GOVERNANCE
The founding Directors of Pioneers Education Foundation are Esther Akafia and Leena Bakshi.
Esther Awovi Akafia
Founding Directors of Pioneers Education Foundation
Esther is an educator, an Attorney and an experienced International Development professional with over 20 years’ experience working and leading teams in Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States. Esther’s work has included Corporate Attorney for Opportunity International, a global microfinance organization, Africa Director for Human Resources for FINCA International- a global microfinance & International Development organization, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of FINCA Microfinance Bank, Nigeria, a fellow at RSF Social finance in Sans Francisco, a Banker with the Royal Bank of Scotland, England and the founder and Executive Director of Pioneers International Academy.
Esther’s vision is to see Pioneers enable access to quality and affordable Early Childhood Primary and Secondary education across Africa and enable Learners to break barriers and make impact locally and globally. In 2019, Esther was awarded the Next Generational Leader Fellowship with the McCain Institute and the University of Arizona where she worked with the BASIS charter schools
Esther’s goal is to make quality education truly accessible to all in Ghana and Africa.
✔ Esther holds a Bachelor’s degree in law (LLB, University of Ghana),
✔ A Master’s Degree in International Business (LLM, University of Manchester, England)
✔ An MBA in Global Social and Sustainable Enterprise development (Colorado State University, USA).
✔ She is a member of the Ghana Bar Association
✔ A certified Global Professional in Human Resources
✔ A member of High Scope Educational Research Foundation, USA
Dr. Leena Bakshi
Founding Directors of Pioneers Education Foundation
Dr. Leena Bakshi intensively studies STEM education and how we can create access and opportunities for EACH and EVERY student regardless of race, ethnicity, religion or socioeconomic status. Leena feels that the more diverse our STEM workforce, the more diverse our solutions! She has researched schools spanning all across the state of California and completed her dissertation on The Successful Implementation of STEM Initiatives in Lower Income Schools. She went on to manage continuation and independent study programs for at-risk teens. Leena worked at the county office of education as the science program director.
She pattered with school districts to train administrators, teachers and staff on the implementation of the Common Core and Next Generation Science Standards. After seeing the limited access that underrepresented students have in STEM subjects, she founded STEM 4 Real. In addition to quality professional learning, the company showcases real-life STEM stars that are breaking barriers and pioneering key breakthroughs in the STEM fields. Through literacy and STEM education, Leena hopes to increase the school to STEM career pipeline with a diversified STEM workforce that will continue to change the world.
✔ Leena earned her B.A. degree in biology from UC Berkeley
✔ M.A. in Education from Claremont Graduate University
✔ and a doctoral degree in Educational Leadership from the University of Southern California.
✔ She taught middle school and high school mathematics and science as well as health sciences.
✔ She worked as a master teacher and instructional coach for teachers.