Ibiye Harry
Director of Innovation and Impact Measurement
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Clara Chow’s part in the YouthBank story began when she was a college student volunteering at a Toronto-based social entrepreneurship program. There she met a former street youth turned social worker from Nigeria. He dreamt of opening a microfinance bank for street youth. Clara researched microfinance, economic development, and youth training alongside her college business classes and came to believe that a traditional microfinance model would not be as effective with urban youth as it had been with rural women. In her last year of college, she pulled a team of Penn students together to develop a better model to equip youth to earn sustainable incomes and drive local economic development.
Since then, she has built and worked with YB teams and team members in Nigeria, the US, Canada, the UK, and Singapore to develop YouthBank's innovative 'community hub' model. She built a strong international team and a diverse network of supporters at universities, corporations, and the nonprofit community. Clara was elected to her current position of President and CEO of YouthBank in 2009 shortly before leading the 2009 launch of YouthBank's first site in the Surulere district of Lagos, the world's fastest-growing megacity.
Clara is currently a project manager at the New York City Economic Development Corporation, a position offered through the McKinsey Nonprofit Corps. Previously, she was a Business Analyst at the Washington, DC office of McKinsey & Company, where she has served private equity, retail, government, and health care clients in Europe and North America. She has held fellowships at the StartingBloc Institute for Social Innovation, the Institute for International Public Policy, and the Humanity In Action human rights program in Amsterdam. She has also served as a student executive at the United Way of Greater Toronto and the Toronto Youth Cabinet, a board member of the Canadian International Peace Project, and an equity research associate at an investment bank in New York. She studied at the
University of Pennsylvania and Sciences Po Paris.
Lily Rubin's part in the YouthBank story started when she met Clara Chow working at McKinsey & Co.. "I knew the moment Clara started talking about her vision for Youtbank that this was an opportunity to create real and lasting impact, and I immediately raised my hand to help in any way I could". That turned into an unwavering partnership, since that first meeting Lily has worked with Clara to build a network of support for YouthBank, to build Youtbank's board, and to fine tune Youthbank's approach to scaling up. She was also a member of the 2009 launch team for YouthBank's first site in the Surelere district of Lagos, Nigeria.
Outside of YouthBank, Lily is an Independent Consultant currently serving the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Previously, she was with McKinsey & Co. for over four years working in the Social Sector Office, where she focused on economic development strategy. Lily developed proprietary knowledge, conducted rigorous research and analysis and served clients on topics ranging from low-carbon economic development planning to catalyzing rapid job growth in fragile states to improving access for small-holder farmers to improving the effectiveness of development aid at multi-lateral agencies. She also is also involved with local Washington D.C. non-profits and after school programs where she focuses on creating opportunities for children from lower-income areas. Lily studied political economy and international economics as an undergraduate at both Tulane University and the Universtiy of Cambridge, she also holds a M.A. in International Commerce and Policy.
Kristin Hall is a junior in the Huntsman Program in International Studies and Business, pursuing a double major in International Studies and Finance, with minors in African Studies and Mathematics. A University Scholar and a Joseph Wharton Scholar, Kristin has embarked wholeheartedly on the quest for knowledge. As a former semifinalist in the Intel Science Talent Search Competition Kristin spent three years investigating methods for single-cell cancer detection. As a recent intern for Botswana’s International Financial Services Centre, Kristin investigated the effects of HIV/AIDS on the growth of Botswana’s financial services sector. After working in Botswana she was subsequently recruited to join a team of four Penn students to work with the Grassroots Business Fund. She worked with the GBFund’s Tanzanian client, SELFINA, to develop a poverty assessment tool, which SELFINA uses to monitor its clients’ progress out of poverty. Kristin is also an active student ambassador and representative to the Wharton Dean’s Undergraduate Advisory Board, where she has played a pivotal role in raising the administration’s awareness of issues related to academic integrity as well as developing programming for international students struggling with classroom participation.
Kristin first became involved with YouthBank after meeting Alex Yen. She was attracted by the ingenuity of the concept. The Penn students she first met on the YB team were not just talking in theoretical terms. They were talking about actually implementing this project. This was an entirely new level of challenge that she was excited to tackle. Since her involvement began in January 2009, Kristin has helped to write grant proposals and design the revenue accounting systems used at the Lagos site. Kristin was also one of the six team members that traveled to Lagos in Summer 2009 to aid in recruiting and training of the fellows. She believes that YouthBank stands apart from other organizations because it “comprehensively and seamlessly integrates all: mentorship, training, and entrepreneurship.” Moreover, "YouthBank is entirely youth-oriented" To Kristin, this is the most interesting aspect of the model. "Very few microfinance-based organizations have dared to invest in the youth, but this is the population best suited to generate sustainable change. YouthBank doesn't merely acknowledge this idea, it embraces it" She is very excited to be a member of the YouthBank team and is excited to continue working on making YouthBank’s innovative model a reality.
Hailing from the tiny island of Singapore, Haresh Tilani spent the past four years 10000 miles away from home pursuing an education at the University of Pennsylvania. In May 2009, he successfully graduated with a BSE in Mechanical Engineering and a BSE in Economics. However, while his academic experience was priceless, the same can be said about his overall experience studying abroad. During his time at Penn, he realized his passion for sustainable development and social enterprise, which was fueled even further by his love for traveling and adventure. This led him to participate in a number of projects around the world during the past four years, with the most notable projects being in Honduras, Cameroon, South Africa, Swaziland, India, Nepal and currently, Nigeria, with YouthBank.
