LINDA BEMBATOUM
Linda Bembatoum has 16 years’ experience working in the Not-for Profit and Social Entrepreneurship spaces and currently works as a freelance Sustainable Development Consultant under her own platform, Third Sector Development Solutions (TSDS) which she set-up in September 2013. As founder of TSDS, Linda has facilitated training workshops on ‘Sourcing for Grants and Grant writing’ for social entrepreneurs, NGO executives and creative entrepreneurs. Between 2013 and 2015, these training workshops were held on a quarterly basis in collaboration with Enterprise Creative, Lagos (a co-working space and capacity building hub for creative entrepreneurs) set up by Ms. Nkiru Asika. Some organizations that have benefitted from her workshops include staff from Freedom Foundation, Lagos Comic Convention, Pronatura International, Nigeria, Lufodo Academy of Performing Arts, The Ayo Bankole Centre for Arts and Cultural Expression, W-Tec (Women Tec), The Future Project, LEAP Africa’s Social Innovators Fellows and staff from the National House of Assembly of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Linda continues to train staff of NGO’s and social enterprises (in-house) in Grant writing, sourcing for funds, Basics of Not-for-profit Management she has also facilitated Strategic Planning Workshops and fundraising strategy workshops.
In more recent times she has trained staff of WISCAR (Women In Successful Careers), UNITeS Cisco Networking Academy Foundation, Health Emergency Initiative (HEI) the Nigerian Institute of Chartered Arbitrators (NICARB), Indigo Co-working Space, ZoneTech Park and Nigerian Ports Authority Managers. She has provided consulting, grant writing services, project management and strategic planning workshop services to for-profit and not-for-profit social entrepreneurs.
Prior to setting up TSDS, Linda worked for Pro-Natura International, Nigeria (PNI), a locally and internationally registered NGO working on sustainable community development issues across the Niger-Delta region of Nigeria and the South-Western states. She held the position of Senior Programme Advisor in the Lagos office from 2010 to 2013. Linda provided support towards the implementation of community development and CSR projects in those regions. These projects were sponsored by international donor agencies and members of the oil and gas sector. Her duties included proposal writing, reporting feedback and liaising with multilateral donors and corporate sponsors in Lagos and Abuja, project implementation and monitoring. She wrote successful proposals and co-implemented projects for the European Union MPP9 programs, EU INSIDE, the UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office, Refugee Action UK, Oando Foundation, French Embassy’s Social Development Fund to name a few.
Linda worked as a research assistant for the think tank ‘Centre for African Policy and Peace Strategy’, CAPPS (now called CAPPS Consult) – a consultancy set-up by Dr. Dapo Oyewole. She conducted a study on Return and Cyclical Migration issues of Nigerian nationals living in the UK. Results of the study were published by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) UK. She also worked for the Chris Ogunbanjo Foundation where she collaborated with UN Information Centre (UNIC) to train youth in Basic IT skills from 2006 – 2008 while inculcating in them a sense of social awareness. (This project has expanded and still exists today and is called the UNITeS Cisco Networking Academy). Linda is now on the Advisory Board of this organization and provides structural guidance and partnership links. Since 2007, the project has won several awards and recognition from Cisco Systems for improving the IT skills of hundreds of University and underserved Secondary School children (with an emphasis on girls) with programs running in all the geopolitical zones in Nigeria.
While studying at American University Washington DC (1999-2002), Linda interned at Human Rights Watch in the Africa Division during her final year of her BA programme, 2002. She was credited for editing support on the Human Rights Watch Report titled ‘Sudan, Oil and Human Rights’ published in 2003 https://www.hrw.org/report/2003/11/24/sudan-oil-and-human-rights
Linda attended Corona School Victoria Island and later attended The British School of Lome where she received most of her primary school education. She attended Atlantic Hall Secondary School Ikeja, Lagos (now located in Epe, Lagos State). Her professional interests include the realization of Socio-economic and Political development for Africans on the continent and in the Diaspora and the promotion of local Social Impact Investment Initiatives.
She also has a keen interest in the performing arts (specifically music and theatre).
Linda has a BA in International Studies with a minor in French from American University, Washington DC. She also has a Masters in International Studies and Diplomacy from the School of Oriental & African Studies (SOAS), University of London.
Memberships & Awards: Linda is a Blue Ribbon Award recipient-a group award she and her supervisors received while interning at the World Federalist Association office in Washington DC in 2001 (http://www.wfm-igp.org/). The award was presented by the United Nations Association of the National Capital Area (UNA-NCA – www.unanca.org) for services contributing towards UN Goals. She was a Cambridge University’s ‘Queens Young Leaders Mentor’ 2016 and 2018 mentor. She is a member of the Inclusive Business Action Network (IBAN – http://www.inclusivebusinesshub.org) since 2016, an online global multi-stakeholder network unlocking the power of inclusive business for sustainable development. Linda was recently invited onto the Fundraising & Marketing Committee of Musical Society of Nigeria (MUSON) in September 2019.