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= Uzoma Nwagba =

Uzoma Nwagba is an engineer and social entrepreneur who has built his career at the intersection of technology and finance.

He serves as the Chief Operating Officer and designer of Nigeria’s Growth Platform, Africa’s largest executor of financial interventions to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), with a project portfolio of $472M till date including the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP) and the World Bank NG-CARES.

He also serves as Executive Director of the Nwagba Foundation, a non-profit focused on bridging the gap between talent and opportunity for young people in Abia State.

Early life and education
Born in 1987 to Distinguished RPh. Israel U. Nwagba and Honorable Dame Blessing Nwagba, a notable politician in Abia State, Uzoma Nwagba is the third of four children, three boys and a girl and was raised in his hometown Osusu-Aba, Nigeria. 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 surrounded by uncles and aunts, Uzoma grew up above his father’s store and his childhood and formative years were spent acquiring knowledge through experience and the observation of role models in his extended family. This ultimately shaped him with the values of selflessness and collective responsibility which form his belief system today.

At age 16, he migrated to the United States in pursuit of a broader horizon on education and gained admission for tertiary study at Howard University where he bagged his bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering (First Class Honors) in 2009. In 2014, he graduated from the Harvard Business School with a Masters in Business Administration (MBA).

Career
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. The Gold Star Award is a discretionary award that used to be awarded to employees of Microsoft in recognition of work done and is one of the highest honors in the organization.

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 where he believed he could have an impact on a larger scale. Uzoma is passionate about running public enterprises like ethical, results-oriented businesses. 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 $472m project portfolio including the World Bank NG-CARES, MSME Survival Fund, and the federal Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP).

Nwagba’s belief that traders and artisans who are financially marginalised can get access to corporate financial services fuels his passion for creating an enabling environment for more small businesses to reduce poverty among the lower people in the economic ladder. To date, the Growth 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, demonstrating the biggest advancement of MSME financing.

The scheme was described as Africa’s most impactful financial inclusion scheme in 2019 by the prestigious African Bankers Awards. Uzoma is responsible for driving programme stakeholders and for the innovation and creativity that the programme deployed to bank the seemingly 'unbankable' at the grassroots and margins of society.

In the early stage of his career, Uzoma 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.

He was conferred the Archbishop Desmond Tutu Leadership Fellowship by the African Leadership Institute, proof of his distinguished leadership in both public and private sectors.

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
Established in 2018, Nwagba Foundation is a non-governmental organisation dedicated to enabling opportunities, empowerment and a voice for the people of Abia State.

Founded and led by Engr. Uzoma 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 provided financial aid to more than 5000 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.

The Nwagba Foundation worries about the effect of the rising cost of feed and fertilizers on farmers and consumers. Having identified capacity and empowerment-related issues in the agriculture and fashion industry in Abia State, the Foundation works tirelessly to ensure that farmers get feed at reduced prices, and supports the inspiring talent of fashion designers in Aba by providing a standard finishing studio where they can work on finishing their designs.

The goal of the 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.

The Feed Match Programme
This initiative is designed to empower farmers by matching their feed purchase with the exact number of feed which the farmers procure through the 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
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.

Finishing Workspace and Multimedia Studio
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
Ejimeji is a robust and dynamic e-commerce platform for the Nwagba Foundation 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
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, the 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
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.

The Village Square Radio Show
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)
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.

Personal life
In lighter settings, Uzoma plays the guitar and sings. He is also an art enthusiast, a lover of tennis, an avid reader and a writer.

Award and Recognition
(Insert year) One of the charter members and Founders of the Howard University African Business Club (HUABC).

(Insert year) Received a Gold Star Award as Product Manager at Microsoft, Redmond.

2020 Speaker, Financial Times "Driving Digital Commerce for Small and Medium-sized Businesses".

In 2019, Nwagba was conferred the Archbishop Desmond Tutu Leadership Fellowship by the African Leadership Institute.

External links section

 * Growth Platform
 * Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme
 * Ejimeji.com
 * The Village Square

Category:Living people Category:People from Abia State Category:Social entrepreneurs Category:Social entrepreneurship Category:Harvard Business School alumni Category:Howard University alumni Category:Nigerian engineers Category:Technocracy movement Category:Youth-led organizations