About Us
About Us
Lydia Wilson Foundation is a charity supporting families facing hardship, particularly widows, orphans, elderly individuals, and displaced persons. We work to improve living conditions through practical humanitarian programmes in education, food security, health, agriculture, and economic empowerment, with a primary focus on communities in Nigeria and outreach programmes in the United Kingdom.
Our work is guided by a strong belief in social responsibility and the importance of supporting people not just in moments of crisis, but throughout their journey toward stability and independence.
Trusted Partners:
Our Story
Lydia Wilson Foundation was born from the passion and personal commitment of its President and Founder, Lydia Balogun-Wilson, and her husband Dr. Wilson, they have spent over two decades supporting vulnerable members of society. Over the years, they have consistently used their personal resources to help individuals and families struggling to survive hardship, and they remain committed to continuing this work without interruption.
Having lived and worked across Africa, the United Kingdom, Europe, and the Caspian region, they bring a global perspective and a deep understanding of how collaborative action can help reduce poverty and inequality. The Foundation operates from UK and Nigeria to provide farming grants, financial empowerment and education to widows, widowers, orphans, internally displaced people (IDP), refugees and asylum seekers. With the vision of reaching people that fall into this category globally, beneficiaries to date include nationalities of Benin Republic, Niger, Nigeria, Syria, Ukraine and Azerbaijan.
Our mission is to improve the quality of life, wellbeing, and aspirations of vulnerable members of our communities, regardless of race, religion, gender, or nationality, because everyone deserves to live a life of dignity.
Our vision is a just society where vulnerable individuals and families live with dignity and have access to basic amenities, opportunities, and support systems that enable them to thrive.
To fulfil our mission and vision, Lydia Wilson Foundation implements its activities through four core programme areas:
Health: Providing access to food, basic healthcare and community health services
Education: Supporting education for children, youths, and adults through scholarships and literacy programmes
Agriculture: Promoting sustainable farming and agro-allied initiatives
Economic Empowerment: Reducing poverty through vocational training, micro-finance, and livelihood support.
These programmes are designed to inspire, encourage, protect, and support the long-term interests of current and future generations.
As a registered charity supporting families, we are committed to transparency, compliance, and responsible use of resources.
We operate as a non-religious and non-political organisation, working to support vulnerable individuals and families through structured, community-based programmes.
The Foundation is registered with the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) under registration number SC053221, and operates in line with applicable regulatory and governance standards.
Our programmes are delivered with careful oversight to ensure resources are used responsibly and reach those who need support most. We work with community leaders, volunteers, and partner organisations to maintain accountability across our activities in Nigeria, with outreach and engagement in the United Kingdom and other regions.
Our Leadership
Lydia Balogun-Wilson
Lydia Balogun-Wilson is the Founder and Chairperson of the Lydia Wilson Foundation, a purpose-driven organisation dedicated to expanding opportunity through education, enterprise enablement and community resilience. A highly accomplished engineering and operations leader, Lydia has built a global career in the energy sector, holding senior technical and leadership roles across complex, high-hazard environments. She is recognised for shaping strategy and delivering large-scale programmes that improve safety, reliability and performance, while championing innovation, digital transformation and responsible energy transition. Through the Lydia Wilson Foundation, Lydia translates boardroom discipline into community impact—supporting scholarships and learning pathways, youth development initiatives (including sport-based programmes that build confidence and life skills), and micro-grants that help widows and small businesses create sustainable livelihoods. Her work is grounded in a simple belief: when people are equipped with skills, mentorship and practical support, they can transform their families and communities for generations. Lydia is known for values-led leadership, combining professional excellence with compassion, accountability and service, and she remains committed to building partnerships that deliver measurable, long-term social impact.
Dr. Wilson E. Balogun
Wilson is an advisor to Lydia foundation. He is a philanthropist, global Entrepreneur and certified global business leader with exceptional energy and drive. He is an award winning global business leader who had been recognised by leading global organisations including; The Economic Community of West African States – ECOWAS Youths representing the well over Two Hundred Million 200,000,000 Youths of West Africa. He was credited with an award of *Kofi Annan leadership for integrity and selfless service to humanity as a quintessential west African personality of the year 2017/2018* He is a Business Development Director for many businesses and had been responsible for; Creating – Optimising – Realising – Sustaining Oil & Gasasset values for multiple ventures. He is an experienced business mogul who cuts across many sectors ranging from the Energy, Oil & Gas, Telecoms and international trade. A passionate lover of humanity, Wilson supports multiple NGO’s across the world in his quest to ensuring a better life for the less privilege and vulnerable in our society. Wilson will continue to advise the board of Lydia Wilsons to ensure prudence, accountability and sustenance.
John MacAskill
John MacAskill is a dedicated Trustee Board Member of the Lydia Wilson Foundation, a charitable organization committed to serving humanity. With decades of experience in the UK emergency health care industry, John has consistently demonstrated kindness, compassion, and a strong commitment to helping others. Throughout his career, he has been instrumental in rescuing and supporting vulnerable members of various communities across the UK, showcasing his unwavering dedication to making a positive impact. John’s wealth of experience and passion for service inform his leadership and contributions to the foundation’s mission, inspiring others to join the effort to create a more caring and supportive world.
Jim Grimmer
Jim served as a Police Officer at Grampian Police for 20 years including roles in serious crime and major incident investigation. In 2005, he was awarded the ‘Iraq Reconstruction Medal’ following a year located in the Maysan Province of Iraq, mentoring the new Iraqi Police Service on behalf of the UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office. For the last 20 years he has worked in business development and general management roles within the oil and gas sector. In 2014, Jim founded the The Business Connection charity (SC 045163) running fortnightly breakfast events to ‘encourage, equip and empower’ people working in professional business life. In 2017, he stepped into a full time role as Founder and CEO of Business Pastors, a new social enterprise bringing personal and proactive ‘care, support & encouragement’ to the corporate sector. Visiting a business 2-3 times a week trust and relationships are built so that issues can be identified and addressed before becoming absence or staff turnover.
Chief Bob Garrioch
Bob has 30 years of Board experience at MD and Director Level encompassing Internet, Tech and Oil & Gas and has successfully started up and built companies in all three sectors. Prior to the World Wide Web he obtained one of the world’s first electronic book numbers from the British Library for electronic publications created with software he developed in Ukraine and, with the advent of the World Wide Web, in the mid 90’s he launched the first ever full-scale International publications on the WWW with his London based Company Smartnet. These ranged from GQ and Vogue along with Ebony, Attitude, Christies, MSN and the Burton Group and Jazz FM amongst many. He has successfully built companies around the world, including companies in challenging environs such as Nigeria and Libya and, in conjunction with his duties as a fully titled Nigerian Chief, he continues to advise various disparate companies worldwide with an emphasis on Strategy.
Rev. Iain Macaulay
Iain is married to Anne, and has two grown up daughters. He has served as Senior Pastor at Queens Park Baptist Church, Glasgow, Scotland since 2007 following ministries in Linlithgow and Newcastle and as associate pastor at QPBC. He serves the church nationally as chair of Tearfund Scotland. He is a keen sailor and hillwalker
Christine MacAskill
Christine is a compassionate and dedicated board member of the Lydia Wilson Foundation, a charitable organization dedicated to serving humanity. With years of experience in the UK’s care and hospitality industry, Christine brings a deep understanding of the needs of vulnerable populations and a passion for delivering exceptional service. Her kindness, empathy, and generosity have made a lasting impact on countless lives. Through her leadership and commitment to the foundation’s mission, Christine continues to inspire others to join the effort to create a more caring and supportive world.
