VIRTUE EDUCATIONAL AND ALLIED SERVICES INCORPORATED (Virtue Education or the Company) was incorporated in 2007 to provide access to world-class and affordable educational placements abroad for students whose potential and ambition would have been otherwise circumscribed by local constraints imposed by domestic facilities. Allied to this clearly identified need area was the incidental processing of visas and other travel logistics to actualize the Company’s focus
Virtue Education is physically present in Cameroun, Canada, Ghana, Nigeria, and in South Africa with multiple sub-agents around the world to ensure a breadth of coverage commensurate with our stature and desire to ensure that aspiring clients are serviced from wherever location they reach us.
Starting with just a handful of schools in 2007, Virtue Education has since grown to represent over 200 schools across the world covering primary, secondary, and tertiary institutions such as colleges and universities. The span of coverage represents immense opportunity for prospective students as the spread provides flexibility and choice. Our presence in Canada is a natural strength and a key success factor with student placements and immigration processing into Canada’s very welcoming environment for foreign students.
Virtue Education is led by a professionally qualified educationist, a unique attribute that facilitates counseling of students thus making the company a one-stop shop for quality and comprehensive advice on educational matters.
The Company’s staff who are all carefully selected university graduates, undergo regular training and international exposure thus equipping them for professional service delivery that is unrivaled in the industry as regularly attested by our satisfied clients.
Virtue Education’s track record of success includes the placement of over 500 students, most of who, have transited post-graduation into permanent residents and outstanding professionals. The Company has been fortunate to get significant word-of-mouth referrals from such students and their families in the past, representing over seventy per cent return business – a unique Virtue Education attribute.
Virtue Education is a member of various educational and immigration bodies by the President of the Company being certified as an education and immigration consultant. Accordingly, Virtue Education is a member of: Immigration Consultants of Canada Regulatory Council (ICCRC), Canadian Association of Professional Immigration Consultants (CAPIC), National Association of Career Colleges (NACC), International Consultants for Education and Fairs (ICEF), and the Association of Agents for Overseas Studies Recruitment of Nigeria (AAFOSRON). The Company is also an active participant in the annual exhibitions hosted by the Canadian Trade Commission as well as ICEF workshops around the world.
The founder’s love, driven by her educational background, for the full development of children and young adults led to the establishment of Virtue Education. The Company’s mission is to catalyze the dreams and ambitions of youths from around the world and transcending national boundaries, to learn anywhere and bless the world with their talents.
Virtue Education will be the preferred agency for placing students and assisting with clients’ immigration approvals during its consolidation phase starting in 2018 through 2020. Success will be measured by the Company’s market-share of school placements and immigration approvals growing by a minimum of 100% year-on-year.
We shall always ensure the best value-for-money for our clients and are guided by the following values always:
Agnes Aigbinode is the Founder of Virtue Education and Allied Services. Prior to this formal role she raised her three children guiding their successful education across Nigeria and Canada with outstanding results. Her passion is working with children and youths to realize their respective life goals. She started her career with Unipetrol Nigeria before going back to school to major in Education thus graduating with a BA in Education and MA in Public Administration (Human Resources) from Lagos State University. She later proceeded to Humber College Canada to study Immigration Consultancy and holds a Diploma in the field.
Agnes is professionally certified as a Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultant (RCIC), a CAPIC member, an ICEF trained agent-counselor, and a Canada Course Graduate (CCG).
With over 15 years’ experience as a teacher and an educational consultant, she is very familiar with key players in the Nigerian and Canadian educational sectors. She has been a mentor and guardian-custodian to several overseas students, personally guiding them towards success.
She is also a Commissioner for Oaths in Ontario Canada.
Agnes has traveled and consulted widely in education and is active on the ICEF conference circuits in addition to being a personal representative to schools at various exhibitions organized and hosted by the Canadian Trade Commission within Africa.
Mr. Aigbinode’s financial sector experience spans 40 years having commenced his banking career with Barclays Bank Plc in 1975. He later joined Nigerian-American Merchant Bank, where he worked for 10 years including a 6-month credit training internship with Bank of Boston. He was instrumental to the repositioning of Owena Bank Nigeria Plc where he established the corporate banking division as a Deputy General Manager. He subsequently joined Fidelity Bank Plc between 1998 and 2003 and left as the Acting Managing Director after leading the bank’s transformation from merchant to commercial banking in a leading position in the Nigerian banking industry.
He joined New Nigeria Bank Plc in 2004 as an Executive Director responsible for business development until early 2005. The Central Bank of Nigeria engaged him on national service later in 2005 as part of an interim management board to oversee the affairs of Assurance Bank Plc towards an orderly liquidation. Since 2005, Mr. Aigbinode has been consulting in telecommunications, finance, and business strategy after an active banking career which covered the entire spectrum of banking. He joined IGI in 2011 to realign the Group’s telecoms portfolio and subsequently as Executive Director in charge of Business Strategy and Risk Management.
Mr. Aigbinode graduated from the Institute of Management and Technology in Banking and holds a M.Sc. in Risk Management from New York University’s Stern School of Business. He is also an alumnus of Manchester Business School’s Executive Management Course. He regularly consults on Risk, Structured Finance, and Strategy. He is on the Editorial Board of Credit Risk Deskmate Journal. He is a Director of the Association of Licensed Telecom Operators of Nigeria. He also served on the Boards of Sonarwa General Insurance Ltd, Rwanda, and NIC Insurance, Uganda. He is a member of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria as well as, the Global Association of Risk Professionals. He is widely traveled professionally and for leisure including attendances at ICEF workshops.
