After one decade of running ACE Charity Organisation, Kiki James, founder of the foundation, reminisces on a few lessons she has learnt within the last 10 years of the foundation. Excerpts by SEYI JOHN SALAU
Your foundation recently marked 10 years of existence; how would you advise others aiming to achieve this milestone?
I would sum my response up within some points. You have to work only with people who believe in the vision of your charity so you and your team have unity of purpose; this is key.
Be extremely cautious of who you put on your board, be sure they are team players and not divisive. Develop skill-sets to match the growth of your organisation, passion alone is not enough.
Do not try to solve every problem in your chosen field, choose your focus areas and become an expert in that space. Do not be afraid to be creative in your approach when solving social problems, however, always apply critical thinking.
You are not too young to set-up and run a charity organisation, but you have to understand that your ideas may be rejected. Be prepared to fine tune them if need be but do not compromise on the crux of your ideas as this is what makes you unique.
Also, you must measure your standards of operation by international best practices as this will drive you to grow an organisational culture of excellence with a disciplined work ethic.
Likewise, be prepared for challenges, it will get tougher. When it does, take courage in why you started, never forget the why. With sheer determination, discipline coupled with resilience and utter grit, you will go very far, but belief and faith in yourself will get you further.
Kindly speak on some of the success stories of the foundation?
One of our key projects is the establishment of Learning Resource Centres (LRCs) in public schools across Nigeria, aimed at improving literacy, numeracy, and ICT skills of children from deprived backgrounds. We actually started with the ILSA campaign in 2013, which stands for Increase Literacy Skills Africa.
At ACE Charity, we know that quality education is a key ingredient for producing excellent human capital, and primary education is an essential component of every educational system.
Therefore, improving the quality of primary education is integral to driving economic growth in Nigeria. So far, we have established 27 fully functional LRCs across several states in Nigeria, five of which are currently being managed by ACE Charity, while 22 have been handed over to schools and educational authorities in the intervention states.
What influenced the establishment of ACE radio?
During the Covid-19 pandemic, we established the ACE Radio School in April 2020 sponsored by Malala Fund and Grondfos Foundation to improve STEM and literacy knowledge of children in disadvantaged communities through radio.
The ACE Radio School is an emergency intervention, which is still reaching children who are at home and unable to learn during the Covid-19 lockdown because they do not have access to online learning.
ACE Radio School has recorded considerable listener engagement and participation from school children, out-of-school children, and uneducated adults. Additionally, evidence from our evaluation activities show a marked improvement in the literacy rate of children stuck at home due to the lockdown, as well as out-of-school children.
We currently air in Abuja, Borno, Adamawa, Sokoto, Kano, Nassarawa, Kogi, Niger and Plateau states with about 11 million listeners in these states combined.
You used to base outside Nigeria, how convenient was it to return to Nigeria for this purpose?
My move back to Nigeria in 2010 was an entire mind shift. It was thought-provoking, infuriating and almost maddening – an experience that heavily influenced issues that are of great importance to me which we focus on as a charity. They ranged from education and training, to economic empowerment and affordable healthcare. But in due time, I have gotten accustomed so well, doing what I love to do.
So, what informed your decision to start a charity organisation?
Growing up, I had always known I wanted to do meaningful work to make the world a better place but did not quite know how. I later realised my early childhood experiences at my boarding school in Lagos state, where I mostly gave away all my school provisions within the first few weeks of the school term because someone said they were hungry were mere indications of me wanting to help people.
When I became a teenager, I understood that I enjoyed solving problems and wanted to change lives by always being the fixer. Once I became an adult, I realised that I was driven by a desire so powerful that could not be ignored, this led me to set up ACE Charity, which is also a non-profit organisation. I wanted to make a sustainable difference in the lives of Nigerians, believing I could contribute to her development.
