fighting for a fairer world.

By this time, her programme management and development sector leadership had covered multi-stakeholder management, investigative journalism, media development, communications and advocacy, gender, ICT4D, HIV/AIDS and health awareness and advocacy, and market development.

“Every role taught me something new,” she says. “Development is about systems, but it’s also about people. And people need to be seen, heard, and their agency supported.”

Years later, her leadership would deepen through her foray into the philanthropy sector and through major collaborative initiatives such as the Nigeria Youth Futures Fund, Africa No Filter, the Joint Civic Defence Fund, the Nigeria AI Collective, and the West Africa Democracy Fund.

These initiatives tackled issues ranging from youth civic innovation to narrative change, to the protection of civic space and the strengthening of democracy and good governance in increasingly digital societies.

At the Intersection of Technology and Justice

Today, as the Regional Director for Africa at Luminate, Toyin leads the foundation’s work in Africa at the intersection of technology, socio-economic justice, and democratic participation.

Her philanthropic portfolio spans digital governance, socio-economic justice, shaping a healthy information ecosystem, and efforts to ensure that citizens, especially young people, women, and historically marginalised and vulnerable people, can participate in decisions that affect them and be able to do so safely and meaningfully. Through her visionary leadership and ethos of collaboration, she has led the birthing of Africa’s first Artificial Intelligence Collective – an ecosystem of technologists, researchers, innovators and governance experts, including Nigerians at home and in the diaspora, shaping AI research, innovation and governance. She also led philanthropic investment in Makemation, Africa’s first film on Artificial Intelligence, which demonstrates the promise of AI and invites us all to imagine this potential as the reason why ethics, human rights and inclusion need to attend AI development and deployment.

“I think a lot about the future,” she says. “What does innovation or justice look like in a world shaped by algorithms? How do we build a digital future that protects, rather than exploits, Africans? How do we ensure Africa’s youths, researchers, innovators, governance experts aren’t left behind?”

She speaks not as an outsider, but as someone who has spent nearly two decades helping citizen groups, media houses, women, and communities navigate precisely those questions.

The Journalist Who Never Stopped Asking Questions

Even as a leader in philanthropy, Toyin’s journalistic instincts remain her compass. She still asks questions that cut to the heart of democracy and human dignity:

• What does meaningful participation look like – for women, for youth, for people living with disability?
• How do communities build resilience against shrinking civic spaces?
• Who gets left out of digital governance conversations—and why?
• What is the role of philanthropy and the donor community as a whole in all these?

“It goes back to storytelling,” she says. “Whether you’re writing a feature, designing an organisational strategy, designing policies, developing tech tools, or leading a movement, the question is the same: Whose interest and story are we centring, and how are we shaping the future, one conscious narrative, one impact after another?”

She is a Stanford Draper Hills Fellow (now called the Fisher Family Fellowship), a renowned speaker, an organisational governance expert and published author. Her writing has appeared in African Arguments, The Guardian, Alliance Magazine, The East African, Premium Times, and in several books, including African Muckraking: 75 Years of Investigative Journalism from Africa; Remaking Nigeria: Sixty Years, Sixty Voices; Her Story: Taking Root, Sparking Change.

Across all these works, her voice is unmistakable: steady, courageous, inspiring, and relentlessly focused on leadership, innovation, justice, good governance, and human flourishing.

A Life Rooted in Mentorship and Community

Away from boardrooms and policy discussions, Toyin finds solace in the quiet things – coffee, long walks, music, and travel. She is deeply family-oriented, cherishing time with her nuclear family of four and with the larger family, including her many nieces and nephews.

And mentorship remains one of her greatest passions.

“I’ve benefitted from people who believed in me even before I believed in myself,” she says. “Now it’s my turn to do the same for others.” Apart from my small circle of mentees, I am starting a women-in-leadership circle where we can all enjoy peer mentorship, wholesome inter-generational learning conversations, and just be human.

The Path Forward

As Africa faces rising digital authoritarianism, information disorder, economic inequality, and civic instability, Toyin Akinniyi stands at a critical intersection, one where strategic leadership, philanthropy and impact investing, independent journalism, inclusive governance, technology innovation and social impact converge.

Her journey is a reminder that careers are rarely linear. Sometimes they start with a single story. Sometimes with a question. And sometimes with a woman who believes that society can be better if its people are empowered to shape it.

“I am still that young student of English Literature with journalism and storytelling ambition,” she says. “Still curious. Still hopeful. Still asking how we can build a world where everyone has the chance to thrive.”

In a world in constant flux, Toyin’s story proves that leadership is less about the positions we hold and more about the courage we bring—and the futures we imagine.