About Spark Initiatives
A senior executive and a consultant psychologist
Spark Initiatives was founded by a C-suite executive and a consultant psychologist, with 60 years of experience between them. We work with a small number of leaders at any one time. That is deliberate: the work is personal, confidential and long term.
David Oladiran, co-founder
David has 30 years' experience working where government, capital and business meet, across Africa, the UK, Europe and the United States. He has served as a consultant to the Presidency of the Federal Government of Nigeria. For NNPC and the Federal Ministry of Petroleum, he led the investor roadshow for the $20 billion Nigerian Gas Master Plan across Nigeria, the UK, Singapore and the US. Working with the UN Development Programme and the Office of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, he helped establish R20 Regions of Climate Action, now the Catalytic Finance Foundation, and brought the governors of Lagos and Delta States to the table.
As former Chief Commercial Officer at Novacroft, he led major programmes for public sector clients such as Transport for London and the UK Government.
David co-founded Spark Initiatives because he has seen how much rides on the judgement of a few leaders, and how rarely Black founders and executives get support that matches those stakes. He also founded !GNITE in 2024.
Ade Afilaka, co-founder
Ade is a consultant psychologist with 30 years of clinical experience. He is registered with the HCPC, accredited by the BABCP as a Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapist, and trained at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience at King's College London and at the Oxford Mindfulness Centre.
His career spans the NHS, where he has worked with some of the most complex presentations in secondary care, and more than a decade of private practice, including work with corporate executives and founder-CEOs on the patterns that most often hold high performers back: perfectionism, self-doubt, anxiety and the strain of sustained pressure. His approach starts from a person's strengths, combining the latest research evidence with practical techniques such as imagery, meditation and reframing unhelpful beliefs.
Ade is completing doctoral research on how Black men training as psychologists experience the personal therapy their training requires. He co-founded Spark Initiatives to bring clinical depth, statutory governance and a genuine duty of care to executive performance work, standards the coaching industry largely lacks. He leads the practice's methodology and its clinical standards.
60 years
of combined executive and clinical experience
Three continents
Africa, Europe and North America
One standard
registered clinical governance in every engagement
Our commitments to you
| Commitment | What it means |
|---|---|
| Confidentiality | What is said in our work stays in our work. We never name a client without written permission. |
| Honesty | We tell you what we observe, including when it is uncomfortable. That candour is what you are paying for. |
| Your data is yours | You own everything the work produces. You can export it at any time or ask us to delete it, and we never use it for any purpose beyond your work. |
| Clinical care | Our work has clear boundaries. If we see something that calls for specialist support, we say so and help you find it. |
| The right fit | If we are not the right practice for you, we will say so in the first conversation and point you to alternatives. |