Alero Ayida-Otobo

Founder, Incubator Africa

Alero Ayida-Otobo is a Transformation Strategist with an invaluable understanding of sector-wide reforms in Africa. She is passionate about reforming educational and health systems which are key to National Development and transforming individuals and institutions. Her desire for education reform began when she served as a Senior Adviser and Transformation Task Team Leader to a former Minister of Education in Nigeria in 2006/2007 after over 10 years in the Financial Services Industry. She was also for four years (2008-2012) a Lead Specialist for Education Policy under the Education Sector Support Programme for Nigeria (ESSPIN), a programme funded by the United Kingdom’s Department for International development (DfID).

A graduate of Somerville College, Oxford University, the Bartlett School of Architecture and Town Planning, University of London and the London Business School, Alero’s purpose is to “create wealth in Africa through the development of Human Potential.” She has worked in different sectors in Nigeria and Ghana and spoken at significant conferences in Uganda, Kenya and Rwanda.

She is the Founder of Incubator Africa, a Development Agency established in 2012 that mobilises and equips reformers to collaborate and actively participate in strategic reform activities. She is the visionary of the Education Hub, a state-of-the-art virtual Catalyst Centre for Transformation. Her passion is to ignite, equip and develop reformers and reform entrepreneurs. Alero is a Nation Builder
at heart.

She has served on several Boards including the largest bank in Nigeria, Union Bank Plc as one of the youngest non-executive Directors and the International Alumni Board of the London Business School. She was also the Founding CEO of Haggai Investment and Trust Company.

She is currently the Chief Executive Officer of the School of Politics, Policy and Governance (SPPG) – a critical arm of the Fix Politics Initiative. She is also the Co-Founder and Board Member of Teach For Nigeria, Co-Founder and Trustee of the Education Reform and Innovation Team (ERIT), Chair of Slum2School Africa, Chair and Co-Founder of the Imaginal Education Initiative, Trustee of the Project
Ark Initiative and Trustee of Health For Nigeria.

Alero is a British Chevening Scholar and a recipient of the British High Commission’s Award for Outstanding Performance in the year 2000. In 2007, the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) gave her and some members of the Advisory & Transformation Team at the Federal Ministry of Education the “Excellence Award in National Development & Reformation Strategy”. 

In the summer of 2016, Alero decided to segue into writing. During a sabbatical in California, she completed her first book “Reformers Arise”. The book’s sole objective is to activate a people of dignity and integrity (reformers and reform entrepreneurs) whose vision is to change the African narrative. The book has been described as “an insightful, masterful and beautifully crafted book that’s not just a manual for young reformers but a guide to a life of integrity, purpose and impact at any age...”

Her mission in 2021 is to build a Community of Reformers that will step out of their comfort zones and take responsibility for their nations. The Reformers Arise Network (R.A.N.) is a new media entity that will ignite and uplift reformers of all ages around the world.

Alero loves to travel. She has three beautiful adult children whom she fondly calls her “Treasures.”