#WeLeadComms: Olufunmi Olaosun

Today’s #WeLeadComms honoree, Nigeria-based Olufunmi Olaosun,is an award-winning strategic communications professional with extensive experience driving narrative positioning, public engagement, and institutional leadership across Africa and international platforms.

Her work sits at the intersection of strategic communications, storytelling, and social impact. She began her career in the development space where she led storytelling strategy that strengthened donor engagement, supported multi-country expansion, and positioned development programmes for sustained funding. She produced over 150 narrative scripts amplifying critical issues that were produced and distributed across Africa, Europe, North America, and Asia, earning her multiple professional awards. Her contribution to campaign execution and impact reporting helped position the organisation for expansion into more than 50 countries.

Across the development space, Olufunmi has designed and led integrated communications strategies that directly contributed to millions of dollars in donor funding for education, health, food security, and youth and community development initiatives.

Beyond her work in the nonprofit space, Olufunmi has led communications strategy and high-visibility initiatives within private sector and government institutions. Her expertise lies in the strategic use of narrative frameworks to support organisational growth, build public trust, and drive stakeholder alignment. She has executed brand refinement strategies in the private sector that strengthened public perception and significantly increased audience engagement.

In her government-facing roles, she has designed communications and stakeholder engagement strategies that improved alignment between public institutions and partners, ensuring message coherence in complex policy environments. As Communications Manager on a state government project, she developed and implemented structured communications strategies that enhanced coordination between policymakers, consultants, and partners and resulted in significant improvement in stakeholder engagement.

A significant part of her work has focused on developing communication capacity among emerging leaders and future decision-makers. During her time as the State Coordinator for the U.S. Department of State-supported youth leadership organisation in Nigeria, Olufunmi prioritised brand governance and communications excellence, establishing standards that strengthened visual identity, messaging clarity, and platform consistency. This disciplined approach resulted in measurable engagement growth and strengthened credibility within the network. She recently partnered with a state government to train hundreds of young people in effective communication and storytelling as tools for leadership and civic engagement.

Across sectors, Olufunmi is recognised for building communications systems that strengthen reputation, improve stakeholder confidence, and enhance visibility across diverse audiences. Her unique blend of brand strategy, narrative development, stakeholder engagement, and digital communications helps organisations to not only be seen but also believed, trusted, and supported.

In her current role as Chief Strategy Officer at MyLEAPS Initiative, she oversees organisational strategy while leading narrative and communications direction, ensuring alignment between mission, message, and audience perception.

In her words, “I see communications as a key infrastructure for achieving strategic outcomes. I strongly believe that visibility alone does not sustain organisations. What sustains them is trust and trust is built through deliberate narrative design, brand discipline, and message consistency. So I use communications as a lever for strengthening public trust, improving stakeholder alignment, and driving organisational growth.

My ambition is to continue advancing communications as both a strategic governance and business function and a tool for change, helping mission-driven institutions build sustainable influence and while driving meaningful policy and societal impact.”

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