Nwamaka Chidera Ogbonna is a Dphil candidate in International Development at Lady Margaret Hall, University of Oxford. Her research focuses on understanding the nature of learning, innovation and technological capability development within technology clusters and Special Economic Zones (SEZs) in Nigeria.

She holds an Mphil in Development Studies from the University of Oxford; a Master’s in Development Management from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics (First class honours) from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Ghana. She has also completed an executive programme on Public Policy, Design Thinking and Leadership at the University of Cambridge.

Prior to Oxford, she worked at the Tony Elumelu Foundation, Nigeria where she led the Monitoring and Evaluation of the $100 million Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship programme. She also worked with the partnerships team of the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC), New York. She currently works as a Researcher and Communications Officer at the Oxford Technology and Management Centre for Development (TMCD).

Nwamaka is a writer, providing commentary on contemporary economic and political issues in Africa and has been featured on reputable platforms such as Stears Business and the Africa at LSE blog. She has also spoken on several global platforms including the 2017 British Council Going Global Conference, held in Malaysia where she addressed an audience of over 1,000 education leaders from across 50 countries.

In 2017, she was identified by the British Council as one of the top 50 emerging global policy leader. She also served as the 2019/2020 President of the Oxford Africa Society.