Our Team

We host a group of dedicated professionals with a combined wealth of experience in diverse sectors – health, education, youth empowerment, human resource management. Our combined years of experience exceeds 47 years in the development sector with international, national and sub-national experiences.

Trustees

Trustee

Adeline Orife

Trustee

Adeline
Orife

Adeline Orife is a Procurement and Contract Management professional of over 20 years’ experience with a sound commercial, public sector, not-for-profit, and international development background. She is currently Christian Aid’s Global Head of Contracts and Procurement based in the UK.

She is currently Christian Aid’s Global Head of Contracts and Procurement based in the UK. Prior to joining Christian Aid, she worked with the UK department of Health, the Royal British Legion, local authorities and NHS – Primary Care Trusts in the UK.

She also worked at the US Mission in Nigeria and played a pivotal role in the seamless transition of procurement services from Lagos to FCT Abuja. She was a key member of the senior management team that established the Nigerian office of the US Centres for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) to introduce and rollout the PEPFAR/CDC Global AIDS Program (GAP) in Nigeria.

Passionate about delivering continuous process improvement and best practice in procurement and supply chain management, she developed processes and standard operating procedures to support the importation of US $100m vaccines, anti-retroviral drugs, vehicles and equipment for the successful implementation of the program.

She championed collaborative working relationships amongst the various agencies/government departments and implementing partners involved in the PEPFAR Global HIV/AIDS Program in Nigeria.

A strong advocate of diversity, equality, and inclusion in the workplace, she understands and values differences in others, seeks input from and values the uniqueness of people of different groups and cultures. She challenges practices or policies that may be exclusionary.

She is pragmatic but also process and target driven with demonstrable leadership qualities and vast experience at managing complex projects using ethical and best practice guidelines to safeguard organisational reputation.

She is proactive with excellent organizational, planning, negotiation, budgeting/financial planning; project management and stakeholder management skills.

She is a Member of the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply (C.I.P.S.), holds an MBA in Business Administration; B.Sc. in Political and Administrative Studies; and a Post Graduate Diploma in Marketing.

Trustee

George I. Chima, MBA CPA

George is a leader with ability and drive to create value for stakeholders. He possesses strong financial, operational, and interpersonal relationship management skills with proven impact across multiple industries within the United States, South America, and Africa.

He is effective in working with CEOs, Boards, and strategic partners and is known for collaborative and participatory management style, being able to utilize knowledge and expertise in finance, accounting, compliance, information technology, talent management, and process improvement to drive competitive advantage and value.

His career encompasses over 24 years in real estate development and telecom industries with above 17 years of international operations experience (including 12+ years in executive management) with demonstrable achievement record in financial planning, risk management, compliance, systems, process and capital optimization.

His portfolio of operations spanned 23 countries; invested capital and net income (to Parent Company) were approximately $11 billion and $2.5 billion respectively (denominated in different functional currencies). He has managed revenues and capital expenditures in excess of $22 billion and $3 billion respectively.

He currently leads a manufacturing concern he founded in 2007. His vision as the principal manager of this entity is to lead and guide it to successful and sustainable financial performance through effective and proactive financial and strategic planning built on efficiency, responsiveness to customer needs, and meaningful collaborative partnerships.

He holds a bachelors’ degree in business administration (major/minor – Accounting/Labor Economics) from California State University, Los Angeles, CA and an MBA from Babson College, Wellesley, Massachusetts. He is also a Chartered Accountant (USA). Life (and living) continues to be a significant source of learning to him.

Trustee/Secretary

Chinelo Ikwueto

Chinelo is an innovation driven corporate lawyer, specialist legal adviser and transactional due diligence Solicitor in her 14th year of Call to the Nigerian Bar.

She started her career as an Associate in Ikwueto® A Registered Law Firm and is now the Managing Partner. 

