Dr Titilola Banjoko – Chair
Dr Titilola Banjoko currently works as an executive director in the NHS. She has a clinical background. She successfully pioneered the formation of AfricaRecruit and FindaJobinAfrica.com. She serves on the council of the Royal African Society; Trustee of Tropical Health and Education Trust, and a Fellow of the Nigerian Leadership Initiative where she serves on its executive board. In 2006 she was named as one of the Pride of a continent: Africa’s gifts to the world, she has received numerous awards and endorsements over the last 10 years.
Dr Lisa Smith – Treasurer
Lisa was previously a Director at Unilever Ventures leading their sustainable investment practice for 8 years, and was founder EIR at the RCA Dyson Incubator. She was the first female Chief Engineer in Africa: building and operating factories for Unilever; she then joined McKinsey, practicing lean operations in NA and EU. Lisa is a sustainability consultant and advisor for Unilever, advisor and faculty lead for CISL (Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership). Lisa has won numerous leadership, innovation & IT awards most recently as UK Women in IT Mentor of the year. Lisa has an MBA from Harvard Business School, an MSc in Bio-Mechanics and a PhD in Mechanical Engineering.
Joy Fraser- Amosun
Joy is a chartered accountant with over 20 years senior level experience in financial management, internal control and compliance. She has over 10 years’ experience in the insurance industry having worked in leading global Insurance companies in the UK. Currently she in the Compliance Monitoring and Testing team where she is responsible for compliance and regulatory audits of companies in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA). Her other experiences have been within professional accounting firms providing a variety of audit and management consultancy services.
Sakaria Ali
Sakaria is a Consultant Community Paediatrician in the community trust for London Borough of Camden and University College London Hospitals. He is Designated Doctor in Child Protection in Camden. He studied medicine at the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health and the Hull York Medical School.
Vanessa Thomas
Vanessa has over 7 years-experience in the charity sector, specialising in participatory and power shifting grant making and management, project/programme management, and people management. She has expertise in feminist philanthropy, with experience managing global, multi-million- pound programmes. She is committed to youth development, racial equity and African led development.
Kadra Abdinasir
Kadra Abdinasir is Associate Director for Children and Young People’s Mental Health at Centre for Mental Health. She leads the Centre’s research and policy in this area to help improve the lives of children and young people. She is also Strategic Lead for the Children and Young People’s Mental Health Coalition, a network of nearly 250 organisations. Outside of work, Kadra is a committee member at #CharitySoWhite, a campaign calling on the sector to take lead in rooting out racism in their organisation and beyond. She is also a Youth Board Member for young people’s mental health charity Beyond and a fellow of the RSA. Kadra has nearly a decade of experience working with children and young people, specialising in youth policy, research and engagement.
