North South Development (NSD), a British/Nigerian Non Government Organisation, was born out of a commitment and belief in providing practical business management training to individuals and groups in the developing world. It was formed by Mr. Julian Wood and Prince Awoyemi Kayode. Julian coming from London, England in the North and Kayode coming from Kogi State, Nigeria in the South.

Mr. Julian H Wood is the founder and has been named Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of North South Development effective June 1, 2001. He has been an active leader in establishing sustainable micro finance systems within Africa and the Middle East.
Prior to his appointment as Chairman and CEO, Mr. Wood designed and implemented a poverty alleviation programme in the middle belt region of Nigeria. The focus was on institutional and individual capacity building and sustainable micro finance products and services.
Mr. Wood brings over a decade of institutional financial capacity building experience and is a regular speaker at conference and workshops on the subject worldwide.
North South Development is a member of numerous international micro finance committees, associations and groups.

Mr. Julian Wood is the successful author of 2 books that were published in 2003, both on the topic of enterprise development. This is in addition to the many publications he has written and sold throughout the world.
His papers have included topics ranging from: Micro Finance Guidelines, Risk Management and Reporting, Micro Finance Products and Services, Effective use of Technical Service Providers for sustainable Microfinance Institutions and Business Management and Business Development guidelines.

His work and experiences have taken him to Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe and North America.

He serves as an adviser to many businesses within Africa and the Middle East whose main focus is sub sector enterprise development (MSE and SME) and facilitating their entry into the main stream economy.

Prince Kayode has been appointed Country Director, Nigeria effective June 2001. His background is in business and natural resource management. He worked for two years as a business management trainer and advisor for an Abuja based NGO. He is a graduate of computers studies in affiliation with the University of Lagos.

Kayode has been an inspirational business advisor and trainer with over 5 years experience. His work has taken him to the Middle Belt and South West regions of Nigeria and to neighbouring countries in West Africa.

Julian and Kayode met in 2001 while implementing a poverty alleviation programme in Kogi State, Nigeria. The programmes focus was on capacity building and introducing the participants of the programme to good business management practices, micro finance products and services and micro finance institutional capacity building.

NSD’s aim is to establish “enterprise development centers” across East and West Africa over the next 5 years. NSD’s first business education center opened in September, 2003 and provides training workshops and certificate courses in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria. It has plans to open further centers in Uganda and Ghana throughout 2004 to 2007.

Each center is managed by natives of the respective country. They work closely with the founders to position the programmes material at the appropriate level for their participants.

It is NSD’s belief that poverty can be alleviated by placing the individual or co-operatives at the core of every programme. As participants progress through the stages of the programme, they build upon their business and technical skills, knowledge and increase their opportunity to own and manage their own small business enterprise.