Funmi Ilori is an educational psychologist and social entrepreneur. She is the founder of iRead Mobile Library Network, the first innovative and fully integrated ‘books on wheels’ for children in Nigeria, bridging literacy gaps, empowering teachers and enhancing quality education for the African child. She is passionate about education and the environment and she represents this as a green ambassador, teaching children and youths on Sustainable Development Goals and leading countless of youths to ‘go green’ by empowering them with entrepreneurial skills and practical knowledge of climate change, renewable energy and how they can contribute in saving the planet. She is a 2015 Mandela Washington Fellow and her dream is to build the largest network of libraries for children across Africa.

Below is a summary of the Interview Knowledge On Wheels with Funmi Ilori.

We had Funmi Ilori on the show to discuss the topic Knowledge on Wheels. Through her passion for children, she shared her experiences and dreams as it concerns children. Speaking about her journey to creating the iRead Mobile Library, she said that the dream had started from a Leadership Training she had attended at her church at the time. Although she didn’t have a passion for reading from the onset, she soon came to imbibe the culture of reading in the course of the training. She also recalled that during the training they had been required to write a big dream that they would not be able to achieve and so started her journey to building the largest library in Africa.

Knowledge On Wheels with Funmi Ilori

Before that time, she had been a teacher for a decade and noticed that in places were children often struggled to read, there was usually a dearth of libraries. Though she had been a brilliant student, she had come to realize that education was more than getting grades but about knowledge and enlightenment. In the course of the training at the Day Star Academy where she wrote down her dream to build the largest library, she also wrote down all the things she would need to set it going. She soon started off, with books and DVDs in a basket she went house to house targeting Adults. Although the adults borrowed the books and DVDs, they didn’t show enthusiasm for reading and she soon realized that adults were not her target audience.

She also talked about applying for the UWIN grant and winning with the dream to build the largest library. Although her dream to build a library was new and novel at the time, she also boasted of support from her family. At the inception, she had started with just books and DVDs in a basket this continued for 10 years until she won 10million naira at the UWIN program. Even as she received the money in trenches, she used the first 2 million Naira to get an office space, acquire some members of staff, purchase a vehicle and stock the space with books.

She had gotten a truck in which she converted to a library, she said that she had built a cabin over the truck, with shelves, fans, and seats in the cabin. Though people had been skeptical about the mobile library at first after her interview with Central China Tv, CCTV it had since helped to make people more receptive to using the Mobile library.

Knowledge On Wheels with Funmi Ilori

Speaking about the reading culture in the educational system, she hinted on issues such as little or no access to libraries, and few educators to inspire the culture of reading. Asides from beating a child to read, she motioned on parents to take it upon themselves to instill reading culture in their children. Compared to other economic sectors that support the reading culture, she stressed on the need for access to libraries in every community.

Remarking further, she said that the iRead Mobile library hoped to tackle some of these issues by taking books to people at their doorsteps. According to her, setting up a library just required a beautiful space with aesthetics where people can find fun as they read. She said that reading culture is often non-existent amongst adults because they failed to inculcate it at a young age.

She spoke about the power of storytelling in spurring kids to read and learn. Speaking further, she also shared the possibilities of book clubs and reviews amongst teenagers and young adults. She admitted to always telling herself that her dreams would come true. Although they had limited facilities to accommodate more people, they hoped to open more facilities in the coming months.

She advised youths to start with whatever they have, to also write their dreams as dreams do come true.