Now open: AMIR Fund Medical Scholarship Program 2026/2027. Applications close Friday, 30 October 2026. Apply online
AMIR FundThe AMIR Fund
Uplifting individuals · Fostering community development

Empowering minds. Advancing knowledge. Transforming futures.

The AMIR Fund bridges gaps in education, healthcare and technology, and empowers communities across Nigeria. We support outstanding candidates and pioneering research, and we help families in need build a livelihood.

The work we do About the Fund
Education Science & Technology Community
About Us

Our commitment to impactful change

The AMIR Fund supports people in need. We work to ensure access to quality education and to opportunities in medicine, science and technology. We back qualified candidates and innovative research that improve community well-being. Through our community initiative, we give tools, equipment and direct aid to families living in poverty so they can earn a living and support themselves.

Mission

Expand access

To expand access to quality education, science and technology, foster lifelong learning, and advance medicine by supporting exceptional individuals and groundbreaking research.

Vision

Bridge the gaps

To bridge gaps in education, healthcare and technology, and create sustainable solutions to poverty and other social challenges.

Purpose

Empower communities

To empower individuals and communities by strategically managing and allocating scholarship, research and community support funds, and by giving aid to those in need to drive community development.

ExcellenceWe reward effort and achievement.
Access & EquityAbility, not income, decides who succeeds.
GratitudeWe give back to the institutions that formed us.
LegacyA perpetual structure built to outlast its founders.
MentorshipWe stay with recipients beyond the award.
Giving BackWe give a portion of our income, at least 2.5%, to those in need every year.
The investment

An endowment that pays for itself

The founders placed their gifts in an expandable endowment, the AMIR Fund for Education, Science and Technology (AMIR FEST). It is held by an independent corporate trustee, First Trustees Nigeria Limited, and invested in high-yield government bonds, treasury bills, money market instruments and ethical investment funds.

Only the returns are spent. Part of each year's return funds prizes, scholarships and research grants, and the rest is reinvested so the Fund can grow. The first cycle runs for five years, after which the founders will renew and expand it based on the impact it shows.

  • Charitable TrustConstituted under a signed Deed of Trust
  • Independent trusteeFirst Trustees Nigeria Limited, Lagos
  • Signed MoUsWith every partner institution before funds move
  • Direct paymentFunds go straight to institutions and recipients, with no intermediaries
Our Story

Two alumni of Afrogramms. One promise to give back.

The AMIR Fund was founded and funded by Ridwan and Mariam Sorunke as a way of giving back to the school, universities and communities that shaped them.

“I was once where you are, and someone believed in me. Now, I believe in you.”

  1. Started atAfrican Church Grammar School, Abeokuta
  2. Grew atObafemi Awolowo University · University of Ibadan
  3. Advanced atJohns Hopkins University · University of Chicago
  4. Giving back throughThe AMIR Fund
Our founders

Ridwan and Mariam Sorunke

Ridwan Sorunke, Founder and Trustee, went from the classrooms of African Church Grammar School to Obafemi Awolowo University, where Professor Adebayo Shittu mentored him, and on to Johns Hopkins University. A top student who regularly won prizes, he also knew that talent alone is not enough: at each step, a mentor or a fellowship arrived at a time of real need. Today he is the Founder of Dev-Afrique Development Advisors and Policy Vault.

Mariam Sorunke, Co-Founder, followed the same pathway through African Church Grammar School (Afrogramms), the University of Ibadan and the University of Chicago, where she graduated with a 3.97/4.0 GPA in Data Science. Her journey shows what the Fund exists to make possible: talent from Abeokuta competing with the best in the world.

Our commitment

Giving back as a habit

Together, Ridwan and Mariam set up the AMIR Fund as a charitable trust, funded it themselves, and placed it with an independent trustee so it would serve students and communities long into the future.

2.5%

Ridwan and Mariam each give at least 2.5% of their annual income to those in need every year. Their giving funds the Fund's education work and its community empowerment work.

“Our school, our universities and our community gave us a start in life. The AMIR Fund is how we give back, so that the next able student finishes their studies and the next family in need gets a fair chance.”Ridwan Sorunke, Founder and Trustee
Our Initiatives

The impact we give

The Fund offers different financial support for different groups, with application periods announced periodically.

AMIR Fund

Fund for Education, Science and Technology

AMIR FEST

An expandable endowment that advances education, science and technology. It is managed by First Trustees and invested in high-yield government bonds and money market instruments, with returns reinvested and allocated to the programmes below.

Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife

Professor Adebayo Shittu Research Award for Molecular Biology

An annual investment in the Professor Adebayo Shittu Molecular Biology Laboratory, Department of Microbiology. The award supports MSc, PhD and postdoctoral research in molecular biology, including infectious disease and oncology research. The Fund also pays for laboratory equipment, reagents, security and intern stipends.

African Church Grammar School, Abeokuta

Secondary School Prizes & Scholarships

An annual Prize Giving Day, revived in 2025, with prizes for the best student in each subject in SS1 and SS2, overall best students, the best JAMB result, sport, and a teacher voted by students. Top performers receive a scholarship, exam sponsorship and mentorship.

Leading government universities · New

AMIR Fund Medical Scholarship Program

Up to 20 full-tuition scholarships for high-achieving medical and dental students from low-income households and faith-based minority communities. Renewable to graduation. Applications close 30 October 2026.

AMIR Fund

Fund for Social Intervention, Humanity and Emergency

Through this fund, AMIR partners with local organisations in rural and peri-urban areas of Nigeria to bridge critical gaps in communities and promote economic empowerment for people living in extreme poverty. It works through the AMIR Zakat Foundation, a SCUML-certified non-profit, and partners such as Dawah Front of Nigeria.

  • Productive assets for small businesses: sewing machines, grinding machines, freezers, generators and industrial equipment
  • Support for students, entrepreneurs and people living with disabilities
  • Committee-led selection with partner organisations
97people equipped with tools and items to earn a living across the 2025 and 2026 exercises with Dawah Front
91%of applicants interviewed received support
Governance

How the Fund works

Clear rules protect the endowment and the people it serves.

  1. EndowmentThe founders' gifts are held in trust by First Trustees Nigeria Limited.
  2. InvestmentThe trustee invests in government bonds, treasury bills and money market instruments.
  3. PartnershipEach institution signs an MoU that sets award categories and criteria.
  4. SelectionRecipients are chosen on merit against published criteria.
  5. Payment & reviewFunds go directly to recipients. We monitor, review and report on results.
Our Impact

What the Fund has made possible

Figures come from our programme records and are updated as each cycle closes.

56+Students and researchers supportedAcross schools and universities, by September 2025
3Inaugural research awardeesTwo MSc students and one postdoctoral fellow, OAU, January 2026
2Annual Prize Giving Days heldAfrican Church Grammar School, 2025 and 2026
97People equipped to earn a livingSocial Intervention Fund with Dawah Front, 2025 and 2026 exercises
91%Of applicants interviewed supportedSocial Intervention Fund
Up to 20Medical scholarships in the first cohortFull tuition, renewable to graduation

MoU signed with Obafemi Awolowo University to support the Professor Adebayo Shittu Molecular Biology Laboratory and an annual postgraduate research award.

MoUs signed with the Junior and Senior schools of African Church Grammar School, Abeokuta, and the Prize Giving Day returns.

The Social Intervention Fund and Dawah Front equip 52 people, selected from 85 applicants, with tools for income-generating work.

First recipients of the Professor Adebayo Shittu Research Award announced.

Sixth Dawah Front and AMIR Zakat Foundation distribution in Abeokuta: 73 applications, 64 interviews and 50 people approved for support, three in four of them women.

Support for an inter-secondary schools academic competition and ICT training for students from 24 schools in Ile-Ife and Modakeke.

Second Prize Giving Day held at African Church Grammar School, with a mentorship session for students.

AMIR Fund Medical Scholarship Program opens its first call for applications. Direct livelihood grants reach 12 small business owners, and solar power is installed at two community places of worship in Olomore, Abeokuta.

Newsroom

News and press releases

Partners

We work through institutions we trust

University partner

Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife

Research awards, laboratory support and departmental prizes in Microbiology and Surveying & Geoinformatics.

School partner

African Church Grammar School, Abeokuta

MoUs with the Junior and Senior schools for annual prizes, scholarships, exam sponsorship and mentorship.

Community partner

Dawah Front of Nigeria

Partner under the Social Intervention Fund for community welfare and economic empowerment.

Corporate trustee

First Trustees Nigeria Limited

Holds and invests the endowment and makes disbursements on the Fund's instruction.

Get Involved

Help us reach the next student

Universities, schools, alumni groups and donors can work with us. Write to us and the programme team will reply.

www.amirfund.org · Lagos, Nigeria

Apply for a scholarshipApplication periods are announced here. The current medical call closes 30 October 2026.
Partner as an institutionPropose a prize, research award or scholarship at your school or university.
Mentor a scholarProfessionals can join our mentorship network for scholars and prize winners.
Join us as a trusteeWe invite our friends to join the AMIR Fund as trustees and give alongside us, at 2.5% of income or more.
AMIR Fund