Chinelo is a high impact professional with specialist knowledge and experience in local and international laws, gender leadership, legal risk profiling, corporate governance and compliance who delivers practical legal and commercially viable solutions to several entities and clients in the corporate, governmental, finance and non-profit sectors. Her legal opinion on a technical dispute led to her Firm’s engagement by and legal representation of the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID).

Chinelo is passionate about her work and serves in both executive and advisory capacities for a Micro Finance Bank, a technology company, a Hospitality Company operating hotels in Anambra State and a major indigenous Gas Processing Company in Rivers State; She particularly enjoys high impact corporate workouts and has implemented internal controls and negotiated debt restructuring for a construction company in Nigeria. Her career vision is to groom local SMEs to function ethically under international standards towards enlisting sustainable enterprises on major and alternative stock markets.

She obtained her law degree in 2004 from the Enugu State University of Science and Technology and holds a BL Degree from the Nigerian Law School, Abuja. She proceeded to the University of Westminster in 2012 to obtain an LLM in Corporate Finance Law. She is a qualified Secretary of the ICSA (UK) and Associate of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (UK), a member of Young ICCA of the International Council of Commercial Arbitration. She is Certified in Entrepreneurial Management (CEM) from the Enterprise Development Centre (EDC), a co-faculty of the Lagos Business School. She also completed the Women Entrepreneurship and Leadership for Africa (WELA) program of the China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) in 2018. Chinelo has also mentored several young lawyers and has been a Speaker and delegate at various Seminars and International Conferences. Her hobbies are reading, travelling and making healthy foods and fruit smoothies from which she started up a small restaurant and catering business in Abuja.

Trustee

Manasseh Igyuh

Manasseh is passionate about supporting organizations to develop strategy and the people management processes and system that drive effective organizational performance.

He is a versatile non -profit sector leader with strong proficiency in building the administrative, strategic / operational human resource, risk and project management systems aligned to the requirements of major international grant funding entities.

Over almost 20 years, Manasseh has led the support services functions for three major International NGO’s including Catholic Relief Services( Head of Administration & Human Resources), Columbia University ICAP ( Associate Director, Administration and Human Resources ) and WaterAid ( Head of People & Organizational Development) in which he had oversight for general administration, facilities management, procurement, security and safety, information technology and Human Resources.

Currently Chief Operating Officer of GSCL, a multi-disciplinary consultancy firm supporting clients such as Gombe State government, Nigerian Governors Forum, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Department of Petroleum Resources, Petroleum Equalization Fund, Petroleum Product Pricing Regulatory Agency amongst others.  

A member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel Management of Nigeria (CIPMN), he is an alumnus of the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria-Nigeria where he obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics (1994) and subsequently, a Master’s degree in International Affairs and Diplomacy in 2007. 

Manasseh is married with two children and in his leisure time, loves to explore nature, watch movies, read books and listen to good music.

Trustee

Dr Ezimma Obue

Ezimma is a qualified medical doctor with a specialization within the field of hematology & blood transfusion. With 13+ years of experience working in her field & is a sound clinical specialist.

Ezimma currently works at the Federal Medical Centre in Keffi, Nigeria (FMC Keffi). Previously, she worked as a lecturer at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPHN), teaching young medical students hematology.

Ezimma is always learning and trying to improve herself. She has attended various courses and conferences particularly focused on management of hematological disorders in resource poor countries like Nigeria.

She is also interested in infant diagnoses of sickle cell anemia and the management of sickle cell disorders in adults. Ezimma is very passionate about helping her community and has been involved in various campaigns educating secondary school children and youth corpers on the importance of knowing their genotype to reduce the number of sickle cell cases in Nigeria.

She is also a member of the College of Pathologists of Nigeria and The Nigerian Society of Hematology and Blood Transfusion.

Ezimma received her bachelor’s degree in medicine and surgery from Jos university and obtained her masters in hematology from the University of the West of England in Bristol.

Ezimma is happily married and a mother to three children. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, watching television and dancing. She is quite adventurous and likes to try new things.

