For Segun Fatudimu, co-founder of Impact Toolbox, entrepreneurship began as a way of noticing what people needed and finding a way to respond. Growing up in Nigeria in a family that ran spare motor parts stores, he learned early to see business not only as a path to independence, but as a way of serving others. By age eleven, he was selling water to people attending Friday prayers. Soon after, as Nigeria shifted from landlines to mobile phones, he began selling call services and recharge cards. Side hustles came naturally to him because solving everyday problems did too.
Yet, even the most independent journeys are shaped by moments of guidance. Around the age of 13, Segun found himself drifting into a challenging peer group, mixing with the wrong crowd and causing trouble. Recognizing this, his parents connected him with a tutor and mentor, Uncle Kenneth. Instead of reacting with strict punishment, Uncle Kenneth offered a space of safety, deep conversation, and genuine care. He planted a seed that permanently changed Segun’s path, gently sharing: “It’s about what you can do for people. It’s about what you can do with your life. It’s not necessarily about getting rich—then what?” This relationship transformed Segun’s worldview. “I’m deeply grateful for Uncle Kenneth,” Segun reflects. “Without him, I would probably still be with those boys breaking windows.” Driven by this new foundation, Segun chose his path with a clear goal: “I want to become a person who can do business and touch people’s lives.”
That purpose stayed with him through university, where he studied dental surgery at the University of Ibadan and continued volunteering with local and global development organizations. Although he was building a successful career as a dentist, his heart kept pulling him back to community action. Remembering what mentorship had done for him, he felt compelled to create similar opportunities for others. That led him to found Sozo Networks, a youth-led organization focused on leadership and entrepreneurship training for young Nigerians.
Segun started Sozo Networks with his first salary as a dentist and no outside funding. Over three years, it grew into youth leadership conferences, boot camps, and grant-writing training that reached more than 12,000 young people across six states. But building it without a strong support system exposed the limits of intuition alone. He was leading social change with heart and experience, but without formal training in nonprofit management, social innovation, or sustainable models. As he sought out courses, conferences, and books, and later joined the Mandela Washington Fellowship in 2017, he began to see a clearer path. He also encountered a deeper challenge: funders sometimes wanted local organizations to reshape their work around donor priorities instead of community realities. That experience helped him recognize social entrepreneurship and impact measurement as ways for changemakers to lead with more agency, sustainability, and accountability to the people they serve.
That search eventually carried Segun to Chicago in 2019 as an Obama Foundation Scholar, where he completed a master’s degree at the University of Chicago. Surrounded by world-class leadership and business training, he saw a barrier he could not ignore: the very knowledge needed to build strong, community-rooted change was often locked behind expensive institutions and inaccessible systems. Because his own journey had been made possible through scholarships and mentors, he felt a responsibility to build a bridge. He imagined packaging the knowledge, tools, and experiences he was gaining so that people anywhere in the world could learn from the corners of their room.
In Chicago, Segun turned that conviction into a plan. He entered the Rustandy Center’s Social New Venture Challenge at Chicago Booth and won first place. The prize money, combined with other early support, helped launch what would become Impact Toolbox.
Soon after, Segun moved to Canada to pursue his PhD. Knowing he could not build the vision alone, he shared it with classmates, friends, and collaborators, and began forming the team and board that would give Impact Toolbox a permanent home. The organization launched during the pandemic, which pushed the team to focus first on virtual learning. They began by turning their social entrepreneurship knowledge into online courses that could reach people anywhere. At the same time, Segun reflected on the youth leadership programs he had built in Nigeria and asked a simple question: why not make this global too? That insight led to the creation of Impact Toolbox’s Youth Social Entrepreneurship Fellowships.
Today, Impact Toolbox is a registered Canadian charity that measures success by human wellbeing and shared wealth. Becoming a charity that also models social enterprise was intentional. The goal was not only to teach others a better way to build impact, but to embody it.
At its heart, the organization is still rooted in the kind of youth-mentor relationship that changed Segun’s life.
"I’m giving because I was given to,” he says. “I am on a journey of replicating the help that I enjoyed for as many changemakers and emerging leaders across the world.”
Impact Toolbox exists to pass forward belief, guidance, and practical tools so more people can build lasting change on their own terms. The story is still unfolding, and it remains an open invitation to imagine what becomes possible when people are lifted as they grow.
