Oluwatobi (Tobi) Karim is the founder of theafricanfeminist.org (TAF), a website aimed at shedding a light on feminism, Africa and the diaspora. She founded TAF after being frustrated at the lack of focus on African political, social and economic issues in Western media. She is a final year International Relations student at Queen Mary’s University of London and spent her second year abroad at the University of Pennsylvania. Tobi also co-authored an article entitled ‘Nigeria’s 2015 General Elections: An Appraisal’ in the Journal for Security and Development in 2016.
In December 2016, Tobi volunteered at orphanages in Lagos, Nigeria.
In high school Tobi was part of the year 13 economics team that was placed Regional Runner-up in the Bank of England Interest Rate Challenge in 2014. Additionally, Tobi volunteered at at The Grange, a residential care home, and mentored year 11 students at the John Wallis Academy to help with their GCSE exam preparation.
Tobi, recently graduated with First Class Honours in International Relations from the University of London, Queen Mary and will be starting a Masters in Public Administration in Energy, Technology and Climate Policy at the University College London (UCL) in September 2018.
Tobi is also a lover of languages. She speaks fluent French, after spending 8 years in the French system, and has B2 Spanish Proficiency Diploma.
Olufunke (Funke) Karim is a mother of three with a degree, Bsc (Hons) Banking & Finance from the University of Wales, College of Cardiff (1992)a diploma in Child Psychology. She had over 10 years in the banking industry, before becoming a home carer for the last decade and then recently trained as an Interior Designer.
From 1999 to 2003, Funke worked with the displaced in a refuge camp in Nigeria from 1999 to 2003 as chairperson of a charity (African Network Of Friends A.N.O.F)that provided healthcare ,clothing, food and education for the refugees from Liberia and Sierra Leone.
For over 2 decades Funke has been involved in raising donations for the education of the underprivileged through many Christian organisations and supports numerous orphanages. In the UK, she has been a consistent supporter of charities such as NSPCC, Trinity Hospice, Cancer Research, Salvation Army, Oxfam, St Mungo's, Mission Without Borders, Barnabas Fund and CWR.
Five years ago she founded a foundation in Nigeria (The Foundation For The Help Of Less Opportuned) which provides scholarships and financial support for those in need, especially women and children. Funke also mentors young women and is passionate about the future of the youth.
Orikolade (Kola) Karim is the Group Managing Director/CEO of Shoreline Energy International (Shoreline) a leading industrial group focused on energy and power investments in Sub Saharan Africa. Mr Karim has built shoreline over the past 20 years into a leading integrated energy company with operating assets in the upstream, midstream and downstream business.
Mr Karim balances his business interests with a passion for contributing to development and education across the continent. He has championed a pan African agenda at the Harvard Centre for African Studies where he sits on the advisory board with a specific focus on building a Pan African resource centre with an initial center to be launched in South Africa. He advises and supports various African diaspora groups with representation in the Sahel and Sub Saharan Africa. He has for over 13 years been on the board of governors of the Grange school with a focus on supporting the development of technology based learning and expanding facilities within the school. The Grange school is located in Lagos, Nigeria and started by British expatriates is renowned for the quality of the education it provides , the school is one of only three in Nigeria to be accredited by the Uk’s Independent Association of Preparatory Schools. (IAPS).
Mr Karim Serves on the Africa Advisory board of the London Stock Exchange and is a Young Global Leader Award Honoree (2008), a pioneer and an active member of the Global Agenda Council on Emerging Multinationals of the World Economic Forum. He has delivered opinion and position papers at international conferences, investment forums, business schools and universities.