Yomi Oloko
Project Director, Lagos, Nigeria
Yomi Oloko is a British born Nigerian with work experience both in the UK and Nigeria. He has over 25 years experience of supporting and empowering adolescents and young people.
He has worked as a teacher, social worker and trainer and facilitator, working with young people at risk of exclusion, resettling young offenders, and mediating in situations of conflict.
Yomi has a Postgraduate Certificate in (Interpersonal) Conflict Resolution and Mediation from the University of London, and since March 2005 he has worked as a trainer/facilitator in the UK, in the areas of Dealing Constructively with Conflict and Change; Mediation Skills Training; Emotional Literacy/Wellbeing; Assertiveness and Interpersonal Communication Skills Training and Effective Team Building and Group Work.
Before that, Yomi worked extensively in the field of Social Work for the London Boroughs of Enfield, Hackney, Haringey and Wandsworth. He held a variety of posts, including: Senior Parent Support Adviser; Education/Behaviour Improvement Specialist; Senior Primary School Learning Mentor; Leaving Care Social Worker and Senior Social Worker, (Adolescents with Challenging Behaviour Unit). Yomi also worked for ten years as a senior teacher and Assistant Head Teacher in various state secondary schools in Lagos, Nigeria.
Since 2000, Yomi has been actively involved in Development Impact for Nigeria (DIFN), as a founding Trustee. DIFN is a UK-based development agency, run by Nigerians in the UK and working mainly in Lagos, through its principal Nigerian partner, Ipaga Community Link.
Over the years, Yomi has regularly travelled from the UK to Nigeria to run capacity building workshops and training courses and in February 2008 he relocated to Nigeria to coordinate the activities of Ipaja Community Link.
Yomi recently raised a three-year funding grant to enable Ipaja Community Link to pilot a youth and community skills acquisition centre. He is looking to expand the centre’s scope to include enterprise counselling and support - to create Ipaga Entrepreneurship Centre - working collaboratively with EDW.
"Entrepreneurs are simply those who understand that there is little difference between obstacle and opportunity and are able to turn both to their advantage."
Victor Kiam (1926 - 2001)