User:Maryamgarba1/sandbox/Maryam Kyaana Garba

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Maryam Kyaana Garba, AFNLI, Ed.M. B.A. (born May 26th, 1987) is a fashion designer, educationist and entrepreneur. She is the Development Director at Premier International School, one of Abuja’s top private schools and the CEO of Maryam Garba International, a fashion company with operations in Nigeria and the USA. Maryam is a graduate of Stanford University and Harvard Graduate School of Education. In 2016, she was selected as an Associate Fellow of the Nigeria Leadership Initiative, a highly selective fellowship that identifies young Nigerians who have demonstrated exceptional leadership potential. In that same year, she was selected to be a member of the Abuja Global Shapers Community, an initiative of the World Economic Forum for her impact on education within Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory.

Family and Education
Maryam was born in Lagos, Nigeria to Ruth Garba, an Educationist and Shehu Garba, an Accountant, both from Kaduna State. She is the second child out of a family of five siblings. She lived in Lagos for seven years until her family moved to Abuja in 1995. She attended Chrisland School, Ikeja and Kent Academy, Jos for her early years and elementary school education respectively. In 1998, she was accepted into the highly competitive Loyola Jesuit College in Nigeria's Federal Capital Territory for her secondary school education, but instead chose to attend Adesoye College, Offa which had also given her a place. In 2004, she was the only student to graduate from Adesoye College with an A1 Distinction Grade in all 9 subject exams she took including Biology, Chemistry and Physics in the West African Secondary School Certificate Examination (WAEC). That same year, she also had the best National result in the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Examination (JAMB) for University entry in the field of Education. As a result of her JAMB performance, she was granted a scholarship by Cowbell to attend any Nigerian University of her choice. But she declined this offer to instead attend Benenden School, Kent, United Kingdom where she had her A-levels education and graduated with 4 A's at AS and A-Levels. Following her excellent performance at Benenden School, she was admitted into Stanford University in 2006. Maryam graduated from Stanford University in 2010 with a Bachelor of Arts in Human Biology (with Honors) and a Minor in African Studies. She then proceeded to Harvard University where she earned her Masters Degree in Education.

Career
After graduating from Harvard University, Maryam worked as a Consultant with the German Consulting Firm, Roland Berger Strategy Consultants from 2011 - 2013 where she worked on business strategy for Fortune 500 companies. After this, she joined Sun Acquisitions, Chicago as an Associate Broker from 2013 - 2015 where she faciliated small and mid-cap transactional acquisitions. In 2015, she relocated from Chicago to Abuja where she completed her mandatory year of the Nigerian Youth Service Corps. After this, Maryam joined Premier International School as its Development Director.

Through her fashion company, Maryam Garba International, Maryam’s designs have graced runways in all of the major US colleges including Harvard, Stanford, MIT, Northwestern, Columbia, University of Chicago and Wesleyan Universities among others. Maryam’s designs have also been featured in numerous regional and international fashion shows including Africa Fashion Week, Chicago and Charity Fashion Week. In 2014, she was a finalist for the Vogue Italia Designer Competition at Stanford University. In 2015, Maryam also received an entrepreneurship recognition award from the Black Professional Network at Ernst and Young for her entrepreneurial work with Maryam Garba International.

Awards and Recognitions

 * 1) 2016 Associate Fellow, Nigeria Leadership Initiative
 * 2) 2016 Abuja Global Shaper, An Initiative of the World Economic Forum
 * 3) 2015 Tribes Kaduna Entrepreneur
 * 4) 2015 Entrepreneurship Recognition, Black Professionals Network, Ernst and Young
 * 5) 2011 Masters in Education, Harvard University Graduate School of Education
 * 6) 2010 Bachelor of Arts, Human Biology (with Honors), Stanford University
 * 7) 2008 Stanford University Chappell-Lougee Fellowship

Organizations
Maryam is the founder of the Billionaire’s Club, a non-profit organization that teaches people how to create wealth for impact. She is a vocal proponent of entrepreneurship and has been engaged to speak on this topic by University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business, Kellogg School of Management and The Women Mean Business Network among others. Maryam also sits on the boards of several companies including Five Summers, an educational consulting firm as well as Vertical Investments, a real estate acquisition and development firm. In her free time, she enjoys reading and traveling.