Njideka Harry

Harry was born in Ibadan to a Nigerian father and American mother.^[1] When the Biafra war broke out, her father won a scholarship to study in the United States which is where he met and married her mother.^[2] She earned her Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance and Economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.^[2][3] After graduating, she began working for General Electric, and lived/worked in Europe and in the U.S. ^[2] Harry left GE and began a career at Microsoft, where she founded YTF in 2000.^[2] It is a nonprofit that uses technology to improve the lives of young people and women in developing countries.^[4] Harry is particularly worried about the state of education in Africa as the system is not just broken, but obsolete. She envisions technology as an enabler.^[5][6]

Harry founded Youth for Technology Foundation in 2001, funded by the Nigerian Government Community Investment Fund and Microsoft Community Affairs Program.^[2] She began a Reuters Digital Vision Fellowship at Stanford University in 2004. She worked alongside Megan Smith.^[2] Harry was invited to join the Board of the Community Technology Centers Network, where she would meet her mentors Don Samuelson and Stephen Ronan.^[2] She earned a Master of Business Administration at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.^[2][7] She was inspired by fellow MBA classmates to extend the YTF to Colombia.^[2] YTF Academy teaches youth and women to use technology in education and entrepreneurship.^[2] In 2007, YTF began working in the technology and entrepreneurship space when the organization partnered with the United Nations Development Programme to launch a program to train women entrepreneurs in the Niger Delta in Nigeria.^[2]

In 2011, she was nominated into the Ashoka Fellowship as an Ashoka Fellow, making her part of a growing network of African changemakers recognized by Ashoka, including Omowumi Ogunrotimi, Oreoluwa Lesi, Ngozi Iwere, and Princess Olufemi-Kayode.^{[8][9][10][11][12]} She launched the Women Entrepreneurs and Mobile Value Added Services program in 2012, which provides funding, training, and networking opportunities to thousands of young women,^[2] The program is supported by Mastercard.^[2] She partnered with the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women in 2013.^[13]

Harry is keen on 3D printing.^[14] She launched 3D Africa, an educational program that provides training for unemployed African engineers, in 2015.^[15] The engineers learn skills in computer-aided design, robotics, IoT, programming and entrepreneurship.^[16] The program has been funded by GE, Makerbot, Autodesk and WeTech (Women Enhancing Technology).^[17] Recognizing that girls were reluctant to commit to the after school clubs, Harry launched "3D Africa for Girls" to teach girls human centered design and production.^[18] The Clinton Global Initiative selected YTF as a commitment partner (Clinton Foundation) in 2016 to launch an initiative providing training to 6,000 girls who are out-of-school in Nigeria.^[19] YTF is collaborating with schools in Nigeria and Kenya to develop physical and virtual maker spaces that allow young entrepreneurs to prototype their ideas.^[20]

Harry is on the advisory board of the council for Women of West Africa and Entrepreneurship and Promoting Readiness in Science and Math.^{[21][22][23][24]} She is a World Economic Forum Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship Fellow.^{[13][20][25][26][27]}