Toritse David Maroh’s journey spans lobbying African chiefs alongside UN Women to walking Wall Street’s corridors. Now, the MIT Sloan standout is out to build inclusive entrepreneurial ecosystems for the continent’s innovators.
Toritse David Maroh was named among the “100 Best & Brightest MBAs: Class of 2025” by Poets&Quants, a leading publication covering the global graduate business education market, placing her in the elite top 0.5% of MBA graduates worldwide. The prestigious recognition spotlights her exceptional achievements at MIT Sloan, where she’s served as Co-President of the Africa Business Club, MIT Legatum Fellow, and Core Mentor while maintaining academic excellence. The honor comes as no surprise to those familiar with her impact both on campus and beyond, from organizing the MIT Sloan Africa Innovate Conference to co-producing groundbreaking research on entrepreneurial ecosystems in emerging markets.
“Toritse is the epitome of a measured leader,” notes Nia DeYoung, Director of MIT Sloan Student Life Office. “She is emotionally astute, and I’ve often witnessed her taking inventory of other students’ perspectives and experiences before providing her input, which is both thoughtful and orientates students towards teamwork.” Beyond her impressive resume—from Standard Bank Group to a summer associate role at J.P. Morgan, and now heading to Bain & Company post-graduation—lies a deeper mission.
In 2018, the 20-year-old economics graduate from Nigeria sat across the table from United Nations Women leaders, having just concluded a conference on ending child marriage in Africa. Her penchant for speaking up about problems and ability to articulate solutions impressed the staff so much that she was asked to join the steering committee for a continent-wide dialogue with traditional leaders. “I think I was just actively engaging people, asking questions. They saw how I could connect with others and convince them,” Toritse recalls in our conversation, almost shrugging at the moment that would quietly mark the start of her international impact career.
She was already a recognized student leader at Covenant University, driven by a desire to spot problems in the system and try to improve them. That mindset would carry her from community halls in Nigeria to lecture rooms at Sloan. Her journey so far has been anything but linear. It spans multiple countries, careers, and developmental causes: “Problems aren’t just meant to be observed. They’re meant to be solved,” she says. “I see gaps in systems around me and try to address them as much as possible. That has been fundamental to my personal and professional growth.”
A Childhood Between Two Worlds
Toritse hails from Nigeria’s southern Delta State but spent her first decade in Zambia. At 10, she moved to the West African country. This early cross-cultural experience shaped her worldview in ways that would later influence her approach to development work in Africa. “My first experience in Nigeria was practically in secondary school,” she explains. “I don’t see just the country as home. I like to think of the entire continent as my home.”
Growing up in an environment where excellence was expected, she describes her childhood with measured candor. Her grandparents, including an Oxford University alumnus, greatly valued academic distinction. Their high expectations shaped her early understanding of success, but inconsistencies punctuated her early school years, sometimes topping her class, other times dropping several ranks. Yet teachers saw her potential. “They always thought I was smart, even when I didn’t always prove it with grades,” she laughs. “Maybe it was how I spoke. But they believed in me, so I started to believe too.”
At university, where she bagged a first-class honors, she managed student trade fairs and ran several small businesses: a cake ordering service connecting vendors with customers, a shoe brand, a shirt printing operation, a money lending outfit, and a food delivery service, among others. “I was always looking for ways to meet people’s needs,” she says. “It wasn’t even formal. It was just… survival, with a strategy.”
Building and Belonging at MIT Sloan
Toritse has channeled this problem-solving ethos into multiple leadership roles at the Sloan School of Management. As co-president of the Africa Business Club, she has expanded the organization’s reach and impact, particularly through the Africa Innovate Conference—a premier event connecting African entrepreneurs with global investors and mentors. Her work as an MIT Legatum Fellow has focused on developing entrepreneurial ecosystems in emerging markets. She’s helped lead conversations on how ecosystems can truly serve underserved communities while co-producing research on evaluating startup ecosystems in the Global South.
“MIT, for me, is an intersection of innovation and community,” she explains about her choice of business school. The institution has provided her with opportunities to explore entrepreneurship more deeply. One of her most significant contributions has been co-producing research on Assessing Entrepreneurial Ecosystems in Emerging Markets, which examines strategies for fostering sustainable entrepreneurship. The research has been referenced by investors and ecosystem builders across the continent, informing investment strategies for African entrepreneurs.
She has also mentored entrepreneurs on building new businesses and expanding existing ventures, many of whom have successfully raised capital, part of her broader mission to address what she sees as Africa’s most fundamental challenge. And through The Leadership Farm, a nonprofit she’s been a Director at since 2019, she’s coordinated training on tech literacy and empowerment programs for young
women across Africa, including orphaned children. While juggling these, intense academic demands and a long-distance marriage, Toritse remains intentional about balance. “At least once a week, I make time just for us. You need a life beyond the hustle,” she says.
Her typically long days begin with prayer, a scroll through her calendar, and a mental triage of priorities: “There’s always a class to prepare for, someone to coach, something to solve,” she says. She might end the day finalizing teaching assistant work for Sloan’s entrepreneurship courses or organizing one of the school’s flagship events. Most nights, sleep comes after midnight.
The Bigger Picture
From the UN steering committee to investment banking to MIT, Toritse has demonstrated an uncanny ability to move seamlessly between spaces of power and spaces of need. At 27, she remains focused on her long-term goal of launching a startup incubator for African and emerging market entrepreneurs. Her experience on Wall Street will provide additional expertise as she works toward expanding access to capital across the continent. “I want to bridge the inclusion gap—not with just money, but with access, systems, and belief. I’m not here to escape the continent but to understand how to serve it better,” she says.
Toritse’s focus on economic development through entrepreneurship in Africa comes at a critical time. Despite having 30% of the world’s mineral reserves, the continent struggles with widespread poverty. Over 400 million Africans, a third of the population, live below the extreme poverty line of $2.15 a day. The economic challenges are exacerbated by limited access to capital for local entrepreneurs. The IFC estimates that 65% of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Africa cannot access the long-term capital they need to grow, with women-owned businesses disproportionately affected. It’s these systemic challenges, which she experienced through impact work and her pre-MBA career, that fuel Toritse’s mission to transform entrepreneurship across the continent.
And if that sounds idealistic, consider this: before 21, she had already met with at least one traditional or political leader in every African country. She’s seen the continent’s contrasts—palace gates and slum alleys—and continues to believe in its potential. “I’ve always said impossibilities are possible,” she says with a knowing smile. “Probably call me a problem solver or what’s the bougie word for it?” she asks rhetorically. For someone who sees gaps in systems and tries to address them, Africa represents the ultimate opportunity: a continent rich in resources and human potential, held back not by capacity but by systemic challenges she’s uniquely positioned to address.
