Otto Orondaam
Otto Orondaam is a Social Entrepreneur, Development Consultant and Founder, Slum2School Africa. A development enthusiast, Otto is passionate about public policy, social reforms, nation-building, and community development. He also consults for corporate organizations, emerging social enterprises, Nongovernmental organizations and various government institutions, whom he helps to develop sustainable solution-based social interventions.
Otto Orondaam was recently selected as an Edward Mason Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School of Government, where he will be focusing on Public Policy, Development Economics and International Development.
Otto’s educational background includes a bachelor’s degree in Medical Clinical Sciences/Human Anatomy from the University of Port Harcourt, an Executive Master’s in Project Management from CUPE, UK, a certificate in Social Change, Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship from the United Nations-mandated University for Peace in Costa Rica and an ongoing Master of Public Administration in Harvard Kennedy School.
Originally on a path to become a medical doctor, Otto passionately redefined his career path to pursue human capital development and social entrepreneurship after understanding the need to provide educational impacts in the community. Otto founded Slum2SchoolAfrica in 2012 and nine years into founding, his initial goal of enrolling 100 children in school expanded to close to 12,000 children and youths.
Slum2SchoolAfrica has grown into one of Africa’s leading volunteer-driven developmental organizations providing educational needs and health support for disadvantaged children in slums and remote communities. The organization has won over 15 national awards, gained more than 11,500 volunteers across 42 countries, and provided educational scholarships and a series of developmental supports to more than 108,500 children from 47 communities across Nigeria.
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Otto has led his team in building various early childhood development centres, adopted primary schools, built e-libraries, health centres, technology/ innovation labs serving thousands of children and recently, the first virtual learning classroom in Africa.
Otto served as Chair, West and Central African Regional Advisory Board of the Young African Leaders Initiative; Trustee and Member of the Board of Lagos State Employment Trust Fund; Member, Human Capital Development/Education Committee of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG); Member, Commonwealth Alliance for Young Entrepreneurs in West Africa, and The Education Reform Team.
Otto is an Edward Mason Fellow, LEAP Social Innovator Fellow, and Mandela Washington Fellow. He has been featured on Forbes, The Guardian, Blerf, and Young African Leaders Initiative – YALI Podcast.
A proactive leader with about 10 years of impact in Nigerian communities, Otto has received several accolades. He is a recipient of the Lagos State Honours Award for Most Outstanding Corp Member in 2012, two-time Future Awards recipient for Innovation in Education, 2012 and 2013; and Nigerian CSR Awards amongst others. He was also recognized by the Presidency as one of the top 100 Nigerian Youths.
Otto’s vision is to see that every child and youth from diverse backgrounds are given equal education opportunities, to enable them to maximize their potential and contribute positively to the growth of the African continent.
More about Otto Orondaam’s social impacts on slum2school.org