Nkiru is a strategic communications and stakeholder engagement specialist with extensive experience in advising local and international organisations on emerging market strategies, gender equality policies, strategic cause partnerships, social impact strategies, strategic communication and crisis & reputation management. Her work includes a strong focus on women’s issues, and the cultural and creative industries (CCI).
With the goal to support visionary leaders and institutions committed to transforming Africa, she founded RDF Strategies in 2016. RDF is an organisational strategy and stakeholder engagement boutique firm employing a women-inclusive approach to advising global, regional and local multidisciplinary clients in the public and private sector, by providing innovative solutions to their business needs.
Her ethos, “communicating Africa forward” informs her dedication to initiatives focused on redefining the global perception of Africa. She is the Founder and Creative Director at The Africa Soft Power Project. The project is a movement focused on how Africa can optimize its creative and knowledge industries and harness its soft power effectively to propel itself forward. She also chairs African Women on Board (AWB), an independent non-profit organisation focused on advancing new and bold narratives to improve the realities of African women and girls.
Prior to RDF, Nkiru was CEO of Spinlet, the first music streaming and digital distribution platform in Sub-Saharan Africa. Before this, she was the inaugural Lecturer of Gender and Law, at the University of Lagos. She was also deputy editor of the Law Column at Business Day Newspaper.
As a women’s advocate and social commentator, her work champions women advancement into the highest levels of decision-making. Nkiru has advised various government agencies, political parties and private sector organisations on women-inclusive policies and strategies. She sits on the board of several corporate and not for profit organizations, advises various creative industry and technology start-ups on go-to-market strategies, and is a mentor at the Founder Institute, the world’s largest pre-seed start-up accelerator.
For her work as a change-maker and innovator, she received the 2020 Powerlist International Award by the Powerlist UK, an award featuring 100 of the UK’s most influential and inspirational black people and given to a person based outside of the UK. Nkiru has also been featured as a speaker and contributor on various platforms on topics ranging from gender equality, technology, and entrepreneurship including a16z, started by VC fund Andreessen Horowitz; Harvard Business School’s Dynamic Women in Business 2018 Conference; Radio France Internationale (RFI), Aljazeera, The Africa Report, Business Chief, New African Magazine, Business Day, The Economist, amongst others.
