Nnenna Uboma: Nurturing Problem-solving Skills among Children, