Why Leading Wings Exists

A year later, spending much of 2016 in China exposed me to profound applications of emerging technologies in everyday life. By around 2017, I wanted to learn how to operate a small drone myself, only to discover that there were very few UAV training opportunities available in Africa at the time.

The contrast made something increasingly obvious: technology was advancing rapidly, but the capabilities required to understand and apply these possibilities remained limited.

I began to see that the challenge was not simply access to technology. It was the gap between technological possibility and the human, institutional, and ecosystem capabilities required to turn that possibility into value.

That realization shaped a personal commitment: to become deeply knowledgeable about emerging technologies while contributing to the capabilities required for their responsible and practical adoption.

This journey included aviation, UAV and RPA operations, technology leadership, project and operations management, and leadership development, culminating in certification as a Combat RPA Pilot in 2021.

But the deeper question continued to evolve beyond becoming technically proficient:

How can technology leadership translate into sustainable capability development?

The experience broadened my perspective. I began to understand that technology adoption could not be approached as a technology problem alone.

Policy, leadership, skills, enterprise, infrastructure, awareness, institutions, and ecosystems all influence whether technology creates meaningful impact.

I began to see the need for a capability-based approach to technology leadership and adoption.

In 2024, I experienced a Waymo autonomous vehicle navigating the streets of Downtown Phoenix, Arizona. A year earlier, in Chengdu, China, I had received a hotel delivery from a robot.

These experiences revealed the extraordinary possibilities emerging from advances in artificial intelligence, navigation, robotics, batteries, sensors, and autonomous systems.

But they also raised a difficult question:

How do we ensure that the capabilities required to benefit from such advances are developed in places where these possibilities still seem far removed from everyday life?

In December 2024, Leading Wings organized its first major initiative: a free introductory drone training programme for underserved young people aged 15–25 in Yola, followed by a second session in Makurdi in January 2025.

Nearly 100 people from five countries applied, with 50 ultimately participating.

The response was encouraging, but it also revealed something important.

Leading Wings initially appeared to be becoming a drone organization. Yet the experience made clear that drones were only one part of a much larger capability gap.

Through these activities, initiatives, partnerships, and support, LW has reached more than 1,000 people across multiple Nigerian states and other African countries.

The lessons have been consistent. Whether working on technology, leadership, policy, professional development, advisory services, innovation, or community engagement, the underlying challenge is often the same:

There are gaps between where people and organizations are today and the capabilities they need to navigate where the world is going.

Leading Wings has therefore evolved from its early technology-focused beginnings into a Strategic Foresight and Capability Development outfit.

Our work is now focused on looking beyond immediate challenges, identifying underlying gaps, building capability, and helping people and organizations navigate rapid change toward a more sustainable future.