Uzoma Nwagba
Uzoma Nwagba[edit]
| Uzoma Nwagba | |
|---|---|
 Uzoma Nwagba 0.jpg | |
| Born | Uzoma Omenihu Nwagba 7 September Aba, Abia State, Nigeria |
| 🏳️ Nationality | Nigerian |
| 🏫 Education | King's College, Lagos
Howard University, USA (First Class Honors) Harvard Business School, Boston, Massachusetts |
| 💼 Occupation | Social Entrepreneur |
| 🏢 Organization | Growth Platform, Nwagba Foundation |
| Known for | Nwagba Foundation, Nigeria’s Growth Platform |
| Twitter= | |
Uzoma Nwagba is an engineer and social entrepreneur. He is the Chief Operating Officer and designer of Nigeria’s Growth Platform, an executor of financial interventions to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), with a project portfolio that includes the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP) and the World Bank NG-CARES.
Nwagba is also the Founder and Executive Director of Nwagba Foundation, a non-profit focused on bridging the gap between talent and opportunity for young people in Abia State.
Early life and education[edit]
Born and raised in his hometown Osusu-Aba in Abia State to RPh. Israel U. Nwagba and Honorable Dame Blessing Nwagba, a politician in Abia State, Uzoma Nwagba is the third of four children (three boys and a girl)[1]. His educational background includes a primary education at the Abia State University Primary School in Abia state, followed by a high school diploma at Kings College Lagos.
Raised in a communal setting, Nwagba migrated at age 16 to the United States and gained admission for tertiary study at Howard University where he bagged his bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering (First Class Honors)[2] in 2009. In 2014, he graduated from the Harvard Business School in Boston, Massachusetts with a Masters in Business Administration (MBA).[3]
Career[edit]
Nwagba started his career as an Analyst at Goldman Sachs, New York, a leading global financial institution that delivers a broad range of financial services across investment banking, securities, investment management and consumer banking to a large and diversified client base.
He then proceeded to become a Product Manager at Microsoft, Redmond, where he received a Gold Star Award for his effective management and leading of a vast telecommunications/mobile technology team.[4]
Following an MBA at Harvard Business School in Boston, USA, in 2014, Uzoma returned to Nigeria to a career in private equity at African Capital Alliance (ACA), a leading African investment firm sponsoring funds and managing investments in Sub Saharan Africa. While at ACA, he was responsible for driving investments in financial services and healthcare. This he did prior to making a turn to public service.
An engineer whose career spans finance and technology, Uzoma is the designer and Chief Operating Officer of Nigeria’s Growth Platform, Africa’s largest implementer of interventions to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) with a large project portfolio that includes the World Bank NG-CARES, MSME Survival Fund, and the federal Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP).
In his capacity as the COO of the Growth Platform, Nwagba creates an enabling environment for more small businesses to reduce poverty among the lower people in the economic ladder. To date, the Platform has leveraged the power of identity management, emerging technologies, agent networks, and mobile wallets to fund and manage a portfolio of over four million under-served or underbanked Nigerian enterprises.
The scheme was described as "Africa’s most impactful financial inclusion scheme" in 2019 by the African Bankers Awards.[5] Nwagba is responsible for driving programme stakeholders and for the innovation and creativity that the programme deployed to bank the people at the grassroots and margins of society.
In the early stage of his career, he served as a member and leader of various clubs: African Business Club, Management Consulting Club, Public Speaking and Negotiation Club, and Business in Government Club.
Nwagba was conferred the Archbishop Desmond Tutu Leadership Fellowship by the African Leadership Institute[6], proof of "his impact in public service"[7]. Nwagba was also one of the Founders of the Howard University African Business Club (HUABC)[8]. He has been a featured speaker at the Financial Times event tagged 'Driving Digital Commerce for Small and Medium-Sized Businesses: Sub-Saharan Africa[9]' in a session which was moderated by David Pilling alongside co-panelists such as Peter Zemsky, Deputy Dean of INSEAD, and has been featured on Channels Television's Business Morning[10],
He is co-founder of Leadership Seed, a non-profit organisation focused on case-based teaching of ethics and governance in high school and dedicated to developing the next generation of ethical public leaders.
Nwagba Foundation[edit]
Established in 2018, Nwagba Foundation is a non-governmental organisation dedicated to enabling opportunities, empowerment and a voice for the people of Abia State, Nigeria.
Founded and led by Mr. Nwagba, the Foundation works in partnership with local and international bodies to build creative sustainable solutions to the collective challenges of the community.
Since its founding in 2018, Nwagba Foundation has mobilised financial aid to more than 5,000 people in Abia State, including but not limited to transporters, poultry and crop farmers, fashion and accessory designers, and others. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Foundation responded swiftly and gave out bags of foodstuff, hand sanitizers and clothing items to more than 1000 residents of Aba, Abia State.[11]
Having identified capacity and empowerment-related issues in the agriculture and fashion industry in Abia State, Nwagba Foundation's programmes and initiatives are geared towards ensuring that farmers get feed at reduced prices, and providing support to the inspiring talent of fashion designers in Aba by providing a finishing studio where they can finish their designs.
