Our Team & Board
The people behind the mission
CYID is led by its founder and sustained by the extraordinary commitment of individuals who believe that investing in people is the highest form of impact.
Mr. Aihawu Victor
Nigeria & United Kingdom
Social entrepreneur, migration policy expert, youth development leader, and certified trauma therapist with over 21 years of experience. Founder of CYID, PCMM, Cultural Hangout Festival, Coastal du Monde, Kima, and Take Charge! Own and Rebuild Your Life.
Selected as Discussion Starter at GFMD Berlin 2017, IOM Expert Rapporteur 2017, PICUM member since 2015, University of Cambridge research partner 2024, and holder of three simultaneous federal government policy appointments in Nigeria.
Dr. Bernward Jopen
Krefeld, Germany · Born 30th March 1943
Dr. Bernward Jopen is a German engineer, serial entrepreneur, academic institution builder, and philanthropist whose belief in the potential of people — in prison cells, in classrooms, and in the communities of Badagry — has shaped CYID’s existence in the most fundamental way.
Educated in electrical engineering at universities in Germany and France, and holding a PhD in Economics from Humboldt University Berlin, Dr. Jopen built a distinguished career as co-founder of Telenet GmbH — later acquired by Alcatel — and co-founded the Entrepreneurship Centre at the Technical University of Munich, which he led for eight years.
He is the co-founder of the Leonhard Prison Entrepreneurship Programme, founded with his daughter Maren Jopen. It was through this work — combining entrepreneurship, dignity, and second chances — that Dr. Jopen’s partnership with CYID was born.
Dr. Bernward Jopen is the first and principal investor in the establishment of the CYID Youth and Migration Resource Centre in Badagry, Lagos — singlehandedly funding its physical infrastructure, training rooms, equipment, and operational setup. Without his belief and generosity, the Centre would not exist.
— Mr. Aihawu Victor, Founder & Executive Director, CYID
Chioma Bukola Jehami-Aihawu
Nigeria
Hannah Edebeatu
United Kingdom
Manoah Nunayon Kikekon
Nigeria
Damassoh Japhet Setonji
Nigeria