Nkem Okocha

Nkem Okocha
Born	Lagos, Nigeria
Nationality	Nigerian
Education	Lagos State University
Occupation	Social entrepreneur/activist
Known for	Empowering women with financial aid

Nkem Okocha is a Nigerian social entrepreneur and activist who founded Mamamoni, ^[1] a FinTech social enterprise that supports poor rural and urban slum women with free vocational skills and mobile loans. ^{[2] [3]}

She is the 2016 winner of the LEAP Africa Social Innovators Programme (SIP) by Union Bank of Nigeria. ^[4]

Early life and education

Okocha was born and raised in Lagos, Nigeria. She started her tertiary education at Auchi Polytechnic and later proceeded to Lagos State University where she earned a bachelor's degree in banking and finance ^{[5] [6]} and received a certificate in entrepreneurship from the Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Programme. ^[7] She also has a certificate in business and entrepreneurship from Northwestern University. ^[8]

Career

Inspired by her widowed mum's struggle to feed and educate the family, she founded Mamamoni, ^{[9] [10]} a social enterprise that is addressing community transformation by helping women to carry on small businesses. ^{[11] [12]}

Since 2013, she has supported over 4,000 women in several rural/urban slum communities and given out over 100 micro-loans. ^[13] Before starting her company, she worked as a customer service representative for Intercontinental Bank, now Access Bank plc. She went further to become the managing director at Novine Koncept Ventures ^[14] before starting Mamamoni. ^[15]

References

1. "Nkem Okocha, Founder of Mamamoni is RISE Youth of the Week". Rise Networks. 2018-02-06. Retrieved 2019-07-27.
2. "Start small, leverage on partnerships– Nkem Okocha". Punch Newspapers. Retrieved 2019-07-27.
3. "Nkem Okocha - The startup story of a Nigerian social entrepreneur empowering poor rural and urban women with free vocational skills and mobile loans". Lionesses of Africa. Retrieved 2019-07-27.
4. "Union Bank, MamaMoni set up innovation hub for low income women". Nigerian Voice. Retrieved 2019-07-27.
5. "Nkem Christiana Okocha". IREX. Retrieved 2019-07-27.
6. Newman, chuks (10 July 2019). "Meet Nkem Okocha, Entrepreneur, Banker, and Founder of Mamamoni". My Media Africa. Retrieved 27 July 2019.
7. BellaNaija.com (2017-07-05). "Breaking the Cycle of Poverty: Nkem Okocha of Mamamoni is our #BellaNaijaWCW this Week". BellaNaija. Retrieved 2019-07-27.
8. "Nkem Okocah".
9. "Meet the CEO of Mamamoni". The Tony Elumelu Foundation. 2017-03-07. Retrieved 2019-07-27.
10. "Mamamoni". Changemakers. Retrieved 2019-07-27.
11. "Union Bank, Mama Moni Establish Innovation Hub for Low-Income Women". Union Bank. 2019-05-27. Retrieved 2019-07-27.
12. "Blog - KEC". knowledgeexchangecentre.org. Retrieved 2019-07-27.
13. Setima-Benebo, Tonye (2017-03-04). "Nkem Okocha: I started Mamamoni because my experience as young girl". She Leads Africa. Retrieved 2019-07-27.
14. BellaNaija.com (2017-07-05). "Breaking the Cycle of Poverty: Nkem Okocha of Mamamoni is our #BellaNaijaWCW this Week". BellaNaija. Retrieved 2019-07-27.
15. "About Us". MamaMoni. Retrieved 2019-07-27.