Tinu Smith is multiple award winning Nigerian Based fashion designer, and the Chief Executive Officer of Datina Designs Fashion House and Fashion School. She has managed her fashion design business for over 30 years. She manages Datina Designs Fashion Retail outlet stores in Ibadan and Lagos Nigeria, which showcases her unique clothing line and her two brand labels Datina Designs and Tinu Smith.
Her academic background in Communication and Language Arts / Religious Studies accounts for her enviable affability with her clientele. She is an Alumna of Cornell University, where she studied Women’s Entrepreneurship, sponsored by Bank of America. She is a Goldmansach scholar from the Educational Development Centre, Pan Atlantic University, Lagos Business School, where she studied Entrepreneurial Management. She studied business management at the CBN Enterprise Development Centre. She bagged her MBA from International School of management, Lagos, Nigeria.
She is an advocate for Women/youth empowerment, financial and digital inclusion for women. Tinu is an Alumna of Cherie Blair Foundation and Leap Africa. She was one of the 200 women shortlisted all over Africa for the first Cohort of African Women Entrepreneurship Cooperative business management program sponsored by Global Centre for Entrepreneurship. She was one of the first 100 entrepreneurs shortlisted all over Nigeria for the business management training, sponsored by Development Bank of Nigeria.
Tinu Smith is a recipient of SheTrades, a women’s empowerment initiative under the International Trade Centre. She is a You-Win awardee of the Federal Government of Nigeria Empowerment Program. She is the lead of Women Achievers Africa training and innovation hub. She mentors on Women in Africa, Pawen, Cherie Blair Foundation, Tony Elumelu Foundation and Wimbiz. She has empowered over 10,000 women with various vocational skills since the inception of her business. She is an official trainer with ITF and a certified Technical University Trainer.
Tinu Smith is a thought leader and a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Corporate Mentoring and Coaching Nigeria. She is an inspirational speaker for women, business and relationship conferences. She is a Girls and Women Speak Ambassador with IAWPA in collaboration with the United Nations. She is the convener of South West Fashion Summit, Founder of Datcore Business Coaching Academy, Founder at She Grows Africa and Co-Founder at She Tech Alliance Africa. She runs Treasures Refuge Foundation, a social enterprise focused on mentoring young women.
Tinu Smith is committed to helping women and girls in Africa to become the best version of themselves. She provides training that creates a standard for excellence in a more effective way to help women acquire more ways to grow their businesses while providing standard assessment and measurement of growth. In addition, She also helps women get access to funding to scale their businesses and initiatives, as well as creating an enabling environment for girls/women through empowerment and acquisition of relevant skills and knowledge to drive personal growth and impact.