Core Team

Benue State Field Coordinator

Mrs Shimnenge

Program Coordinator

Ashifa Agede

Operations Officer/Programs Associate

Chidiogo Egbuniwe

​Program Assistant

Mercy Jinkai John

Amana Rosemary Ojochogwu is one of our Program Officers. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry and a Master’s degree (in view) in Environmental Science. She has vast experience in relationship management and customer service from previous employments.

She is a dedicated and vibrant young woman with a passion for rendering services to underserved communities, and she brings the experiences gathered from working with such communities to this organization.

Program Officer

Lydia Gara

Finance Officer

Francis Akor

Subject Matter Experts

Consultant, Community Engagement, MNCH, GBV

Dr. Ebunoluwa Jaiyesimi

Dr. Ebun Jaiyesimi is a consultant community health physician and Fellow of the West African College of Physicians. She holds master’s degrees in Reproductive Health and Public Health. She brings 21 Years’ experience in public health, the development sector, academia and research to the team, which includes strong experiences in multi-sectoral care and support for OVCs and persons living with HIV/AIDS.

She has held several field-based managerial positions, providing oversight for community-based projects and developmental initiatives involving multiple stakeholder groups including communities, caregivers, HIV infected persons and their families, government, corporate bodies, non-governmental and international organizations in Nigeria. She has worked with several international organizations and has a sound understanding of the contractual frameworks and processes required for successful partnership with this group.

Dr Jaiyesimi brings strong skills in resource mobilization, capacity building, results-based program management (RBM) public presentation, advocacy, community mobilization and team building, multi-stakeholder management, partnership, Health Research Management and alliance building.

Consultant, Education

Eva Kyaagba,
PhD

Mrs. Eva Kyaagba is the lead Education Consultant. She holds a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction and has over 15 years of foreign language teaching experience. 10+years teaching reading and literacy using self-developed materials, Accelerated Christian Education curriculum, and British “Read Write Inc.” package developed by Ruth Miskin.

She successfully trained over 40 teachers in UNICEF-GCA collaborative reading project in Nigeria and co-ordinated a team of 4 Nigerian, 2 British trainers and 5 Nigerian volunteers in ToT of 80+primary and secondary school teachers on reading and literacy. She brings strong research and materials development skills, applied in my Ph.D. thesis on learning –to –read a foreign language and as materials development consultant, TDP in DFID.

Developed training materials, carried out benchmarking of both pupils and teachers and conducted trainings for both UNICEF and GCA M&E team in GCA UK, as lead resource person. She has a passion for developing reading and literacy skills among young people. She is a multi-linguist, with written and oral proficiency in five languages, 2 International & 3 Nigerian languages: English, French, Ibo, Hausa & Tiv.

Consultant, Finance, Accounts

Mrs Shekoni
Omolara

Mrs Shekoni Omolara is a lead Finance & Accounting Consultant. She holds a Masters of Business Administration (MBA), and also a member of Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). She has decades of professional work experience in the development sector and has set up financial, accounting and HR systems for international and national non-profit organizations.

She is proficient in ensuring financial compliance with appropriate stakeholder (donor, host govt, HQ office) regulations and seasoned in providing skills building on financial management for a variety of audiences- grantees/award recipients, implementer, CBOs.

She has provided technical support to a range of organizations towards successful recruitment, onboarding and performance management of finance & accounting teams.

Consultant, Health Financing and Business Development

To be
Confirmed

Consultant, WASH

John
Akuse

Consultant, Business Development

Austin
Atsua

Consultant, Financial Management

Thomas Fada
Ukoyor

CHESIDS - Team - Thomas Fada Ukoyor

The Next Hundred Facilitator

Mr.
Leo

Volunteers

Dr Ihuoma Ngonadi

Zaccheus John

Timothy Idowu

Ifeoluwa Adesuiji

Kevin Ezeido

Chinyere Agwuagha

Tosin Olasusi

Ferdinand Agena

Ifeoma Enwefah

Yakubu Kindness

Intern

Marygold Eze-Okoroikpa

Communications Volunteer

Chisom Okpala

Chidiogo Egbuniwe

TNH Volunteers

Imole Tosin
Tabel

Owoyemi Oladipo
Joshua.

