March 1, 2026, marked a milestone for not just our founder and Executive Director, ‘Gbenga Sesan, but also for Paradigm Initiative as an organisation. As we celebrate his 19th anniversary as a PINnovator – the first PINnovator, he takes us through three photos that reflect his journey, growth and contribution to PIN’s work.

“This was Paradigm Initiative’s first public event on July 27, 2007. Once I was sure of what the organisation’s goal would be, I designed our first programme to target young people in Ajegunle in Lagos, Nigeria. Before we started the training programme, I visited a group of students at the Yaba College of Technology, in the company of our first volunteer, Ugochukwu Nwosu, and four young Koreans who joined us in the delivery of our first cohort training.

It also happened to be my birthday, but I was happy for PIN to take centre stage because a powerful idea had been born. Almost 19 years and many team members later, Paradigm Initiative is still fulfilling the original goal, though now with a bigger footprint and more resources.

The third picture shows the latest annual team retreat with some members of the Paradigm Initiative team in Bangkok, Thailand, where we sharpened the vision and renewed our strategy towards doing what we started doing in 2007- working towards a rights-respecting world!”