August Profile: Kemisola YUSUF

Why Kemisola is a profile?
As many of us will agree, we do owe the success of our OGQC93 website to Kemisola. To improve communications between OGQC93 members and also increase awareness of our cause, Kemisola volunteered to build a website for the association. This was not an easy task considering the amount of work that was needed to coordinate activities across three continents. However, Kemisola remained true to her vision and against all odds built a very successful website. 

Today, this website serves a main platform for contact information about members, sharing ideas on  ways we can  help improve society and our personalities as well as general information on key activities in the association.

Her work has been well commended by many including the Coordinator of the Mother site (Simisola Marinho) who said:

“…I am relieved to see that ex-QC girls are interested in keeping and expanding the present site in such an innovative way.  I visited your site and was highly impressed with the layout and content…  I hope… it will motivate girls from other sets to implement similar sites…

Kemisola, do keep up the good work. We know it isn't easy but your enduring commitment makes us see our vision even clearer...

About Kemisola Yusuf

Kemisola was born on 10th December 1976. Upon graduation from the W arm of Queen's College Yaba in 1993, she gained admission into Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife to study Computer Science and Engineering. While in the university, she had her first real technology job at Telnet Nigeria Limited where she did a three-month internship. During this internship,  she specialized in website design and ISP projects. In her fourth university year, she went back to Telnet to complete a six-month internship programme but this time specializing in computer network design and installation. Some of her experience includes the installation of a local area network for Coca-Cola and First City Merchant Bank.

In 2000, Kemisola graduated with a First Class degree (B. Sc. Computer Science and Engineering) and joined Phillips Consulting, an indigenous consulting firm. When asked why she opted for a local firm over an international one, Kemisola replied "Phillips Consulting offered me a rare challenge - the opportunity to be part of a pioneering team to set up a new business unit". She became a member of a three-man team which set up the Information Technology Consulting unit of Phillips Consulting. Her major projects included an Information Technology Audit for the Nigerian Export-Import Bank. Perhaps one of her most outstanding achievements at Phillips was the development of a website evaluation tool - Web-Jurist- which she developed with her team member. Today, Phillips Consulting is well known for its quarterly ratings of Nigerian bank websites using Web-Jurist.

In September 2001, Kemisola joined Accenture as an analyst. She has since worked on a number of strategy, technology and process consulting assignments in the oil and gas industry. Today, she is developing a Knowledge Sharing Initiative for Shell.

Kemisola is not all about work...she is quite passionate about women issues. As her little contribution to improving the lives of African women, she has written some articles which are published on www.theopinion.com She also finds time to volunteer for Junior Achievement of Nigeria.

Her dream is to implement a project which gives less privileged African females hope and courage for the future. She has not yet decided on how best to go about this but she is looking into free counseling sessions as well as free primary education for young girls.

Kemisola is still single for now... but she has someone she is quite involved with.

On her vision for the association: "I am looking forward to the day when we actually start helping each other out through this network and the success stories are absolutely amazing! Also, I dream of the day that the association's name resonates with progress in the lives of Nigerian youths especially females"

Why Simisola Sanni is a profile?

May's Profile is so unique that she was the choice of a number of OGQC93 girls this month. Simisola is indeed an epitome of what the OGQC93 association stands for - Women in Leadership! Even her University's website agrees with this!
 (www.mtholyoke.edu/offices/comm/takethelead/highlights3.shtml). 

During a visit to Nigeria, some years back, Simi was alarmed at the declining educational system in the country. In a bid to save the educational system, she resigned from her job in a No. 1 Investment Banking firm - Goldman Sachs in New York - to return home. Simi set up the Nigerian office of Junior Achievement (a non-profit economic education organisation) with the mission of inspiring and educating young people to understand and value the role of business in their lives and communities. Today, Simi has affected the lives of many young people. She has given them hope...and a future.

"I have been a volunteer in one of Junior Achievement's program and words cannot express what impact the program made on the kids.  These kids were mainly from low-income class homes. The program gave them a new meaning to life: the way they saw the future of Nigeria changed, the way they perceived their future changed and their determination to become leaders of tomorrow strengthened.... " (Kemisola Yusuf)

In the words of Feyi Boroffice (nee Folowosele), "There is ample evidence to suggest that Simi has revolutionalized the Nigerian corporate world's attitude to Community Service and Social Enterprises not to mention her impact on the youth in Nigeria..."

