About SOS Foundation
One conviction. One date. One foundation.
June 10, 2025 wasn’t the start of a marketing plan. It was the day a small conviction about faith and service became an organisation.
Our History
Rooted in faith. Built for the community next door.
The Samuel Oladeji Shoneye Foundation is rooted in a strong religious conviction: to bring souls to Christ. That conviction led us to establish the foundation and to uplift rural communities through the empowerment of youth, support for widows and orphans, the promotion of education, the alleviation of poverty, improved healthcare, and better infrastructure in low-income communities.
All of it guided by our faith, and by an unwavering commitment to service.
The Foundation is established
SOS Foundation is formally founded on a mandate of faith-driven community service.
Two programs take shape
Poverty prevention & relief, and access to education, are chosen as our first two areas of focused work.
Building our first partnerships
We're introducing SOS Foundation to donors, churches and partners who share the same conviction.
Placeholder photoMission Statement
Compassion, integrity and stewardship — in that order of feeling, not importance.
Our work is rooted in strong religious values. We believe in compassion, integrity, and stewardship as central guiding principles. Faith inspires us to serve others, foster hope, and promote peace.
Our faith-based approach encourages inclusiveness and respect for all, regardless of background, while motivating us to pursue justice and opportunity in every project.
Compassion
Serving with empathy and caring for all people.
Integrity
Acting with honesty, transparency, and accountability.
Stewardship
Using resources wisely and responsibly to maximize impact.
Hope
Inspiring optimism and resilience in the face of challenges.
Vision Statement
Nigeria first. Then Africa. Then wherever the need is.
Our vision is to be a catalyst for transformation, starting in Nigeria and expanding throughout Africa and beyond. We aim to empower individuals and communities to overcome adversity and build sustainable futures — alongside partners, donors and local leaders.
Nigeria
Focused, scalable interventions in rural and urban communities — where we are today.
Africa
Regional partnerships to share best practices and amplify impact across the continent.
Global
Inspiring change through advocacy, learning, and innovation, wherever it's needed.
Founder & Trustee
Four decades building enterprises. One conviction building this one.
Samuel Oladeji Shoneye
Founder & Trustee
“Building a company from an idea to an IPO teaches you exactly one thing worth keeping: that people’s lives are the only return on investment that actually matters.”
Samuel Shoneye has spent over 42 years in finance, sales and business development, including more than a decade as a CEO turning ambitious ideas into thriving companies. Along the way he has launched and scaled venture-funded businesses across information security, networking, real estate, and SaaS — several of them carried from a first pitch deck all the way through to IPO, delivering real returns to the investors who bet on them early.
What sets him apart isn’t just longevity — it’s range. He has built winning go-to-market strategies from scratch, recruited and led the functional teams to execute them, shaped brand identity that made those companies recognisable, and raised the capital that made all of it possible.
SOS Foundation is what happens when that same discipline gets pointed at a different kind of return: a widow with a full pantry, a child who stays enrolled, a community that stops waiting and starts rebuilding. Same rigor. Different balance sheet.
Our Leadership
People who’ve spent their careers showing up for others.
Decades of nursing, law, ministry and operations experience — now pointed at the same mission from four different directions.
Tess Kikelomo Shoneye
Executive Director
RN
A nursing professional with more than three decades of executive clinical experience across operating room, medical, surgical, sub-acute and geriatric care. Tess has led as both staff and charge nurse, bringing sharp expertise in trauma operations, medication administration, wound care and patient management. She's known for building trust fast — between physicians, patients and families alike — and for the kind of crisis instincts and patient education that come only from decades on the floor. She brings that same steady, people-first leadership to the Foundation's day-to-day operations.
Michelle Olajumoke Shoneye
Executive Director & Trustee
Michelle owns the Foundation's programs from first idea to last mile — researching community needs, designing interventions, and carrying them through to execution. She hires and mentors staff, keeps communication honest and open across the organisation, and builds budgets and operating plans that match ambition with accountability. Every program milestone, deadline and outcome the Foundation reports publicly passes through her hands first.
Honorable Moshood Aro
Trustee
Honorable Moshood Aro serves on the Foundation's Board of Trustees, providing governance oversight and strategic counsel that keeps SOS Foundation accountable to the communities it serves and the donors who make that service possible.
Olukayode Olugbenga Okenla
Executive Director, General Counsel
Esq., LLB (Hons), LL.M
Founding Partner of Simon Bethel Solicitors Limited (UK), Olukayode holds an LLB (Hons) and an LL.M with Merit in International and Commercial Law, and is qualified to practice in both Nigeria and England. Over three decades as a leading commercial lawyer and entrepreneur, he has served as Legal Adviser to Nigeria's Federal Government and multiple states, sat on the boards of numerous companies and charities, and authored articles and journals in his field. He brings that same rigor — and a long record of recognition for community-minded legal work — to keeping SOS Foundation's governance airtight.
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