Her life’s work in education is her passion. She has been in education administration and teaching for over 20 years with an estimated 20,000 Nigerian students benefiting directly from her tutelage. She is currently the School Administrator at Bridge House College in Lagos Nigeria. Prior to her current role, she was the Executive Director of the pioneering Roemichs International School in Kwara State, Nigeria. Ms. Latty, a Jamaican-born educationist, is affectionately known in Nigeria as lady Carmen because of her influence through her passionate work in educational institutions in Nigeria. She has also served as the administrator of the renowned Corona Trust Council of all Corona Schools in Nigeria. Ms. Latty brings her dedication, passion, and unparalleled experience to the Virtue family.
Sandra Lange is an associate in McCarthy Tetrault Litigation Group in Calgary (McCarthy). She maintains a general corporate commercial litigation practice. She has extensive experience appearing before the Provincial Court of Alberta, Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench, the Provincial Court of Ontario, and the Superior Court of Ontario.
Prior to joining McCarthy, Sandra was a Crown Prosecutor with the Alberta Crown Prosecution Service where she regularly attended court and conducted criminal trials and appeals of varying complexities. She also articled with the Crown Attorney’s Office in Ontario, and spent two summers working with the Civil Forfeiture Office of the Attorney General of Ontario.
Sandra obtained her BCL and LLB from the McGill University Faculty of Law. During law school, she was the Class President for two years, and the Director of the Innocence McGill Legal Clinic. She was also a founding executive member of the McGill Journal of Dispute Resolution. She was the recipient of numerous awards, and was inducted into the McGill Scarlet Key Society. She also completed an exchange program at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark.
Sandra obtained a Master’s Degree in Political Science from McGill University and received a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) from the University of Guelph where she finished with First Class Standing and Distinction.
Sandra is a member of the Law Society of Alberta, the Canadian Bar Association, and the Canadian Association of Black Lawyers.
Kingsley is a Virtue veteran. He has been with Virtue from our early days and is a master at remembering all our clients. He coordinates the affairs of the Nigerian and Ghana offices. His honesty and trustworthiness makes him a vital part of Virtue.
“In a nutshell, I don’t believe I would have made it this far without Virtue Education. Graduating with a Distinction (first-class) in Law & Society at Wilfrid Laurier University, was not a vision I had seen for myself until I was introduced to the President – Mrs. Agnes and her services. Virtue education was a strong support all the way from the application process to my integration in Canada. I am forever grateful for the Zeal, Discipline and Consistency of the founder- Mrs. Agnes Aigbinode and of Virtue Education staff.”
“Virtue education has helped me through a lot in all the years since I moved to Canada. Through all the support and guidance provided to me, I can confidently say they are a huge part of my success in this country. The close personal bond they create with all their students make you feel valued and encouraged socially, spiritually, academically, professionally and otherwise. I have also had the opportunity to create lifelong relationships with other students that use this service. In all, I learned from the CEO that you should always push through the limits, never stop praying and anytime you fail, it doesn’t mean that it’s over it’s just a sign you need to work harder to achieve your goals.”
“I attended Loral International Secondary School, Lagos, and I have always dreamed of going to school abroad. I found out about Virtue Education from a friend and they turned my dream into reality. Thanks to Virtue Education, I am presently in the Biomedical Engineering program at Centennial College, Toronto Canada. Someone once told me not to let dreams just be dreams – work towards making your dreams a reality.”
“I’m currently studying Electronics Engineering Technology at Centennial College, Canada. My education in Canada has really been a great experience, and has been different from my educational life in Nigeria. It is so challenging and adventurous – the protocols, system of teaching, activities and associations are of high and quality standards. It has really helped me develop nice attributes such as quality style of communication, self-confidence, time management skills and lots more. I’m grateful to Virtue Educational & Allied Services for helping me achieve and realize this goal, by simplifying the process and rendering perfect service. I really recommend them; they have proven how up they are for any task that concerns the success of people.”
“My 2 children graduated from Children International School, Lekki, Lagos, and with the kind support of Virtue Education, they are now schooling and settled in Canada. The staff was not only courteous but highly professional in their dealing with my family during the search for schools and throughout the application process. What I have found incredibly amazing is how much my children have settled into their school and familiarized themselves with the Canadian system. I owe all that to Mrs. Agnes Aigbinode and her team. They go the extra mile and no favours I ever requested appeared too much for them to handle. I would recommend Virtue Education to any parent whose dream is for their child to study in Canada. The assistance they provide is priceless.”
I got affiliated with Virtue Education in 2012 when I was working towards studying in Canada (Bachelor's). I met Aunty Agnes (as she is fondly called) and she suggested and worked through a number of viable options for me to get into a top school in Canada. She and her team also counselled me through the study visa processing and worked on getting visit visas for my family members as well. Now, even though these services were paid for, it was a token compared to the value I got. Aunty Agnes and I stayed in touch as she continued to ensure I stayed grounded as I completed my studies. She took on the role of guardian and problem solver - always on hand with sound advice. Her home in Canada was always open to me for visits or for when I needed to getaway “Family isn’t always blood. It’s the people in your life who want you in theirs; the ones who accept you for who you are. The ones that would do anything to see you smile and who love you no matter what.” This pretty much sums up what everyone in Virtue has become to me over the years. It wasn’t too far off that on my graduation day, the dean admonished us to look back at our family and loved ones and tell them thank you for being there on this journey with us because they also were on the journey. In that moment it dawned on me that Mama (as I fondly call her) is family and I wouldn’t be where I am without her and everyone at Virtue.
