Draft:Simi Nwogugu

Simi Nwogugu is a Nigerian philanthropist, and CEO of JA Africa, part of the Nobel Peace Prize-nominated JA Worldwide, one of the world’s largest youth-serving NGOs that prepares young people for the future of work. JA was first introduced by Nwogugu while she worked at Goldman Sachs in New York City, this was when she decided to create JA Africa.

Born and raised in Lagos, Nigeria to Nigerian parents, her father is often sighted as her motivation behind her success being an entreprenuer himself.

For over 25 years, Nwogugu has led JA’s efforts in various capacities as it embarked on a mission to reduce youth unemployment and high poverty levels by helping young people to generate and effectively manage wealth, create jobs for their communities, as well as apply entrepreneurial thinking to solve sustainability issues within their communities.

In 2009, John A. Davis and Shirley Spence published faculty a case study at Harvard Business school surrounding Nwogugu’s life titled; An Enterprenuers Journey: Simi Nwogugu.

She has spoken at numerous philantropy projects, including African Philantrophy forum conference.

Background And Career
At 24, Nwogugu quit her job at Goldman Sachs, NY, to bring JA to Nigeria, where it currently empowers more than 100,000 young people annually. In 2010, she launched the Leadership, Empowerment Achievement & Development (LEAD) Camp for Girls, and has championed the Venture in Management Programme (ViMP).

According to her Linkedin profile, Nwogugu also worked as a senior director at Viacom, MTV Networks/Nickelodeon.

During the 2020 global pandemic, she built digital and out-of-school youth programmes to reach underserved populations in Northern Nigeria, for which she was later recognized by the US mission to Nigeria.

Nwogugu also has an MBA from Harvard Business School and is currerntly a personnel at HBS, Africa business club.

Education
Nwogugu graduated from Mount Holyoke College with a degree in English Economics in 1997, she later graduated with an MBA from the Harvard Business School in 2004.

Junior Achievement Africa
Otherwise known as JA, Africa, Junior Achievement Africa is one of the world’s largest youth-serving NGOs, operating in sub-Saharan Africa since 1979. JA Africa works in 13 countries in sub-Saharan Africa.

In 2020, JA worldwide annouced the board of directors decision to officially appoint Nwogugu as the CEO of Junior Achievement Africa ( JAN).

Two years after her appointment, In 2022, JA Africa was nominated for the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize.

Recognition

 * Bert King Award for Social Impact presented by the Harvard Business School African-American Alumni Association.
 * Winner, Africa Education Medal 2023 by T4 Education, HP and Microsoft.
 * Avance Media Top 100 African Women