Meet Uju Onwuzilike

Uju Onwuzulike is one of Africa’s foremost voices in systems thinking, recognized for equipping leaders, CEOs, and policymakers with the clarity and capability to solve systemic challenges and drive lasting transformation.

He is the Founder of Mentoring Consult Ltd (MCL), a firm committed to becoming Africa’s premier reference point for solving systemic challenges through systems thinking. Since pioneering corporate systems thinking programs in Nigeria in 2011, Uju has become a trusted advisor to boards, senior executives, and national institutions - helping them navigate complexity, align strategy with execution, and achieve sustainable impact by integrating systems thinking with strategic management principles.

Trained and mentored by the late Steve Haines, founder of the Haines Centre for Strategic Management (California, USA), Uju served as the Centre’s Global Partner for Africa. In 2010, he attained Gold Mastery status in Strategic Management and Systems Thinking, a distinction achieved by very few Africans. This reflects not only his rare expertise but also over a decade of applying systems thinking to build transformative leadership capacity across Africa.

Uju serves as faculty at the Rome Business School, teaching Global Leadership, Strategic Management, Corporate Strategy, and Sustainable Innovation, and at Docenti Global Business School, where he lectures in Strategic Management and Business Strategy.

His academic background includes a Master’s in Technology Governance and Digital Transformation from Tallinn University of Technology (Estonia), an MBA, and a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics. He also holds certifications as a Digital Business Transformation Manager, Transformation Program Manager, and credentials in Digitalization and Smart, Sustainable City Governance. In 2007, he became the first African trained as an Optimal Thinking Assessment Facilitator by the World Academy of Personal Development (USA).

Over nearly two decades, Uju has advised and facilitated programs for leading organizations, including the Nigerian Navy, IoD Centre for Corporate Governance, Eko Electricity Distribution Company, Pyramids Plc, Simba Group, United Bank for Africa, Nigerian Ports Authority, First City Monument Bank, MRS Oil Plc, NOVA Bank, and Avon HMO, and numerous other institutions.

As a former columnist for Business Day and Vanguard, Uju authored over 250 articles on systems thinking, innovation, adaptability, and strategy—shaping conversations on organizational and national transformation across Africa.

Though currently based in Estonia, Uju continues to influence transformation across Africa and beyond—reinforcing his role as a recognized voice in systems thinking with growing global influence.

He is deeply passionate about shaping a new generation of African leaders—CEOs, policymakers, presidents, and governors—who rise above short-term, quick-fix approaches and embrace systems leadership as the foundation for sustainable, transformative change. His mission is to equip leaders to see the whole, connect the dots, and design enduring solutions that will transform Africa into the innovative, sustainable, and prosperous continent it is destined to be.