FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 18, 2019

Segun Fatudimu Announced as New Obama Foundation Scholar

Today, the Obama Foundation announced that Segun Fatudimu is among its second cohort of Obama Foundation Scholars, 32 rising leaders from around the world who will study at the University of Chicago and Columbia University for the 2019-2020 academic year.

Segun Fatudimu is the Director and Founder of the Sozo Networks, a youth-led non-profit organization that trains and empowers young Nigerians through experiential trainings, volunteering opportunities, and local and international connections and hands-on experiences. These programs have reached more than 750 young Nigerians who have gone on to win and implement local and international grants worth over $500,000. Through their local level work and leadership on diverse development projects, these program alumni are transforming Nigeria’s socio-economic landscape. The organization convenes the SAFE (Securing Africa’s Future through Education) Project that bridges the gap in the nation’s education system by offering mentorship and unconventional education that allows youths below the age of 20 to develop essential skills that are required for leadership in the 21st-century society and workspace. The project fills the gap in the academic curriculum used by most schools in the Nigerian education system. It uses unconventional approaches to equip learners with leadership, life and employability skills required in the future workspaces and for innovative entrepreneurship and has served over 6000 secondary school students across 4 states.

In service of the Foundation’s efforts to support the next generation of global leaders, the Obama Foundation Scholars program partners with UChicago and Columbia to combine academic learnings with one-of-a-kind experiences led by the Obama Foundation. The program’s aim is to empower emerging leaders with a proven commitment to service with the tools they need to make their efforts more effective and impactful upon their return home.

“The inaugural class of Scholars emerged more energized and capable of creating lasting change in their communities,” said Obama Foundation CEO David Simas. “They are one of the backbones of the Obama Foundation’s global ecosystem of young leaders, and we are inspired by the connections they have made and the work they will go on to do. We are eager to grow this international network of change makers with our second cohort of Scholars.”

The 20 Obama Foundation Scholars at the University of Chicago will earn a Master of Arts degree focused on International Development and Policy at the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy. Outside the classroom, the UChicago Scholars will have the chance to participate in experiences throughout Chicago, including on the South Side where the Foundation is located and where President Obama got his start in community organizing. By engaging with the local community, students will have the opportunity to complement what they learn in the classroom and also to share and exchange perspectives on service and change with local Chicago leaders.]

The Obama Foundation Scholars program was launched in 2018. The inaugural class of Scholars recently graduated, having studied a core graduate curriculum supplemented with Obama Foundation sponsored leadership programming. Each Scholar developed, with the guidance of the Obama Foundation, an action plan and approach that they are now taking back to their home regions to scale up their work and reinvest in their communities.

To learn more about the Obama Foundation Scholars program and the 2019-2020 cohort, please visit obama.org/scholars.

To learn more about Sozo Networks, click www.sozo.com.ng.