1. TOYIN OJORA-SARAKI
FOUNDER / PRESIDENT
THE WELLBEING FOUNDATION AFRICA
A lawyer and a mother, with her own personal testimony on child mortality, Toyin
Saraki was a keynote speaker at the Global Maternal Newborn Health Conference 2015
and has committed this year to attaining all global RMNCAH goals, especially SDG
3 and the World Bank’s Global Strategy. In 2014, Toyin spoke at the Special Event of
the President of the United Nations General Assembly of
the Sustainable Development Goals. She was made
Inaugural Global Goodwill Ambassador for the
International Confederation of Midwives and
continues to serve as Newborn champion for
Save the Children Nigeria. She was recently
the subject of CNN’s African Voices and
launched the UN Foundation’s Every Woman
Every Child initiative in Nigeria, which means
that she and The Wellbeing Foundation Africa
are members of the Global Partnership for
Maternal, Newborn and Child Health. Her
primary philanthropic and advocacy work
is undertaken through her Foundation, which
campaigns internationally for maternal, newborn
and child health (MNCH).
Toyin was born on 6th September 1964 to the
Ojora Royal Family, one of seven traditional
royal ruling houses of Lagos, Nigeria.
Educated in Nigeria and the United
Kingdom, she studied law and was later
called to the Nigerian Bar. A director
and shareholder of the Ojora Group
of Companies, headed by her father
the renowned industrialist HRH The
Otunba Adekunle Ojora, she is a
non-executive director of the Carlisle
Group of Companies. Nigeria. Having
built a successful career in the private
sector, initially as a lawyer, then as a
banker and a property developer,

2. she turned her attention to,
and applied her wealth and
expertise to philanthropic
areas of interest, through her
Wellbeing Foundation Africa,
and it’s social enterprise,
Wellbeing Universal Health
Limited.
In her capacity as the First
Lady of Kwara State, Nigeria,
from 2003 until 2011, Toyin
led a movement to enhance
the access of every citizen
to healthcare and education.
Her continuous advocacy
for the rights of the child
made Kwara State the first
to enact a law to protect the
rights of children in that part
of the country, and the first
to implement a community
health insurance scheme
which guarantees that
citizens receive healthcare
for only $2 per annum.
Today, Toyin undertakes extensive advocacy work through the Wellbeing Foundation
Africa. The Foundation is dedicated to the establishment and entrenchment of best
practice in MNCH, as well as the improvement of health systems in Nigeria and across
Africa. To support its objectives in MNCH, the Foundation also works in the fields of
human rights, social welfare, education, arts and culture, citizenship and democracy.
Wellbeing Foundation Africa recently convened and hosted Nigeria’s First Global
Midwifery Conference, where, under Toyin’s patronage as Global Goodwill Ambassador
for the International Confederation of Midwives, delivered global-standard certificated
training modules to over 350 qualified midwives and students of the National Association
Of Nigerian Nurses And Midwives, in the occasion of International Day Of The Midwife
2016.
WBF Africa has become one of the most powerful advocacy voices in the movement for
improved MNCH, bringing together the public and private sectors on both the national and
international level to counter this challenge. In Nigeria, the Wellbeing Foundation was
responsible for lobbying for the new Nigerian Midwifery Service Scheme, widening access
to family planning and the implementation of personal health records across Nigeria.
The Foundation’s major commitment is the implementation of personal health records
across Africa which the Foundation believes could have the single biggest impact on
reducing child and maternal mortality and will move Africa towards attaining Sustainable
Development Goals 3, 5, and 6 – Good Health and Wellbeing, Gender Equality, and Clean

3. Water and Sanitation, respectively.
Committed to gender equality and
opportunity, Toyin and WBFA have
advocated for the redrafting and passage of
Nigeria’s Gender and Equal Opportunity
Bill, in support of Planet 50-50. Toyin
regularly speaks globally on maternal,
newborn and child health and rights: she
has spoken about her work to promote
maternal and child health at TEDxEuston
where she described the significance
of empowering mothers to take control
of their health. She was also a panellist
representing Africa at the launch event
of the Global Truce 2012 ‘Reducing
Domestic Violence Coalition’ in London
and a panellist at Women: Inspiration &
Enterprise (WIE) Symposium London to
commemorate and celebrate Women’s
Achievements on International Women’s
Day in March 2012. During early 2013 ,
Toyin has spoke at the Global Wellbeing
Lab Forum in Berlin, the Cannes Lion Film
Festival, the UN DNA Summit, the WIE
Africa Symposium in Cape Town, and Forbes 400 Summit on Philanthropy alongside
Bono, Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and Nobel Peace
Prize Winner Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.
As immediate past Inaugural Board Chair of the White Ribbon Alliance Nigeria, Toyin
continues to support the White Ribbon Alliance as a Global Champion, Nigeria MNCH
Champion, and Nigeria Grand Patron. She acts as Chair of the FIDA International
Committee on Law Protecting the Rights of Children, and Goodwill Ambassador
of the Olave Baden-Powell Society (OB-PS), which supports the efforts of the World
Association of Girls Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS). As an author and writer, Toyin’s
opinion editorials are regularly published by the Huffington Post and the African Journal
of Midwifery amongst others. She also sits on the boards of the Global Foundation for
the Elimination of Domestic Violence and The Africa Justice Foundation. Toyin has won
numerous awards and recognitions for her achievements, including the MM&M 2014
platinum award for outstanding contribution to healthcare, WIE 60 Power Influencer
Award 2013, MNCH Champion Award from the Institute of Child Health, Nigeria and
the UN Fashion 4 Development Angel Award 2012.

4. WELLBEING FOUNDATION AFRICA
London
Global Office, WBFA, 2 Eaton Gate, London, SW1W 9BJ
Lagos
21, Probyn Road, Ikoyi, Lagos
Abuja
143, Adetokunbo Ademola St, Wuse 2, Abuja, Nigeria
Kwara State
Mandate House Complex, 20 Olorunsogo St, Ilorin, Kwara State
Ghana
PO Box Mp32074, Accra, Ghana
enquiries@wbfafrica.org
@wellbeingafrica
www.facebook.com/wellbeingafrica
For further information on Wellbeing Foundation
Africa’s work, to learn about ways to collaborate or
make donations,
please visit our website at
www.wbfafrica.org