Some people build businesses. Others build movements. Gusi Tobby KER builds professions.
Long before volunteer management became part of mainstream conversations in Nigeria, Gusi Tobby KER was reimagining the role of service. While many viewed volunteering as an act of goodwill, she saw it as a pathway to leadership, employability, and national development.
That conviction led to the founding of Girl Hub Africa, where she helped professionalise volunteer management by creating structures, developing standards, training volunteer managers, and opening doors for thousands of young women to gain meaningful experience, build careers, and contribute meaningfully to society. In doing so, she helped give volunteerism a stronger voice in Nigeria’s development landscape.
But as the movement grew, Gusi began to notice a pattern.
Many of the young women who had developed exceptional organisational, administrative, and leadership skills through volunteerism were being recruited into roles as Executive Assistants, Administrative Assistants, Legal Assistants, Chiefs of Staff, and other executive support positions. They were securing opportunities, yet stepping into careers without a defined professional pathway, recognised standards, or specialised training.
To Gusi, that wasn’t simply a gap, it was an opportunity to build what did not yet exist.
Rather than watch talented professionals stumble into careers they had never been prepared for, she founded the School of Service, an institution committed to professionalising Executive Service and equipping Executive Assistants, Chiefs of Staff, Administrative Professionals, and Executive Service Leaders with the competence, confidence, and strategic mindset required to excel.
For Gusi, the School of Service was never a departure from her work with volunteerism; it was its natural evolution. If Girl Hub Africa opened doors to opportunity, the School of Service was created to ensure that those who walked through those doors were prepared to thrive.
Today, the School of Service has become one of Africa’s leading institutions for Executive Service education, raising a new generation of professionals who understand that Executive Service is not merely about providing support, it is about enabling leadership, strengthening institutions, and driving organisational excellence. Through its programmes, the institution continues to shape professionals who serve with competence, character, and strategic influence.
Beyond founding institutions, Gusi is an Executive Service Coach, speaker, and thought leader whose work continues to shape conversations around leadership, service excellence, and professional development. Her ideas have challenged long-held assumptions about Executive Service, demonstrating that professions often dismissed as “support roles” are, in reality, critical drivers of organisational success and institutional effectiveness.
Her philosophy is both simple and transformative: the quality of leadership is often determined by the quality of the professionals who stand beside leaders.
Whether championing volunteerism or advancing Executive Service, one thread runs consistently through her life’s work, the determination to identify overlooked spaces, raise their standards, and leave them more respected than she found them.
This month, Her Impact Africa proudly recognises Gusi Tobby KER as its Woman of the Month, celebrating a visionary who has transformed service into a profession, elevated the people behind leadership, and continues to redefine what impact looks like across Africa.