Immersion Partners

Co-Founder/Lead Volunteer Bio

Dr Charity Usifoh Chenge, M.B.B.S, MPH, MSc, DrPH

Dr Charity is a Public Health Leader and Health Systems Strategist with primary training as a physician, and advanced training in public health, health policy, health planning and public health leadership. She is the 2023 recipient of the Arthur B. Holzworth award in Public Health Leadership conferred by the Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA.

She has amassed twenty-five plus years of progressive public health experience, spanning international, national, and sub-national roles across a range of Strategic planning, Policy development, Disease Control, Maternal & Child Health; HIV Prevention, Care and Treatment; Adolescent Health, and Health Systems Strengthening (HSS) Programs.

She has worked at the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (US CDC), at Catholic Relief Services (CRS) an International Development & Relief Agency; at the Geneva headquarters of the Global Fund for AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation where she led complex health and social impact portfolios with a combined value of > USD173.5M+, through all stages of the funding cycle: concept design, proposal coordination, grant negotiation, implementation oversight, performance management, risk management.

A few of Charity’s proud accomplishments include co-leading Nigeria’s successful roll out of the Early Infant Diagnosis (EID) of HIV using dried blood spots (DBS), an innovative and transformative initiative. From a pilot in 2007 of 1 molecular lab site & 6 clinical sites expanding to >17 molecular labs and >6,440 clinical sites, resulting in earlier testing, care, and treatment for thousands of HIV-exposed infants in underserved Nigerian communities. This was a successful ‘test to scale’ of new products/services resulting in an award by the US Department of State in Nigeria, in recognition of her role.

Dr Charity led the Gates Foundation’s catalytic partnership that enabled the expanded adoption of the Group AnteNatal Care (G ANC) model which recorded At least 1,029,545 pregnant women enrolled in G ANC across 1,542 facilities in seven states, and 81,544 cohorts formed between Jan 2021 and Feb 2023. This was a successful ‘test to scale’ of a new service delivery platform. She has built successful multi-stakeholder partnerships towards achieving structured expansion, and adoption of proven high-impact MNCH innovations.

Dr Charity’s volunteer work includes board service as a broad director on five non-profits including the G4 Alliance for SOTA care, a Global Board. She is a member of the DrPH Evaluation Committee of Gillings School of Public Health, UNC at Chapel Hill. She is the founder of The Next Hundred Initiative (TNH) and co-founder of Women in Public Health Leadership, Africa (WIPHLA), as well as the Centre for Health Systems Support (CHESIDS) through which she provides structured mentorship to young public health enthusiasts under ‘The Next Hundred’ platform. From 3 TNH applications received in 2021 to 408 in Q1 2024, and from 3 TNH fellows in 2021 to 86 fellows by Q1 2024, TNH is intentionally building a pipeline of public health stewards for Nigeria.

Dr Charity is the host of ‘The Next Hundred Conversations with Public Health Leaders’ where she discusses leadership effectiveness with public health leaders from across Africa.She chaired the G4 Alliance board committee for Global Awards to Young Leaders and Organizational Leaders in SOTA Care. 74 submissions received. 24 screened. 2 global finalists identified and awarded. She served on the West Africa regional selection committee for the ‘Investing in Innovation’ (i3) program, a $7 million pan-African initiative to support the commercialization and impact of promising early & growth-stage health-tech companies to expand product innovation.

Dr Charity completed her medical training at the College of Medicine, University of Lagos. She completed a Masters in Public Health (MPH) from the same institution and completed an MSc in Health Policy, Planning and Financing from the London School of Economics (LSE) and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), both of the University of London. She completed her doctoral studies, earning a Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) degree in Public Health Leadership from Gilling’s School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. USA.

Not all photographs of team members appear on this page

How Can You Help?

We believe in collaborative work. You can volunteer your time, your expertise or donate to our cause.