President and CEOJA Africa
Simi Nwogugu is CEO of Junior Achievement (JA) Africa, which equips young Africans with financial literacy, entrepreneurship, and digital skills for future success. JA Africa is 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. Prior to joining JA Africa, Simi served as the executive director of JA Nigeria, which she brought to Nigeria in 1999, after she served as a volunteer in New York and realized that the entrepreneurial training programs were exactly what the large unemployed youth population in Nigeria needed. Simi became CEO of JA Africa in 2020 and since then has expanded JA operations to 23 countries in Africa, reaching over one million youth annually. Simi has an MBA from Harvard Business School and has been recognized by the school with the Bert King Award for Social Impact. She was also declared the winner of the Africa Education Medal 2023 by T4 Education, HP and Microsoft.