Dr Balonwu is skilled in Corporate and Commercial Law, Intellectual Property Law, Arbitration and Alternative Dispute Resolution.
Dr. Balonwu holds a Doctorate Degree from the University of California, Berkeley, an LLM from University College London (UCL) and an LLB(Hons) from the University of Manchester. She also holds a BL from the Nigerian Law School and a JSD, from University of California, Berkeley, United States of America.
Dr Balonwu is called to the Bar of England and Wales, the New York City Bar and the Nigerian Bar.
She is also a member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, United Kingdom.
Dr. Nkiru Balonwu chairs the African Women on Board (AWB), an independent non-profit dedicated to advancing narratives and improving realities for women and girls of African heritage, globally. She is also Founder and CEO of RDF Strategies, an organisational strategy and stakeholder engagement firm focused on strategic communication, reputation management, strategic cause partnerships, investor communication and government relations.
Prior to founding RDF, Dr. Balonwu was CEO of Spinlet, the first music streaming and digital distribution platform in Sub-Saharan Africa. Before this, she held positions as a Lecturer at the Faculty of Law at the University of Lagos, where she was the inaugural lecturer of gender and law; and was a founding member of Ratio Consulting.
She has over two decades of professional experience and strong track record in creating, executing and evaluating corporate strategy, effective communication and stakeholder management strategies. An inspiring speaker and media commentator with a unique voice, she is a firm believer in placing effective communications at the heart of successful business and social strategy.
Passionate about the empowerment of African women, Dr. Balonwu has advised various government agencies, political parties and private sector organisations on how to engage women in politics, in the workplace and as consumers. She sits on the boards of several organisations and not for profits, and advises various creative industry and technology start-ups on go-to-market strategies.
She is a recipient of the Powerlist UK International award, in recognition of her work as founder of African Women on Board (AWB). The Powerlist UK award is given to persons based outside of the UK considered to have distinguished themselves as innovators, change-makers and persons of considerable influence.