Why YouthBank?
From his experience, Haresh has seen many instances and examples of what he would like to refer to as ‘ineffective charity’, where resources are simply heaped on individuals that are deemed to be in need it. Unfortunately, while the intentions are genuine, the lack of continued support and individual empowerment often led to unfavorable results.
Thus, Haresh is now a firm advocate of ‘helping others help themselves’, which is one of the core ethoses of YouthBank. This is one of the many reasons why Haresh has become and continues to be involved in the organization, even after returning to Singapore, where he currently resides.
Haresh prior independent research on the entrepreneurial education in developing countries helped him develop the curriculum that was utilized during the training phase of the pilot project in Lagos, Nigeria. With the pilot project underway, Haresh feels even more committed to the organization, and is keen to work with the current Fellows and trainers to ensure that the project achieves its targeted success.
 Joyce Meng graduated from the Huntsman Program of International Studies and Business at the University of Pennsylvania in 2008, majoring in international studies and finance. She is currently in the MSc Economics for Development Program at Oxford under the Rhodes Scholarship. Joyce has a variety of international experiences, including work as a Client Assessment Research Fellow with FINCA International in Mexico, Fundacion Nantik Lum in Madrid, World Bank in Washington DC, Goldman Sachs in New York City, Credit Suisse in Hong Kong, and Taishin International Bank in Taipei. Joyce Meng is also the CEO and Founder of Givology (www.givology.org), an online giving marketplace for education. Since launching in September 2008, Givology has raised over $25,000 for student scholarships and grassroots education projects in five countries.
Ibiye Harry is a Nigerian who mainly grew up in the Washington D.C. area and Harare, Zimbabwe. She graduated from The Wharton School within the University of Pennsylvania with a B.S. in Economics, concentrating in Business and Public Policy. She also completed a minor in African Studies through the College of Arts and Sciences at Penn. Ibiye’s internship experiences include social entrepreneurship as well as an independent research project she conducted in France on the economic benefits of immigration. More recently, Ibiye has worked as an investment banking analyst and she currently works as an associate at the World Economic Forum focused on Emerging Markets Finance.
Ibiye was first introduced to Youthbank by her classmate and Youthbank International CEO, Clara Chow. Ibiye serves as the Innovation team Director, managing Youthbank’s efforts to evaluate its social impact on its Fellows and their broader communities, as well as overseeing the organization’s special initiatives in the areas of scaling and identification of best practices. During Youthbank’s pre-launch phase, Ibiye conducted interviews in Nigeria on the usage of photography and recording studios by young people. She was also responsible for preparing Youthbank’s Accreditation materials that were presented to potential donors.
“I continue to be most excited by the element of youth empowerment that is central to the Youthbank model. Through the provision of capital and the nurturing of business acumen, I believe we address two of the major bottlenecks that often face young entrepreneurs of disadvantaged backgrounds. I also find it inspiring that Youthbank’s leadership consists of many young people. Youth mobilizing to help one another is the spirit of our organization and this is reflected throughout our structure. In the future, my hope would be for Youthbank to be scaled internationally and to include one center located in an urban area within the U.S.”
Victor Gotevbe is a visionary social organizer, leading a network of young Nigerian professionals both in Nigeria and abroad. He holds a degree in philosophy and a professional certificate in Public Relations. He is an Associate member of the Nigerian Institute of Management, and works as the Personnel Officer of Vanguard Media Limited. He also acts a consultant to small and medium scale businesses and NGOs in Nigeria.
He has a very strong passion to serve humanity wholeheartedly and selflessly. He established the Apapa Golden Leo Club (Youth Activity of International Association of Lions Clubs, district 404 Nigeria) located in an area that is often regarded and misconstrued as the ghetto (Olodi Apapa-Ajegunle). As the founder and president of the club, Victor has organized numerous projects and events. For example, the Leo Club collaborated with the Nigeria Red Cross Society on holding an event on HIV/AIDS in Nigeria on March 28, 2003, in which over 120 people attended, including the Society For Family Health (SFH), Nigeria Red Cross Society, United Nations, and Catholic Archdiocese of Lagos. Victor also served as the Assistant Secretary of Police Community Relations Committee (Trinity Division, Lagos).
He has attended several events locally and internationally, including the 7th Annual African Business Conference organized by the African Business Club of Havard Business School. In 2006, he was nominated by a trusted African partner of Freedom House to recommend young, motivated individuals for a rigorous, long-term training programme on Leadership, Ethics and Rule of Law in Mombassa, Kenya.
He has also serves as a trainer and facilitator to many local and international events on leadership, Democracy, Entrepreneurship, Personal effectiveness and Public Relations. Recognized as a young leader of Nigeria, he has been invited to workshops on the Millennium Development Goals with the Nigerian National Assembly, organized by the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs. He was a rapporteur of the National HIV/Aids Summit organized by National Agency for the Control of Aids (NACA). He recently facilitated a National Endowment for Democracy (NED) funded workshop in Ibadan, and was awarded a Leadership and Role Model Prize by Ladoke Akintola University of Technology of Ogbomosho, Oyo State for serving as a guest speaker at their first annual Business Summit of all graduating students.
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