The goal of Nwagba Foundation is to impact the entire state of Abia through existing initiatives and new development programmes which will be tailored to meet the predominant needs of the different communities in the state.
Farmers Programmes[edit]
The Feed Match Programme[edit]
This initiative is designed to empower farmers by matching their feed purchase with the exact number of feed which the farmers procure through Nwagba Foundation. The benefit of the Feed Match Programme to farmers is that they spend less on feeding their livestock and by extension, save more and therefore, enjoy a higher level of business productivity.
Nwagba Foundation Collective Bargaining[edit]
The Foundation launched the Collective Bargaining Program in a bid to solve the numerous issues that members of the Farmers Cooperative constantly deal with in regard to procuring feed and fertilizer for their livestock and crops. This is engineered to help members collectively procure feed at a subsidised rate, as against the regular point of sale rate.
Fashion Programmes[edit]
Finishing Workspace and Multimedia Studio[edit]
Nwagba Foundation created a standard finishing studio fully equipped with modern hemming, weaving, button-hole and button-taper machines to help support the inspiring talent of fashion designers in Abia State. To aid and promote the digital marketing and branding of local fashion brands, the Foundation considered it appropriate to set up a photography studio outfitted with state-of-the-art equipment and with expert photographers on duty to manage them. In addition to these, professional models are available to help the fashion designers model their unique designs.
Ejimeji.com[edit]
Ejimeji is a robust and dynamic e-commerce platform for Nwagba Foundation's fashion community including the fashion designers (designers of clothes and accessories) who already have their products being marketed on the website at no cost to them, and graduates from the Fashion Courses who have learned fashion design and will become vendors themselves. The site is dedicated to celebrating Africlectic culture and showcasing amazing African fashion designers to global markets. This will not only give fashion designers in Abia State the advantage of access to numerous global opportunities but also, an opportunity such as this will increase the potential for fashion designers to make more sales to a very diverse market.
Fashion Courses[edit]
Launched in April 2021, the Fashion Courses is a learning initiative by the Foundation whose curriculum is designed for beginners who would like to venture into the fashion industry. The classes are practical and engaging and feature assessment tests and assignments, and a final examination to help students learn and participate actively.
In addition to the benefits offered, Nwagba Foundation Fashion Studio situated in Aba will be freely accessible to students to come in and practice using the studio equipment.
Financial Literacy Programme[edit]
In July 2021, Nwagba Foundation launched a financial literacy programme that includes training teenage orphans in orphanages in Abia State on Snail Farming. The beneficiaries will be taught to grow their snails, sell them and reinvest the returns towards ultimately gaining financial freedom. The end goal of this programme is to help them become financially literate while also learning entrepreneurship.
Multimedia Programmes[edit]
The Village Square Radio Show[edit]
This weekly programme is hosted weekly on Real FM 99.1 to address real issues plaguing Abia State. The show has, in less than a year, gained a following of millions of people across the country.
The Village Square Platform (TVS)[edit]
Also an initiative of Nwagba Foundation, "The Village Square" is a multimedia platform created to showcase and promote the creative works of local artists and content creators who create quality podcasts, mixes and songs, etc.
References[edit]
- ↑ Nwa Aba - Uzoma Nwagba - Leading Youth Profiling, retrieved 2021-08-31
- ↑ Press, Brand (2019-06-26). "Uzoma Nwagba: The 31-Year-Old driving TraderMoni, MarketMoni, FarmerMoni". Techpoint Africa. Retrieved 2021-08-31.
- ↑ "Uzoma Nwagba - Portrait Project - MBA - Harvard Business School". www.hbs.edu. Retrieved 2021-08-31.
- ↑ "Agenda for Driving Digital Commerce for SMBs in Sub-Saharan Africa". digitalcommercessa.live.ft.com. Retrieved 2021-08-31.
- ↑ "African Bankers' Awards: BOI wins Financial Inclusion Award for driving FG's GEEP programme". The Guardian Nigeria News - Nigeria and World News. 2019-06-27. Retrieved 2021-08-31.
- ↑ "AFLI 2019 Fellows - Uzoma Nwagba" (2019). Retrieved from https://alinstitute.org/2019-fellows/810-uzoma-nwagba
- ↑ techeconomy (2019-06-25). "Meet Uzoma Nwagba: The 31-year-old driving TraderMoni, MarketMoni, FarmerMoni". TechEconomy.ng. Retrieved 2021-09-09.
- ↑ Howard University African Business Club. (2008) Constitution of the Howard University African Business Club. https://howard.campuslabs.com/ENGAGE/organization/africanbusinessclub/documents/view/1883151
- ↑ "Agenda for Driving Digital Commerce for SMBs in Sub-Saharan Africa". digitalcommercessa.live.ft.com. Retrieved 2021-09-08.
- ↑ Nwagba Dissects MarketMoni vs TraderMoni Business Morning, retrieved 2021-09-08
- ↑ Nwagba Foundation - COVID 19 Relief - Event 1, retrieved 2021-08-31
External links[edit]
- Growth Platform
- Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme
- Ejimeji.com
- The Village Square
- GEEP: Human Banks for the Poor
- African Leadership Institute
This article "Uzoma Nwagba" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Uzoma Nwagba. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.
