Faith Abiodun is an education and social enterprise leader, international affairs analyst, writer and speaker. In 2021, he was appointed as Executive Director of the United World Colleges (UWC) International – a global movement of passionate individuals, 18 international schools and national organisations working in 159 countries to make education a force to unite people, nations and cultures for peace and a sustainable future.
Faith started his professional career as a reporter for The Guardian and as a radio host with Diamond FM (Ibadan, Nigeria), with highlights including interviews with Nobel Laureates, Wole Soyinka and Leymah Gbowee. He then founded and led two ventures, Global Impact Network and The Speech Academy before joining African Leadership Academy (ALA) in Johannesburg, South Africa in 2012. In a career spanning nearly a decade at ALA, he served as an executive overseeing Communications, Marketing, Program Recruitment and Partnerships. During a sabbatical year, he served as Collaborative Impact Coordinator at Catalyst 2030 – a coalition of the world’s leading social enterprises working to achieve the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, and VP for Growth and Partnerships at The Afara Initiative – developing transformative entrepreneurial leadership programmes for Nigerian universities.
Previously, he provided socio-political commentary for global news outlets like the BBC and South African Broadcasting Corporation, and he is a periodic contributor to Common Action Forum, a transnational network of intellectuals, academics, politicians, journalists and activists. In 2016, he founded Future Africa – a public sector leadership organization with an extensive network of emerging leaders spread across more than 30 African countries. He is a member of the Boards of News Decoder, a global education news service and UWC Adriatic in Italy, and he lends expertise to numerous projects promoting entrepreneurial leadership through education globally.
Faith earned a Bachelor’s degree in the Social Sciences from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, where he was Editor-in-Chief of the Union of Campus Journalists; and a Master’s degree in Public Administration at Syracuse University, New York, where he was a University Senator and President of the Coalition of Multicultural Public Affairs Students. He is an alumnus of the World Innovation Summit for Education’s Executive Education Programme, a former Global Youth Ambassador for A World at School, and International Advisory Board member for the Global Youth Innovation Network.
