Exclusive Interview with Dr. Mayowa Folorunsho 🇳🇬 “From Akinyele to Oxford: Global Vision, Local Impact”

We sat down with Dr. Mayowa Folorunsho as he shared insights on earning his 

In an era where Nigeria's healthcare and education sectors demand visionary thinking and transformational leadership, few stories are as inspiring as that of Dr. Mayowa Akanbi Folorunso (MAFO). A recent graduate with an M.Sc in Global Healthcare Leadership from the prestigious University of Oxford, Dr. Folorunso embodies a rare blend of academic excellence, community passion, and forward-thinking leadership.

As he continues to break new ground, MAFO shares with Urbantrendies Media his journey from humble beginnings to global recognition, his vision for Nigeria’s healthcare system, and how he plans to use his expertise to create meaningful change at home.

 Sir, congratulations on your M.Sc in Global Healthcare Leadership from the University of Oxford!  Can you briefly share your background and upbringing with us? 

Thanks for having me. I must say I have been lucky to have enjoyed God’s grace- born to parents and a family that love me, benefitted from early educational environments that shaped me not just to strive for academic excellence but steeped in positive morals, social justice, and empathy, and of course mentors who have sacrificed their costly time and resources to guide and direct. I am a son of Ikereku, Akinyele Local Government of Ibadan, Oyo State. 2nd child and attended Mayflower Junior School and Mayflower School Ikenne for my secondary and primary education. Studied Medicine and Surgery at University of Ibadan and prior to Oxford, earned an MSc degree in Global Health & Development from University College London (UCL), and a Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) from Warwick Business School (WBS), UK. 

I worked as a medical doctor in Oyo and Nasarawa States and then in public health programming with Solina Group based out of Abuja. At the global level, I worked with Gavi Alliance based out of Geneva, leading and shaping health systems immunization strengthening for low- and middle-incomecountries, joined UNICEF Supply Headquarters based out of Denmark where I led optimization efforts to improve the design and efficiency of multiple country programmes to efficiently deliver more vaccines (and other products) to communities where they are needed. Currently, I work with UNICEF Headquarters based out of Geneva as global lead for vaccine management and ensuring that systems are in place to deliver immunization services effectively and equitably to all children (and others) irrespective of where they live or who they are. 

What motivated you to pursue this particular program at Oxford University?

You may be familiar with the ongoing happenings in the global health and development community, precipitated in its strongest forms by current USA government policies but also the push factors driving this and others- rise in nationalism (and a questioning of benefits of globalization), increasing fiscal pressures for countries due to variations in economic performance etc. 

Depending on what side of the divide you are, these occurrences may be shocking or not. However, the growing trends were obvious in the past 5-10 years and came to a height with the COVID-19 pandemic and the multidimensional fallouts between politics or governance and medical science or public health. Add to that the economic and social pressures that the pandemic caused- all resulting in more countries looking inwards and ‘saving their own’ as against ‘saving others’ as well as the demand for more accountability and performance from the global health and development sector. It was obvious to me that it was not going to be business as usual and visionary and collaborative leadership would be more required, with different tools and skills set. The quest to develop these led me to the global healthcare leadership Master’s programme at the University of Oxford.

Looking back on your early years , your family, your upbringing and your first dreams ,  what moments do you hold dear that shaped the person you are today?

That’s an interesting question that we may actually need another interview for (laughs). For me, growing up and being immersed in the streets of Ibadan- whether in Oke-Adu, Ali-Iwo, Gbaremu or Olorunda or within my boarding house community was one of communal living, collective but also individualized aspirations. Grounding from home and my budding Christian faith of expectations of academic excellence and morals; the consistent demand for justice, doing good for the most, empathy and resilience that Dr. Tai Solarin (and by extension Mayflower) ingrained in us; thecombination of being content with the now whilst being ambitious; and a good dose of rationalization have all shaped me. Early on, from the mentorship of my Dad and the Mayflower DNA, I have always believed that altruistic (as much as possible) service to others or humanity remains the highest form of commitment a life can be true to. In Mayflower for example (and I see same being normalized now), student leaders were selected from a full-blown electioneering process that often lasted several weeks. I contested and won twice- first as Medical Officer and secondly as Library Prefect. Although the joys of identifying and leaning towards voting blocs, forming alliances, soliciting votes and winning were exciting, more fulfilling was the transformative initiatives I delivered. I have taken the same approach in the University and currently in my professional career.  You have recorded several achievements in your professional career. Which one stands out the most to you, and how has it shaped your approach to leadership?

