Name
- Hammed Kayode Alabi
Organization
- Kayode Alabi Leadership and Career Initiative – KLCI
Location
- Nigeria
Profession
- Social Entrepreneur
Brief Profile
Hammed is a Social Entrepreneur, 2x Author, SDGs Youth Champion, and Educator with 13 years of active citizenship and volunteering experience. He completed his Masters degree in Africa and International Development at the prestigious University of Edinburgh through the Mastercard Foundation Scholarship.
He currently works as the Educational Mentoring Coordinator at Refugee Education (UK), where he currently manages the mentoring hub in West London and connects young refugees/asylum seekers to mentors for educational support. He joggles this with another role as the Young Refugee Project Coordinator with the British Red Cross, where he helps young refugees and asylum seekers in London to develop life skills through the Refugee and Befriending Programme.
Hammed served as a Fellow-in-Residence and Regional Manager at Peace First and led its core programs in more than 30 + Countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. He currently sits on the board of the same organization. He also worked as a placement-based dissertation researcher with the Mastercard Foundation at the University of Edinburgh on creating access for refugees to access higher education through a bridging blended learning program.
He has facilitated sessions on social innovation and change in two different continents Africa and the Middle East. He also published two books, “The Africa I Dream to See.” and “5 Years: 10 Lessons Life Taught Me”
Hammed is also the Founding Executive Director for Kayode Alabi Leadership and Career Initiative (KLCI), where he has supported over 3500+ students in underserved communities in Nigeria to develop life and 21st-century skills needed for the workforce and future of work. He also launched the Teachers-in-Training Boot camp to support student teachers with skills and resources to solve educational challenges in rural communities.
Ultimately, Hammed has won the US Consul General Award, Talent of the Future Award, and Ufahamu Africa Student Essay Contest winner.
Memorable moments in life
I have had many memorable moments and I think the first would be when I won the departmental best graduating student prize, I had a 4.47 CGPA which was 0.03 to First Class. Even if I did not get a First Class, I got a deserving applause and standing ovation and as I walked down the aisle, I thought I do not always have to be the first to win. All I need is to be there for someone. To use my knowledge for something bigger than myself. Throughout my time at the university, I facilitated free tutorials for students who are less precocious and supported my colleagues/junior students who may find academic challenging. Seeing them pass and also graduate reinforces my belief of true winning and giving. The other moment is when I raised money for one of our beneficiaries in KLCI to write the West African Examination Council exam and enrolled in a tutorial center and she came out with 6 A1’s and 2 B’s. It reinforces my belief in true giving and empowerment-that we do not have to reach 1 million or 100,000 to give. We just need to help a child to change their circumstances.
Lessons learnt
I have learned many things in life and one of it is we are a jigsaw in the life of other people. To solve a puzzle you need different Jigsaws to come together. However when we are jigsaw in the life of another person, we also complete our own puzzle and be a whole. Teaching others during my time in the university was also helping me to complete my puzzle. Empowering a child was also helping to complete my puzzle. It makes me feel good and drives me towards achieving my life mission. To help a child and young people in underserved communities change the circumstances they have inherited through access to skills, education and opportunities. Being a jigsaw has been what keeps me going. What keeps me alive to do the work that I do and I do not want everything. I do not want to be everything. I do not want to do everything. I just want to be a jigsaw in the life of one person and one child and help them change their circumstances through a simple act of kindness. I just want to be a jigsaw in unraveling their puzzle that is yet to be unsolved.” That way I win and they also win and become another piece in the life of another child.
Philosophy of life
I actually hold many philosophies but one that is more clearer now and in time past is being present. Many times I am not always sure where I would be, where I would go next and what I will be doing next. However, one thing I am always sure of is that I will be present in any work I choose to do and being present is what brings about the desired future. Sometimes we fixate a lot on the future, that we lose both the present and future. While we carefully plan for the future, we need to be present because sometimes opportunities of the future are placed in the present. The people we meet, the work we do, the love we give and receive. The experience. They all happen in the present. Be present and carefully walk your way through to the future.
