Our Team

Co-Founders, Gary and Naomi Foxcroft have spent the last 18 years working intensively to support education and child rights initiatives in Africa through a number of charities that they have helped to establish. In 2005 they worked with the local community in Uquo, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria to build a school for disadvantaged children through the charity they founded - Safe Child Africa.

Louise Jolly is a co-founder of Universal Learning Solutions and currently serves as Programmes Development Director. She played a central role in launching and scaling ULS projects across Nigeria and other countries, leading national advocacy efforts, building high-performing teams, and streamlining project management systems. Her core expertise lies in monitoring, evaluation and learning, where she has designed data systems, led evaluations, and developed the organisation’s online data tool, Jolly Monitor. Louise holds Qualified Teacher Status and a PhD focused on a rights-based approach to early grade literacy in Nigeria. She has co-authored research on the impact of ULS’s work and now leads the organisation’s expansion into programming for out-of-school children and girls.

Katy is the engine room of the organisation, leading our logistics, trainer management, and broader operations with exceptional efficiency and vision. Originally a qualified teacher with additional expertise in business development, she brings a rare combination of strategic insight and hands-on operational skill.

Her bold decision to join us from the very beginning laid the financial and strategic foundations that have been instrumental to our growth and success.

Sian Summers Issa is a teacher and passionate educationalist with a postgraduate Early Years Professional Status qualification. She has over 20 years of experience in early childhood education across the UK and Africa. She has been based in Kenya for the past 14 years, where she specialises in developing early reading skills and empowering teachers to improve classroom delivery and student outcomes.

With a deep understanding of the Kenyan context and high-intermediate Kiswahili fluency, Sian effectively engages with local communities to ensure her work is both culturally relevant and impactful. As an official Jolly Phonics and Jolly Grammar Trainer, and a committed Trainer of Trainers, she delivers in-person and online training to equip educators with the skills to implement phonics instruction effectively.

Sian has led the growth of Jolly Phonics across Kenya and has worked in close partnership with Universal Learning Solutions since 2014, when the first Jolly Phonics pilot studies began. Her mission is to build local capacity, foster a love of learning, and equip educators with the knowledge and tools to succeed for sustainable, long-term impact.
She remains dedicated to creating lasting educational change by empowering educators with the tools and knowledge they need to thrive, and to seeing positive change in the pedagogy for early reading in Kenya.

Naomi, is a former primary school teacher, who had taught with Jolly Phonics in the UK. She identified the need for better quality English literacy tuition in the local Nigerian schools. Little was she to know that her first email to Chris Jolly, Director of Jolly Learning, requesting support for the school was going to catalyse such a remarkable cycle of positive change.

Richard Turnbull joined us in 2018, having spent most of the last decade organising volunteer development projects in Africa and Latin America. Richard now oversees our work across Nigeria, ensuring that our vision is properly implemented and that the teams across the country are well guided and supported.

Fluent in in Arabic and Spanish he is passionate about learning languages and the opportunities this can create. Through his role with Universal Learning Solutions team he channels his love for languages into making a positive impact on literacy in the developing world.

Keri brings over 25 years of experience in the not-for-profit sector, combining deep financial expertise with a strong commitment to social impact. Part-qualified in CIMA, she has been with us since day one , quite literally around the kitchen table, helping to shape the organisation’s direction from the ground up.

As the powerhouse behind our financial foundation, Keri oversees our financial strategy, manages compliance across multiple overseas entities, and ensures rigorous financial stewardship throughout our operations. Her sharp strategic thinking and dedication to the education sector have been pivotal in enabling our growth and sustainability.

Patrick and Stella Uzu are the Co-Founders of our Nigerian operations – Universal Learning Solutions Initiative. As a teacher, Stella was amazed to see the impact that Jolly Phonics had in her classrooms and joined hands with her husband to evangelise for its use across all of the land. Despite their huge success in doing so, they remain humble and dedicated to serving the less privileged.

Victor Poluektoff arrived in Nigeria in 2006 on a mission to make a difference and was the first, and only, international volunteer to work with co-founders, Gary and Naomi, on setting up a new school and health centre for children who had been abandoned by their parents.

Having then gone on to live in China and teach children with Jolly Phonics for many years after, Victor then came back to Europe to join Universal Learning Solutions in 2013, just as our work began to take off.

He has overseen large-scale projects for us across Northern Nigeria ever since and is known throughout the land for his incredible levels of dedication to the fighting illiteracy in the region.

Daisy’s teaching experience in the foundation phase (Grades R–3) sparked her passion for supporting young learners with learning challenges. Her postgraduate research focused on providing psychosocial support to affected learners and their families, laying a strong foundation for her future work in education policy and curriculum development.

She has held key roles at both provincial and national levels within the Department of Education, where she focused on Early Childhood Development (ECD) and Inclusive Education. Daisy contributed to national curriculum policy, including authoring the CAPS Policy for English First Additional Language (Grades 1–3), co-developing the Birth to 4 curriculum, and supporting CAPS adaptations for learners with special needs.

Currently, Daisy works closely with Provincial Departments to deliver high-quality Jolly Phonics training across South Africa. She is deeply committed to advocacy and collaboration, maintaining strong partnerships with the National Department of Basic Education, universities, NGOs, and community groups to support the successful implementation of national and provincial education programmes.