Advisory Team Bios

 Tayo Salami is a multi-skilled professional with 25+ years of work experience within the commercial and charity sectors. She has held senior management roles within strategic management, governance, finance, operations management, and human resources; and she has managed various projects including envisioning and transformation projects. Tayo is particularly passionate about keeping individuals, teams and organisations focused and engaged during times of change.  

Junior Smart joined St Giles Trust in 2006 upon his release from prison, from where he served a 10-year sentence for a drug and gang-related offence. With support from St Giles Trust, he is credited in developing the award winning SOS Gangs project, London’s largest ex-offender gangs exit program. Covering 14 London boroughs and employing a team comprising predominantly of ex-offenders. This year the SOS Project is on target to reach over 700 young people caught up in Serious group offending and has won numerous awards and recognition, including the South London Press Awards 2008 and the Centre for Social Justice Awards in 2009. 

Junior Smart is not only a Youth Leader but a qualified trainer and Gangs Consultant. Despite dropping out of education at the age of 14, he has achieved a first-class degree in youth work and distinction, and he earned his MA in Criminology, Youth Crime, and Justice. Whilst undertaking his PhD at Middlesex University into the connection between gangs and families, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by Greenwich University in Education. In 2020 he was included in Her Majesty the Queen's New Year’s Honour List receiving an OBE for recognition of his work with young people in tackling youth violence. 

His main focus continues to center on Violence Desistance in all its forms and he regularly designs new projects, feeds into public policy through Public Policy Exchange and the Centre for Social Justice and consults with the Met Police as well as other statutory bodies on best practice. 

The Group Financial Controller at Autovista Group is a company that provides trusted pricing and specification insights for Europe’s automotive decision-makers. Diane joined the company in January 2020. As part of her role, Diane manages and leads the financial reporting and accounting teams and is responsible for the timely and accurate reporting of the Group's financial performance. 

Before joining Autovista Group, Diane worked at David Phillips Furniture Ltd, responsible for transforming and leading the finance team. Before that, she held lead finance roles in companies ranging from private-equity backed companies to listed companies, including time spent at Ricoh Europe Plc and Ascential plc. 

Diane's professional expertise, her commitment to education, and her passion for equity and community engagement position her exceptionally with MDS." 

 Abena is an accomplished senior banking and financial services lawyer. She qualified as, and was admitted to the roll of, Solicitor, Senior Courts of England and Wales in 2010. Abena has worked for major international firms in the UK, the Netherlands, France and Japan. Abena specialises in, and has extensive experience in leading and advising major corporate clients on international capital markets transactions, OTC derivatives products and regulatory change planning.
Abena has a strong track record of making lasting and impactful contributions to the development of young talents, whether as a member of the mentoring and coaching faculties at the firms she has worked or volunteering as part of the Hackney Schools Mentoring Programme, Citizenship Foundation Lawyers in Schools Programme or Aspiring Solicitors Mentoring Programme. Abena has served as MDS mentor since 2022
In her spare time, Abena is a keen marathoner, including running London, Tokyo, New York and Budapest marathons, while fundraising for various UK-based charities. 

The Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Akua Kuenyehia Foundation (AKF). With over 14 years of empowerment experience, she has been at the forefront of designing and implementing programs that equip underprivileged girls in Ghana with leadership, life skills, and professional development opportunities. Akofa pioneered the Empower Her Camp, a flagship initiative that promotes career and entrepreneurship pathways for young women. Her work spans impactful collaborations with organizations such as MDS, the African Leadership Academy and the United States International University to foster youth empowerment and create sustainable development opportunities for the next generation of female leaders