In ecosystems without strong accelerators, it’s hard to find mentors who understand both ambition and local constraints. At the same time, many of the brightest minds in Nigeria leave academia or the nonprofit space due to survival pressures. From your experience, what mentorship structures and co-founder matching practices are most critical to replicate in regions like Nigeria to help leaders retain talent and build resilient organizations?

In places like Nigeria, systemic barriers (weak infrastructure, scarce funding, policy gaps) often mean impact takes much longer to show. From your own leadership journey, what practices or mindsets have helped you sustain vision and motivation over the long term—and how might these lessons translate for founders working in Global South contexts where “quick wins” are rare?

Looking back at your journey from Charity Science to Ambitious Impact, what's one major strategic assumption you made early on that turned out to be completely wrong? How did that realization change your approach to launching new charities?

Your observation about the correlation between the modern animal welfare movement and secular or skeptical worldviews is astute and widely recognized. It's a valid point that for many, a non-religious framing of our relationship with animals feels more intuitive and less burdened by historical baggage.
However, the effectiveness of any approach depends heavily on the cultural and social context. In many parts of the world, including in some communities within historically Christian nations, a significant portion of the population is deeply religious. For these individuals, a purely secular argument for animal welfare may not resonate as deeply as one rooted in their faith tradition.
For someone whose worldview is shaped by their faith, demonstrating that compassion for animals is not only compatible with their beliefs, but is a core expression of them, can be a powerful motivator. This is where reinterpreting concepts like "dominion" comes in. It's not about ignoring the problematic history of the term, but about offering an alternative, faith-affirming understanding that emphasizes stewardship, care, and love for all of creation.
Ultimately, a multi-pronged approach is likely the most successful. Secular arguments can be very effective for one audience, while faith-based arguments can open doors and change hearts in another. The goal is to reduce animal suffering, and to achieve that, we should use every tool at our disposal, in a way that is most effective for the specific audience we are trying to reach.
 

Thank you so much for this kind and insightful message. I really resonate with what you’ve said. Like you, I see academia not just as a career but as a platform to shape future leaders. Many of our students come in with raw passion but little direction, and I believe one of the most meaningful things we can do is help channel that energy into impactful work. Your point that teaching can sometimes rival or even surpass direct EA roles in terms of influence is encouraging. It reframes the classroom as a multiplier of impact, which I find deeply motivating.

That said, one of the challenges in my context is that education in Nigeria is often weighed down by inadequate infrastructure and limited access to modern research tools. This makes it harder to fully unlock the potential of bright students who could otherwise thrive in global science and problem-solving spaces. Still, I believe even within these constraints, there is room to inspire, mentor, and connect students to broader opportunities. This is where I hope to make my strongest contribution within EA and beyond

It breaks my heart to see how often our brightest minds are stifled by circumstance rather than potential. With the right resources and support, these students could be leaders in science and innovation globally. The challenge before us is to ensure they are not left behind simply because they were born on the wrong side of opportunity

I have an idea that appears harmless but will help us see how normal phages will interact with mirror bacteria. I however do not know how to approach any of these funders. 

Thank you for sharing this—it’s a fascinating idea. I haven’t read the detailed report you mentioned, but I’ve followed some of the broader discussions around mirror life. You’re right that conventional phages wouldn’t work against mirror bacteria because of the chirality mismatch. In theory, only “mirror phages” built from mirror-biological components could infect them.

The idea of mirror phages is interesting because, if mirror organisms were ever discovered or engineered, they might be immune to all our natural defenses and medical tools. In that context, mirror phages could represent one of the very few biological defenses available. Exploring that possibility would also stretch our understanding of what life could look like beyond Earth, which is scientifically exciting.

My concern, however, is twofold. First, the technical barrier is enormous—we don’t currently have the capacity to build entire mirror-biological systems. Second, and more importantly, creating self-replicating mirror entities—whether bacteria or phages—would carry profound risks. Once released, they would operate on completely different biochemistry, outside the checks and balances of our ecosystems. We could neither predict nor easily contain their behavior, because no existing biological process in our world could break them down. That means even if they posed no direct harm to us, they could persist indefinitely, occupying niches, competing for resources, or interacting with the environment in ways we cannot anticipate.

Another layer of complexity is that phages are natural genetic transducers—they move genes between organisms. If mirror phages were ever created, we cannot be certain how they might interact with ordinary bacteria. While direct gene transfer across chiral systems seems unlikely, biology has a way of surprising us, and even small, indirect interactions could have unforeseen consequences. This uncertainty makes their study both intriguing and potentially risky.

So while the concept of mirror phages is highly speculative, it is also deeply double-edged: they could be our only defense against mirror pathogens, but they also raise the possibility of introducing a form of life that sits entirely beyond our current safety frame

Thank you for this kind and encouraging message. You’re right—it’s not always easy to share openly. To be honest, I don’t know how a lot of people will perceive me after now. But I felt it was important to speak from where I stand. Sometimes it seems that EA defines “doing good” in a particular way, and that can make it hard to see where other forms of impact fit in.

I’ve participated in some EA mentoring programs, and I found them valuable. At the same time, they often feel like they are preparing people for a job. But what happens in the event that you already have a form of impactful job, yet your impact is limited due to some structural or resource constraints? I wonder what mentorship would look like if it focused more on helping people overcome those constraints that limit their impact, especially in contexts like mine.

On the funding side, I agree with you—smaller funders are very difficult to find. That said, the Centre for Phage Biology and Therapeutics was able to get started with initial support from Emergent Ventures and ACX grants, and that gave us some momentum. Still, building biomedical research capacity here is extremely difficult—both in terms of infrastructure and sustainable funding. Sometimes the issue isn’t the strength of the idea, but rather finding people who really understand the Nigerian and West African context and are willing to invest in it.

Even with the hurdles, I remain committed to pushing forward, and conversations like this give me hope that there’s value in sharing the journey openly.

Thank you so much for taking the time to share this thoughtful comment. I really appreciate the encouragement and the reminder that the EA community values a diversity of perspectives and experiences. It means a lot to know that even if my path doesn’t perfectly align with the main cause areas, there is still space to contribute meaningfully.

Your words have given me a fresh sense of reassurance and motivation to keep exploring and engaging. I know there’s still so much for me to learn, and I look forward to growing through these conversations and from the experiences of others in the community.