The SGB Board

What SGB Stands For

SGB is the Strategy and Governance Board, the highest governance body of the integrated organisation. The earlier papers write it Strategic and Governance Board; the short form SGB is the same throughout, and it is what everyone says.

Who Sits on It, by Role

1. The active co-founders, as the representatives of the shareholders.
2. The Operations Director and the Finance Director, representing the operational side.
3. Selected Kenyan leaders and external advisors.

Each member signs a confidentiality, non-disclosure and responsible conduct agreement with the five entities together: Learning Lions gUG, Learning Lions in the United States once established, Startup Lions GmbH, Startup Lions Assets Kenya and Lions Strength. The agreement protects finance, donor, personnel, safeguarding and strategy information and asks that internal concerns go through governance channels; it does not restrict lawful oversight or good-faith whistleblowing.

The co-founders who are not on the SGB sit on the Advisory and Ambassador Board instead. The Campus Manager is not a member but prepares proposals, reports on campus performance and can be invited as a guest.

What It Decides

1. The long-term direction: strategy, vision, mission and the Theory of Change.
2. The annual budget and its quarterly revisions, and the audited financial statements.
3. Policy changes, including the Safeguarding Policy, which the committee owns and the SGB approves.
4. Major staffing changes: senior appointments, the appointment of department leads, the creation of new positions.
5. The appointment and evaluation of the Operations Director and the Finance Director.
6. Oversight of major organisational risks, safeguarding and compliance.

How Things Reach It

1. The two domain boards meet every two weeks, chaired by the directors, with the operational part led by the Operations Director and the financial part by the Finance Director. They coordinate operations, review the monthly result, decide the monthly sub-budgets, and work out the yearly budget and its quarterly revision for the SGB.
2. After discussion the directors formulate a decision proposal, the board votes on it, and it goes to the SGB. Members who voted against may submit a separate opinion alongside it.
3. The committee reports to the SGB directly and escalates to it when a case cannot be resolved at board level.
4. For pressing matters a domain board may use an express written procedure, approved by the SGB members in writing. This is meant to be the exception.

How Often It Meets

Quarterly, online. The restructuring workshop notes of 2025 left the chair open, and the structure papers since then do not name one.

Around the SGB

1. The Annual General Meeting, called Lions Day, each April: stakeholder reporting and community building, invite-only, hybrid for the local team and online for everyone else, with a narrative report led by the Operations Director and presented by the department heads, a financial report from the Finance Director, a keynote and moderated questions from ambassadors and stakeholders. No public event on campus.
2. The Advisory and Ambassador Board, once a year, short and online: more conversation than reporting, networking, funding and contacts.