Akinola is an educator and a quality education advocate with over seven years of experience in implementing programs geared towards enhancing access to education to underserved children. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in Education and History from the University of Ilorin, Nigeria, and an M.A in Global Development and Education at the University of Leeds, United Kingdom, through the prestigious Chevening Awards. Akinola strongly believes in the transformative power of education, an enabler of change and development of capacity of an individual in the society.

As the founder of Greater Minds Initiative, Akinola has championed projects and initiatives that have impacted over 1700 children and youths in Nigeria. During his national service in Cross River state, Akinola implemented 17 community development projects directed at improving educational opportunities to economically disadvantaged children. As a result of these laudable projects, he received the 2016 NYSC Governor’s Award, a prestigious recognition for outstanding corps members.

Akinola is a passionate and enthusiastic 21st-century educator that is concerned about the totality of young adults, spurring them as agents of change in their communities. He is an expert in designing and delivering an engaging lesson through collaborative and differentiated learning, capable of influencing critical thinking and creativity among students. Through his students' centred approach, many students he has taught have excelled brilliantly in their internal and external exams. In 2022, while as a teacher at Start-Rite International Schools, Abuja, he was chosen by the students as the most “Impactful Teacher”. Akinola is hardworking, competent, reliable and an emotionally balanced professional with highest moral imperative.

Akinola loves volunteering and making impact. Aside being the Course Representative for his cohort in the UK, he is a Youth Ambassador (YA) for ONE Campaign in the United Kingdom. As part of his roles as a YA, Akinola was at the UK’s Parliament, Westminster, in February 2023 to lobby lawmakers to increase UK’s oversea budget, most notably to combat the famine crisis in the Horn of Africa. Also, as a Volunteer Facilitator with Peer-Talk Initiatives, UK, Akinola has allocated 28 hours of his time in 6 months to rendering emotional support to over 48 people living with depression around Leeds. In June 2023, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, during the “Award Ceremony”, recognized the volunteering service of Akinola to the United Kingdom.