I believe that a leader must think ahead, identify trends and align resources to place the setting they lead in a vantage position to sustainably succeed- all while managing current and urgent developments. I currently lead a social enterprisehealth initiative supporting countries such as Malawi, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Zambia and The Gambia to empower young people and small and medium scale enterprises with transport assets which they use to deliver vaccines directly to health facilities, saving health workers the time that they spend picking up vaccines at higher level stores, reducing stock-outs of essential vaccines, and increasing immunization service delivery. When the young people and local enterprises are not delivering vaccines, they use the assets for other economic generating activities. I like this achievement because it creates jobs, contributing to reducing the high NEET (Not in Education, Employment, or Training) burden, while delivering essential health services to the most vulnerable. The initiative was developed from a sustainability lens, prior to the recent occurrences in the global health space, but is now positioned to contribute to current ‘doing more with less’ and ‘identifying and exploiting multi-sectoral linkages’ thinking. 

How has your experience at Oxford, both academically and culturally, influenced your outlook on healthcare leadership in Nigeria?

Nigeria has always benefitted from very distinguished healthcare leaders whose careers have spanned but national and global impact. The healthcare sector in a developing country is a melting point of ‘wicked problems’- problems which look easy to solve only to those not saddled with its responsibilities. In Nigeria, designing and implementing a cohesive, affordable, and accessible healthcare system that works for all, whether they are in Yobe or Yaba, Onne or Owerri, Makoko or Maitama only sounds easy on paper. In a nation or state where health is competing with multiple developmental deficits- in education, public services, road infrastructure etc., all against a tight fiscal budget as denominator, painful investment trade-offs are required. 

That said, a few things come to mind that if are guiding principles, would deliver results. Each government should take a dual approach to healthcare. On one hand, address urgent and emergency healthcare issues- everyone wants to be able to have a well stock primary healthcare centre, revampemergency healthcare services provision and delivery, invest in addressing morbidities and co-morbidities through preventive healthcare initiatives, prioritize initiatives that increase health seeking behaviours, while addressing bottlenecks to a joined-up health financing model for citizens. On the other hand, take a longer outlook on what would be required in 10, 20, or 30 years- how many primary to quaternary healthcare institutions are required to appropriately serve current and increasing populations? how do you incentivize affordable and accessible private sector or hybrid healthcare investments in non-urban and rural communities (beyond the big cities)? and how do you partner across statesand indeed multiple countries to leverage strengths in health products manufacturing? To achieve these, the performance indicators that a leader sets for themselves and how evidence and appropriate political relationships are leveraged to ensure consistent healthcare investments are critical ingredients to success. 

 The program emphasizes leadership in complex systems ,  how do you intend to translate that knowledge into real policy impact in your political journey?

Indeed, while deep professional leadership is an essential ingredient of any transformative social development ambition, political leadership is the final seal. Healthcare is not just for the Ministry of Health (and Social Welfare) or for health and paramedical staff alone for example. Due to the complexitiesthat are embedded in the root causes of any healthcare problem you pick, successful sustainable interventions are the ones that take a proactive multi-sectoral approach to co-problem definition, co-creating solutions and implementation. A simple example is the protracted electricity blackout experienced by a few tertiary healthcare institutions. Engagement between the Ministries of Health & Social Welfare and Power, was instrumental to addressing it. Rather than a one-off engagement to solve one issue, this should extend to other matters, and Ministries/Agencies such as National Orientation Agency, Ministry of Youth & Sports, Women Affairs, Education etc., in a strategic way. 

What inspired your interest in the House of Representatives seat in the Akinyele/Lagelu Federal Constituency?

