Founder & CEO

I’m a social entrepreneur with eight years of experience in building a non-profit from the scratch. My journey into the social entrepreneurship space started through my community development project as a Nigeria Youth Service Corps (NYSC) member in a semi-rural community in Benue State, Nigeria. As a corps member, I set up the first library in Otukpo Prison, a prison that was built in 1923. Starting with just a single prison in Benue State, today, our team operates in six different prisons in three different states in Nigeria through my organisation called Dream Again Prison and Youth Foundation. We help inmates to constructively utilize their time and energy while in incarceration to add value to them towards preparing them to becoming better people and productive members of the society.

I hold a Higher National Diploma from Abdul Gusau Polytechnic, Talata Mafara, Zamfara State. I’m a member of the Institute of Strategic Management, a member of the Institute of Public Diplomacy and Management and a member of the Institute of Customer Relationships Management. I also hold a diploma in Psychology.

I undertook a seven-month training in social entrepreneurship at the Kanthari International Institute of Social Entrepreneurs, India. I have training experience of over six years from Catalyst, a social change makers community.  I’m an alumnus of Leap Africa Social Innovators Program 2014/2015, and of Lagos Business School Non-profit Leadership Management Program, I was part of the first Econet GoGettaz 2018 five-week internship experiential learning internship program in Zimbabwe organized by Dr. Strive Masiyiwa. I’m also a certified coach with Open Door Coaching Australia.

My life goal is to help prisoners escape from prison, not physically but mentally through setting up libraries in jail.I also seek to achieve this by the Dream Again Academy program that I style the ‘3Rs’, meaning Rethink, Reform, Re-enter.

I believe that the richest place on Earth is neither the oil field in Iran nor the goldmine in South Africa, but the prison yard because in the prison yard, we have men and women with potentials that are more valuable than oil and gold.It’s my desire together with my team to empower the incarcerated towards harnessing their potential, so that they can discover, develop and learn how to deploy these potentials for self and national transformation.

“When we educate and train a prisoner, we are making the society safer and better for all“

My contact in 2012 with Bashiru Adamu, Initiator of Dream Again Prison & Youth Foundation, I believe, was divine. Working with the government for 15 years and having to move and work through communities and interact with youths, I discovered, among other factors, ignorance, low self-esteem, idleness and poor education to be strongly connected with juvenile offences and crime generally. Research has shown the same to be among the factors responsible for recidivism—the repeating of or returning to criminal behaviour by the same offenders. Prisons around here in Africa have scarcely helped the situation as they are more a punitive than a correctional or rehabilitationset-up.

As I dreamt and thought through setting up at least mini-libraries in communities to engage literate but idle youths, I ran into this young, passionate initiator who, among other projects, was already setting up the first library in prison, invariably transforming prisons in Nigeria from punitive to correctional facilities through specialized training, skills acquisition and empowerment of prisoners to become assets in and out of prison to themselves and the society. Wow! I became interested and committed to contributing my little efforts to his foundation’s causes. 

The experience has only gotten better, brighter, bigger, and even more challenging by the day. I am so grateful to God and to Mr. Bashiru for the privilege to be part of such a noble and great work whose impact is far-reaching. Humanity can only be the better for it. 

We believe when you train a prisoner, you make the society better and safer for all of us. Get in the partnership train today!    

   JAMES A. EDOGA, Humanitarian change catalyst and humourist, is a career and relationship counsellor and author of the classic ‘Stop Ducking the Eagles’. He coaches individuals and teams to attain both personal and professional success. He is a husband and father with a passion for inspiring humanity towards emotional wholeness & wellness and for raising a soaring solution-driven generation.

I retired as a corrections specialist with Washington State Department of Corrections in 2014. From 1986-88, I served as a community corrections officer in Oregon, where I was Lead Pre-sentence Investigator for the Superior Court. In Washington, I served as Unit Assignment Officer, Disciplinary Hearings Officer, Warrant Officer, Training Specialist, Master Trainer, Risk Assessment Specialist and Prison Supervisor.

Research has demonstrated what experience showed me: education is by far the best correctional investment. Moreover, we know that former inmates who succeed express a shift in identity. Who they are for themselves has altered. Who they will be for the community only remains to be seen.

I believe Dream Again Prison and Youth Foundation is doing ground-breaking work with inmates. Since my first contact with the program, I’ve stood solidly behind it. I’m honored to be a part of this exceptional work.

