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Dr. Nicky Okoye was born in Nigeria to His Royal Majesty Igwe Augustine Chukwuma Okoye now deceased and Lady Barbara May Okoye. His early education was in the United Kingdom after which he returned to Nigeria to join the Ekulu Primary School GRA Enugu, Nigeria. He went to study at the Federal Government College Enugu and the Federal Government College Okigwe on a national merit admission, considered the highest form of qualification for students to the prestigious Unity Schools of Nigeria. He left Okigwe in 1984 for university that same year.

Nicholas studied applied micro biology and genetic engineering at the Anambra State University of Technology, which has now been split into two new institutions namely the Nnamdi Azikwe University Awka and the Enugu State University of Science and Technology, Enugu. He graduated in 1988. He went further to study several executive and graduate programs in Global Management, Global Strategy, Mergers and Acquisition at Harvard University Extension School, Harvard Business School and the London Business School etc.

Nicholas worked first as a business development officer with Gusten Holdings Limited. His father’s business, which included a construction business, a hospitality business and a street light installation business. He left for the United States to further his studies and to seek independence from his family influence. In the United States Nicholas worked to support his studies serving first as construction support personnel on various construction sites then as a recruiting consultant with major international retail chains.

Nicholas’s big break came when he made up his mind to serve in the mainstream of the global financial system, he studied and passed the National Association of Securities Dealers Series 7, Series 65 and Series 66 effectively qualifying him as a Stock Broker, Investment Adviser and Asset Manager. He started working with Merrill Lynch, one of the most reputable Investment Banks in the World at that time, as a Financial Consultant and global Investment adviser. Working out of the Boston Financial Centre, Nicholas supported many early stage entrepreneurs who built multibillion dollar empires in information technology. He also gained experience in the global financial markets and systems, he became an expert in the way in which projects, entrepreneurs and nations are funded, grown and expanded.

Nicholas Okoye has received several awards and commendations including being nominated twice as the most outstanding young executive under 35 in Nigeria by the This Day Newspaper in 2005 and 2006. And he has been included in the top 50 most outstanding executives and entrepreneurs in Nigeria by the financial standard newspapers in 2007. He has also received awards and accolades from the Institute of Directors Nigeria, the Central Bank of Nigeria, the Canadian Business Council, the New York Stock Exchange, the African Stock Exchanges Association etc. In 2015 Nicholas Okoye was awarded with the prestigious Doctorate Degree of Business Administration Honorius Causa for exceptional service to nation building and the development of entrepreneurship by the Enugu State University of Technology Enugu.