About Us
Who are we
We are a group of committed Nigerian citizens working to create educational opportunities for young Nigerians
Our Mission
We are on a mission to empower 10,000 young Nigerians by 2023
What We Do
We provide young Nigerians with academic and professional opportunities required for them to rise to their highest potential
Our story
In 2018, four university students across four western countries noticed ongoing campus activities to alleviate poverty in numerous countries across the world. None of these campus activities were focused on mitigating poverty in their home country Nigeria, they started The Youth Center with the urgent need to empower young Nigerians to do more for themselves and their communities by providing them with scholarship opportunities. The four students were Uduak-Obong Antai, Tofunmi Onafowokan, Eghogho Enebi, and Emma Omeife.
Education is said to be the bedrock of development; hence, any society that wants to attain greatness must embrace education. In 2019, they kicked off their first scholarship opportunity. By selling Nigerian food across campus and organizing events, they raised about $400. This money went towards providing five students with full semester tuitions.
Their first scholarship received over 400 applications. These applications enabled us to gain insights into the inspiring dreams and visions held by many young Nigerians. We noticed that despite the lack of support and numerous financial challenges they faced, they were very persistent and determined to make their dreams a reality.
With our wonderful teammates and generous donors, we have constantly increased our efforts to support more young Nigerians. It is only truly by investing in them that we make their visions and dreams of a better Nigeria a reality.
Our Leadership Team
Emma Omeife
Executive Director
Emma oversees all programs and strategic initiatives. She was one of the co-founders at TYC. Her expertise in government and public sector programs and her degree in economics enables her to bring a people-centric perspective to the youth center programs. Emma earned her bachelor’s degree at the University of Texas at Austin. She works full-time as a government and public sector consultant helping governments and public institutions improve their public outcomes by focusing on people.
Emma enjoys taking walks, spending time with family, and reading novels
Iredoman Aghagowa
Chief Operating Officer
Iredoman was one of the first volunteers of The Youth Center. He studied Chemical Engineering at the University of Benin. His exposure to the Nigerian public university system enables us to utilize actionable insights on ways we solve pressing issues faced by students from marginalized communities. He works full time helping multi-national organizations find meaningful ways to engage with their target markets.
Irene enjoys volunteering and reading books about Nigerian history.
Togor Nunghe
Chief Financial Officer & Board Member
Togor serves as an Advisor at The Youth Center specifically around Fundraising and Finance strategies. She brings expertise in Risk Management and Finance based on her experience as a Management Consultant. Togor earned her undergraduate degree in Economics from Berry College and a Master of Management from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University.
Togor enjoys having productive conversations on how to move Nigeria and the continent forward. In her spare time, she enjoys yoga, reading and watching shark tank and the big bang theory, in no particular order.
Oluwatobi Ojo
Chief Marketing Officer
Oluwatobi is a student at the University of Lagos, Nigeria. He is currently in his fifth year studying Civil and Environmental Engineering. Oluwatobi is passionate about social impact and is committed to giving back to society as a volunteer and student leader in various capacities. He is an avid advocate of the SDGs- Goals 1, 2, 4, and 17. Oluwatobi was a beneficiary of the TYC Academic Scholarship program in 2019 and decided to volunteer and share the vision of the organization, and now serves as the Marketing Team Lead at TYCm Lead at TYC
Emmanuel Okeke
Chief Technology Officer
Emmanuel serves as an advisor on how TYC can leverage technology in our programs. He brings expertise in web development, project management, and technology strategy. In 2019, he graduated with a bachelor’s in mechanical engineering and a minor in business from the University of Texas at Austin. Outside of TYC, Emmanuel works as a product manufacturing engineer in the semiconductor industry.
He enjoys working on software side projects, playing video games, and going out with friends in his spare time.
Olawale Quadri
Member Experience Leader
Olawale serves as an advisor and leader especially in helping our volunteers and stay up to date. He studied mechanical engineering at Institute of Technology, Ilorin and works as a technical site support engineer with building services organizations in Nigeria.
Olawale loves sports and enjoys supporting young nigerians as they work towards their academic goals