Stories
Stories
Solving Nigeria’s Skilled Workforce Challenge
Misan Rewane (MBA 2013) had an ambitious goal in cofounding WAVE Academy, an innovative vocational education program that connects its graduates with entry-level jobs within six to eight weeks of completing the program.
“We are trying to rewire the entire education and employment systems,” says Rewane, a native of Lagos, Nigeria.
In its first three years, WAVE has helped more than 1,000 students. Rewane, who was recently named a Social Impact Fellow by Gerson Lehrman Group Inc., expects to train 25,000 people by 2019.
Her determination for the project began in earnest at HBS, where she met her WAVE cofounders, Karan Chopra and Bryan Mezue. The three shared the experience of having grown up in Africa and the desire to help solve youth unemployment. Another classmate, Navid Rahimi, joined the team along with two classmates from an HGSE course on entrepreneurship in education. In all, their combined creative synergy made the team a runner-up in the 2013 Social Enterprise Initiative new venture competition.
“It’s tough, and sometimes I feel like I’m building a cathedral that could take hundreds of years,” Rewane says. “But there is happiness in the daily pursuit of making a difference.”
(Published September 2017)
Support the next generation of leaders Make a gift nowPost a Comment
Related Stories
-
- 31 Mar 2023
- Skydeck
How Can We Solve the Teacher Shortage Crisis?
Re: Mallory Dwinal (MBA 2015) -
- 22 Feb 2022
- HBS Alumni Bulletin
Vision: Learning Curve
Re: Azeez Gupta (MBA 2019); Ashish Dhawan (MBA 1997); Sid Yog (MBA 2004); By: Alexander Gelfand -
- 17 Feb 2022
- New York Times
A Big Bet
Re: Tracy Palandjian (MBA 1997); Gerald Chertavian (MBA 1992) -
- 10 Aug 2021
- Making A Difference
Moving Education Within Reach
Stories Featuring Misan Rewane
-
- 22 Feb 2022
- HBS Alumni Bulletin
Launch Codes
Re: Misan Rewane (MBA 2013); Gina Pak (MBA 2015); Allison Campbell (MBA 2018); Ben Dupont (PLDA 20); Sidhant Jena (MBA 2011); Steve Papa (MBA 1999); By: Dan Morrell; illustrations by Alvaro Dominguez -
- 13 Apr 2017
- HBS Alumni News
Solving Nigeria’s Skilled Workforce Challenge
Re: Misan Rewane (MBA 2013); Navid Rahimi (MBA 2013); Karan Chopra (MBA 2013); Bryan Mezue (MBA 2013); Jemine Rewane (MBA 2009); Kathleen L. McGinn (Cahners-Rabb Professor of Business Administration); By: Jill Radsken -
- 11 Jan 2015
- CP-Africa
Be Like Misan Rewane and Move Back to Nigeria to Positively Impact the Lives of Others
Re: Misan Rewane (MBA 2013)