During my tenure in Washington,I graduated summa cum laude with departmental honours from Hunter College CUNY in 1974. I grew up in New York City. I’m married. I have three children and 3 grandchildren (with one on the way)!

is an executive director/content developer for Braw International Limited.She is also an ambassador for Dream Again Prison and Youth Foundation. She is a writer, educator, humanitarian, composer and a singer who loves to teach and inspire on moral living. Ene has a strong passion for media, writing and teaching.

In 2011 and 2015, she volunteered for summer school coaching classes just to teach young ones and impact them positively, thus contributing her quota to human development.

Ene is a worthy ambassador of Dream Again Prison and Youth Foundation. She believes strongly in the academy and shares in its objectives and values. She is also working to achieve them by dedicating her time, knowledge and resources to the cause. She has visited the prison in Otukpo and is presently promoting the values of the Academy as an ambassador in Lagos, Nigeria, while makingconcerted efforts to see Nigerian prisons transformed.

Ene holds a master’s degree in International Relations, a degree in Information Technology from Stratford University India and a degree in Business Management. She has a PGD in Film Making/Journalism from AAFT (Asian Academy of Film and Television), where she graduated top in her class. She also has an NCE (National Certificate of Education), as she has always loved teaching.

She believes in her philosophy, ‘one day at a time and one person at a time’, and is working hard to affect the globe through this philosophy. She will keep shining her little light, doing the best she can for humanity.

Ruth Oyinyoza Adamu is a Nigerianteacher, a linguist and a catalyst for positive change. She works with children/youth and is committed to helping them boost their self-confidence and self-worth.

She is an ambassador and a board member at Dream Again Prison and Youth Foundation and a facilitator at Dream Again Capacity Building Initiative DACBI). She believes that when we train a child right, the society will be alright.

She is now working towards building a school where children will be helped in finding their paths early in life by involving them in participatory learning, critical and analytical thinking, and instilling in them the right mindset to dream big and to live their dreams.

With more than 20 years in coaching, management and leadership in Asia Pacific and being a Professional Certified Coaching (PCC)-credentialed coach with the ICF Global, Mel desires to empower leaders and ‘future leaders’ around the region.

As Founder and Principal Coach at Asia Pacific Institute of Coaching (APIC), he trains ‘future coaches’ throughout Asia with the Australian Government-accredited International Coaching Federation (ICF) program (at two levels – the Certificate IV & Diploma in Workplace/Business Coaching). He conducts this training in partnership with the OpenDoor Coaching Group, Australia. This program is available online at http://www.apicoaching.com/certiv.

Mel has coached and trained CEOs, heads of department, leaders and managers of top multi-national corporations across the region in Oil & Gas, Banking, IT, Insurance, Telco, Publication, Education, Retail, Pharmaceutical, Medical, Lift Service, Training & Development and NGOs.

Over the years, Mel has been trained and mentored by coaching greats such as Sir John Whitmore (Coaching), Dr. Richard Bandler (Neuro-linguistic programming), John C. Maxwell (Leadership), and worked with other experts in their field like Natalie Ashdown, Patrick Merlevede, W Mitchell and the late Marilyn Powell.

Mel is also passionate about working with the future generation and has co-founded Generation Global Coaching, a Gen-Y coaching organization that empowers the younger generation. Mel is an advocate for equality and the differently-abled community and sits on the executive board of Dialogue in The Dark Malaysia. (www.did.my)

Mel is one of the only persons in Asia to empower clients to better understand their People with Powerful 21st Century Psychometric Tools in three (3) key areas (from JobEQ, Belgium)-

– Values (VSQ Profile),

– Attitudes & Motivations (iWAM Profile),

– Competency (COMET Profile)

Since encountering Bashiru Adamu in Kerala India in 2013, Mel has been a teacher, mentor and coach to the Dream Again Prison and Youth Foundation initiator.In 2016, Mel visited Africa for the first time when he came to Nigeria to see for himself the work being done in prison.While in Nigeria, he voluntarily trained the wardens in Otukpo Prison in addition to encouraging and motivating the prisoners.

Antony Pang is the founder of The Dots Company, a consulting firm for ventures that marry the mind of business and the heart of humanity. Pang received training in Social Work, Marketing as well as Criminology.

He is a registered social worker in Hong Kong, a certified gambling counselor in Canada, and a narrative therapy practitioner in Australia.

Pang has worked for NGOs for more than 20 years, focusing on children and youth services. His experiences in social welfare include pioneering the first Asset Based Approach project in Hong Kong. Pang has started his social entrepreneurship since 2008 and back then he initiated BiciLine

He has been Dream Again Prison and Youth Foundation Nigeria partner, International Ambassador and mentor for over 10+ years.