(Laughs) Well, my responses to your earlier questions may have pointed you to this. The greatest honour for any man is to contribute selflessly to their community and to humanity at large. I am privileged to have led and be part of national, regional, and global initiatives that have contributed directly to making lives better in my professional and personal endeavours. However, I am an Akinyele, Ibadan and Naija guy and directly contributing to these communities is a joint responsibility of all. The jury may be out on the arm of government that is best positioned to deliver development to citizens. While the executive arm has that as their central task, in the truest sense, the meaning of ‘representative’ as in the National assembly members goes beyond mere making of laws or constituency projects. It encompasses those, but also conscious and proactive measures to ‘act on behalf’ of your people including engaging the executive arm, private sector and government agencies (we are lucky in Akinyele/Lagelu to have IITA, NISER etc.), multi-nationals, and private individuals to take a bet on your community, your young people, your rural women, your road networks etc. through investments, job creation and employments, skills development etc. At the core of the good people of Akinyele and Lagelu, those are their desires. Education and healthcare are major areas that require attention in Nigeria. What innovative solutions are you proposing for these sectors?

Since healthcare has featured in your other questions, I’ll add a few thoughts on education. Truly, education and healthcare are tools for massive development, but if care is not taken can be handled with a laissez-faire and non-pragmatic demeanour. For example, in education, students write national/state exams every 3-6 years, any Commissioner or Minister who base their performance indicators solely on students’ performance in those exams may be in for a surprise or may have missed the boat. Monitoring termly students’ performance, investments in teacher training, assessment, and quality, prioritizing well-stocked school libraries, deliberate involvement of parents and parents’ association, mentorship programmes and performance-based incentives for students, teachers or schools are solutions. Again, similar to health interventions, these may sound basic, easy or difficult, depending on how you view them. I’ll say they are both easy and difficult as they require one or more of consistent focus and determination, a few doing things differently, lobbying and advocating for resources (against other development needs), and perhaps taking punitive measures against non-performing staff. 

In a political landscape where trust in leadership is declining, how can leaders build and sustain the confidence of their constituents?

Very interesting question as it can be linked to the last question. Often, there’s decline between leaders and constituents because of mismanaged or unaligned expectations, break down in communication, taking a wrong leadership approach, or a leader thinking they know more than their constituents. Of course, this is not saying that constituents are always in the right- not at all. Back to the point. Most leaders often move close to constituents during electioneering periods but stay mostly away during governance, which shouldn’t be the case. I believe that leaders must deploy differentiated leadership approaches depending on issue at hand. For example, the default approach should be collaborative (not dictatorial) in which constituents are consulted and carried along ab initio, even when a few of projected outcomes may not be to constituents’ interests. Leaders should not fall into the trap of thinking that this collaborative approach wastes time, slows achievement of results or creates resistance. When effectively deployed it harvests creative ideas, communicates transparency, provides opportunity to address dissenting opinions, and breaks down resistances. Beyond this default, leaders can deploy dictatorial approaches for example when it’s a matter of life and death, where parties are irreconcilable, or where leaders have superior information (such as with intelligence or security) that presents only one or few options. Overall, leaders who continually demonstrate that they have their constituents at heart, with humility, who share updates and are accountable, and deal with practical empathy will build trust. 

As someone who has achieved success outside of politics, what values and experiences do you think stand you out?

Ideally, verifiable success outside of and prior to public service should be a requirement for service, and is one of the ways to entrench trust, increase accountability, and drive legitimacy. As a professional, I bring a deep appreciation of skills, knowledge, talent, and scholarship, all delivered in humility, transparency and empathy. As a leader, I believe in collaboration, ensuring diversity of opinions, personalities and approaches, and that the people’s interest must always be the beginning, the process and the endpoint of interventions and actions. As a Christian, integrity, doing good ‘just because’ and not ‘because of’, looking out for others and unrepentant optimism are my choiciest values. 

 What message would you give to young Nigerians aspiring to reach academic and leadership heights like this, especially from underserved communities?

Young people must starve today’s distractions to deliver future benefits. While on the surface, there may appear to be ‘overnight successes’, in reality, such only happen as exceptions and not the rule. Sometimes one’s goals and aspirations may appear too distant, out of reach or impossible when the focus is on one’s limiting surroundings or circumstances, however, it’s important to seek information and knowledge, put an unrelenting focus on the desired goals, seek partners of similar interests, make extra efforts where needed, and identify and leverage mentors.

"Thank you, Dr. Mayowa Folorunsho, for sharing your inspiring journey from Akinyele to Oxford and shedding light on how your global academic achievement is rooted in a vision to uplift your local constituency. Your dedication to service, growth, and impact is truly commendable. We look forward to witnessing the transformation your leadership will bring to Akinyele and beyond. Wishing you continued success in all your endeavors."