I'm Moe Odele - a startup lawyer, academic, investor, and creator of digital products. I am also a writer and personal development nerd, so you’ll often find me on social media giving practical tips that help people improve on their everyday life.

I’m unapologetic about gender-equality and that is at the core of everything I do.

The most interesting thing about me is that I am a devoted lifelong learner and currently, I’m exploring exciting things at the intersection of data analytics and legal practice.

More About Me...

My career started in public service where my first real job after law school was working with the office of the Governor of a state in Southwestern Nigeria

After that, I moved back to Lagos and since that year, I have lived and worked in New York, London, Nairobi and Washington DC.

For my day job, I work in early-stage financing and impact investing while running Scale My Hustle – a social enterprise that provides African entrepreneurs with resources to properly structure and grow their businesses. It is our goal to directly impact 1million entrepreneurs on the continent by the year 2040. In just one year of existing, we have helped African entrepreneurs’ access over $500,000.00 of financing.

I am also the Innovation Partner at Vazi Legal – a network of lawyers focused on the innovation and frontier technology space in Africa. In addition, I am a partner at TipHub an early stage Venture Capital fund supporting and investing in great companies in Africa and the African Diaspora. So far, the companies within our portfolio have raised $11million until date. And finally, I sit on the board of ScholarX, an innovative startup that is working hard to increase access to educational financing for high potential African students.

These days I spend a lot of my time outside work helping women, professionals and creative entrepreneurs figure out the best ways to monetize some of the skills they already possess. I also help people start and build out their consulting practices. You can sign up for my personal development newsletter here.

Academics, Awards & Projects

Education

Columbia Law School
Nigerian Law School

Fellowship & Awards

Salzburg Lloyd N. Cutler International Law Fellowship
David Leebron Human Rights Fellowship
Columbia Center on Sustainable Development Fellowship
Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar
Parker School Certificate for Achievement in International and Comparative Law

Selected Past Projects

PlushMagazine: Editor of lifestyle magazine focused on climate change and living green.
YolaBlanket Drive and Santa Goes to Yola: coordinated a nationwide drive for donation of emergency supplies to over 6000 InternallyDisplaced Persons in Northeastern Nigeria.
Standto End Rape: One of the early founding members and acted as head of legal providing probono legal support to survivors of sexual and domestic violence.

Selected Current Projects

She Earns More: this project is focused on helping women build the right skills to earn more and manage money better.

Startup Mentorship

I serve as a mentor on the Google for Startups global program where I have worked with startups in the Americas, Europe, Africa and Asia.

Kazan Entrepreneurship Forum, Russia. The Kazan OIC Youth EntrepreneurshipForum is a joint initiative of the OIC Youth Forum and the government of theRepublic of Tatarstan. Since 2014, the Forum has been held annually, attracting hundreds of startups, investors and industry experts from the OIC states and the Russian Federation. I have served as a mentor on this program since 2019.

Selected Publications & Speaking Engagements

Selected Publications

Co-authored with Columbia University Law School (discussing use of force in International Law)
‍Title: Out of the Shadows
Publication date: 2016
See link here
Helped in revising a United Nations Protocol now used by Governments all over the world.
Title: UN Protocol on LegalObligations and Practical Guidelines for Death Investigations
‍Publication Date: April 2016
See link here
Published by the World Bank during the Annual Conference on Land and Poverty in Washington DC
‍Title: When Good Innovations Go Bad: A Rights-based Approach toLand Based Investments.
‍Publication date: March 2019
See link here
Submitted Brief to the United Kingdom Parliament
See link here
On my work with communities in Kenya negatively impacted by large scale development project.
See link here

Selected Speaking Engagements and Interviews

Speaking at The University of Chicago BoothSchool of Business on Impact Investing.
See link here
Speaking at New York University on development in Africa.
See link here
Speaking at Fordham University, New York.
See link here
On Discussing the Sustainable Development Goals.
See link here
Being interviewed alongside the Director ofInvestments at Accion Venture Labs the Director of Innovations at Village Capital about seeking financial as well as social returns, the role of venture capital in promoting financial inclusion, and overcoming "selection bias" in deal sourcing.
See link here
Speaking on entrepreneurship
See link here
Speaking with thought leaders on Fintech in Africa in Washington DC.
See link here
Speaking on Blended Finance with world thought leaders in London.
See link here
Speaking at the World Bank on blockchain in Africa and the opportunity for investments
‍See link here
Speaking at the British Parliament on Brexit & continued financing of disruptive technology in Africa alongside The Ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo, The Right Honourable Lord St John of Bletso (House of Lords), Jeremy Lefroy MP, Member of Parliament & The Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy to Ethiopia, Greg Reeve the CEO Transsnet Payments &Previous Global Head of M-PESA
‍‍See link here
Feature by Columbia Law School
‍‍See link here

More About Me...

Academics, Awards & Projects

Startup Mentorship

Selected Publications & Speaking Engagements

Digital Products

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