Feyi's views are also supported by Nma Eleazu, "Simi's name resonates in the Nigerian Community over here in the States. Giving up a job at Goldman Sachs is quite a big sacrifice if you ask me, but Simi, so that others back home might have a chance, gave up her job. She has earned my respect without a doubt.."

Simi, on behalf of OGQC93, we say "Keep up the good work and NEVER EVER give up on your dreams. Keep the torch burning!"

About Simisola Sanni

Simi was born on May 5, 1975 and graduated from Queen’s College in 1993 from SS3W.  After QC, she moved to the United States to go Mount Holyoke College, an all-women’s college in Western Massachusetts.  At MHC, she majored in Economics and English and graduated cum laude with High Honors in 1997.  Prior to graduation, she participated in several internships at Essence Magazine, Governor Mario Cuomo’s office (former Governor of NY) and McKinsey & Company.  While at McKinsey, she was courted seriously by Goldman Sachs so upon graduation from MHC, she decided to join the Investment Banking Division of Goldman Sachs.

It was while volunteering as part of a Goldman Sachs Community Teamworks project that Simi was introduced to Junior Achievement (JA).  As an investment banker in the Communications, Media and Entertainment Group, she did not have much time for volunteering, but the practicality of the JA programs in making students aware of the economic implications of day to day activities within their communities appealed greatly to her.  The thought of engaging in fun-filled yet educational activities to explain the economic roles of individuals, families, communities, cities and countries filled her with joy whenever she taught JA programs in public schools in Brooklyn and the Bronx.  When she discovered that Junior Achievement was an international organization, she started her quest to add Nigeria to the list of countries in the JAI member nation family.

In her effort to help Junior Achievement establish an office in Nigeria, Simi visited Lagos in March 1999 after six years in the US.  What she saw broke her heart.  Many previously prestigious schools (including our beloved QC) had deteriorated and the educational system had, to some degree, collapsed.  The universities were not up to par with the rest of the world, and were churning out graduates without the requisite skills to succeed in a global economy.  Simi knew immediately that there was no way she could go back to her comfortable world at Goldman Sachs without trying to do something about the situation.  She had planned to move to London for her third year as a Goldman Sachs Analyst, but, after the visit to Nigeria, she quit her job in July 1999 and moved back home. Now, almost three years later, there are significant triumphs.  JAN was the first NGO in Nigeria to have a private sector Board of Directors and the JAN Board is by far the most formidable with the Managing Directors of the largest companies in Nigeria such as ChevronTexaco, ExxonMobil, Citibank, Schlumberger, Conoco, Andersen, UBA, Cadbury, Coca-Cola and Xerox.  JAN pilot programs reached over 2,000 students in twelve schools in the first year and, by end of 2002, will have reached over 10,000 students in Nigeria.

JAN has developed a volunteer culture among young Nigerian professionals recruited to teach the JA programs at different schools, and are still developing a philanthropic culture in Nigerian companies.  They have also developed special “non-JA” programs designed to meet identified needs of older students in partnership with respected organizations such as the Lagos Business School, Harvard Business School, the British Council and the African Development Foundation.  They are also in discussions with the Chief Economic Adviser to the President and the Federal Ministry of Education on how to incorporate JA programs into the national curriculum. By developing Junior Achievement of Nigeria, Simi hoped to take some of the many opportunities available to students in the United States to Nigeria, and by all indications, the organization is on its way to becoming the most effective non-profit NGO in Nigeria!

Simi is planning to get married to her best friend and longtime boyfriend, Obi Nwogugu, and enroll at Harvard Business School in the fall of 2002.  She gives all glory to God and Jesus Christ for going before her and making all her crooked paths straight.

March Profile: Morayo Dawodu

Why Morayo is a profile?
Many will agree with me that Morayo is one of the keys to the success of our association. Morayo currently leads the UK Chapter but this is not her most outstanding contribution to the QC association. Morayo was key is keeping the group together when we had some rough issues concerning a gossip column that was added to the website. Without Morayo's persistence in encouraging QC babes to move forward and forget the past, this website would have been a part of "Our History". Thanks Mo! We need you to stay strong for us all!

About Morayo Dawodu

Morayo was born 7th May. She graduated form SS3V from QC in 1993.   On leaving QC, she moved back to England where she had grown up and lived practically all her life. She obtained her A' Levels at a college in London called Waltham Forest College.  She then went on to obtain a Business & Finance undergraduate degree from the University of North London.  After that, she went on to complete another degree in Marketing and Law, at the University of East London. During her student life, she had undergone several extra curriculum activities, from being a weekend retail store manager working at Selfridges, to continuing her sporting activities like playing Basketball.  She also played a big role in raising money for an Afro-Caribbean Leukaemia Charity, by organising an event.

On leaving education, she had two jobs.  The first was working for an international media company - World Entertainment News Network, where she was eventually promoted from a marketing executive to being the Marketing and Syndication manager - in charge of making major financial and PR decisions world-wide.  She maintained a close relationship with her team and maintained a handy share of contacts world-wide which included some major players in the media world. She was later headhunted by a multinational IT solutions company, CMG, were she is working now.  Here, she is a Software Analyst Consultant and deals with different clients world-wide. She is  hoping to become a Project Manager before long.  She enjoys working where she is now, as it is extremely challenging and will also assist her in becoming the multinational consultant she intends on being.  She takes part in a number of presentations and public speaking events and is enjoying every minute of it.

She still maintains a close relationship with the pals she made in QC and is ever-so grateful to God for giving her the opportunity to meet such great and beautiful people to call her friends. She intends on returning to Nigeria some time in the future with her family. At the moment, she is preparing herself for a marathon she has chosen to run in order to help raise money for the Breast Cancer Research.  She hopes to organise these kind of fundraising events in Nigeria some time soon and this time, help raise money for the less fortunate over there.  She is very proud to be a major player in what QC93 ladies are doing and would like to thank every single person that has shown some interest one way or the other.

February Profile: Ify Jibunoh
Why Ify is a profile?
When Kemisola sent out her first mails concerning the website she had developed, she got little or no response from QC ladies. According to her, she was quite discouraged considering the long hours she had sacrificed for the first prototype of the website. Ify sent that first mail that made Kemisola believe that she was not alone in her vision for the OGQC '93. Ify's mail was very encouraging and it was in this mail that Kemisola found the strength to be persistent and continue with her work on the website. Indirectly, Ify Jibunoh is the KEY behind the success of this OGQC '93 website. Thank you Ify! This site may never have existed without your email!

About Ify Elizabeth Jibunoh

Ify graduated from SS3W of Queens College Yaba in 1993.  On leaving QC and Nigeria, she moved to England, where she gained her A-levels at a college in Kent called Kent College Pembury. On completion of her A-levels she gained admissions into the University of Bristol, where she studied Law. Ify graduated in 1998 with a 2:1 LLB Honors degree. She then undertook a postgraduate degree in International Business Law in Kings College, London. She graduated from Kings in 1999 with a Merit LLM degree. Whilst at University she was an active member of the Critical Law Society amongst others and engaged in a number of extra-curricular activities (basketball, swimming, table-tennis etc). Her two university degrees equipped her with a plethora of skills both legal & inter-personal.

Upon graduation from Kings College London, she decided to branch away from Law and build upon the business orientated skills she gained during her post-graduate degree. She started working for a management consultancy firm called e-skills UK and specialised in Corporate Finance and Strategic Management. Her major achievement within this organisation was the move from pure Corporate Finance to Strategic Management. In the course of last two years she has gained a number of invaluable skills. She has been involved in key strategic decisions due to the close working relationship she has with the CIO and has succeeded in implementing effective processes. Her core competencies are Financial Analysis and Strategic Management. As a strong believer of Continuo's Professional Development she has attained further qualifications in this area of consultancy (ISEB Foundation and Advanced Course in Programme and Project Support), and it is her intention to do an MBA in the next couple of years.

She plans to move back to Nigeria eventually, where she intends to have a positive impact on the society either economically or academically.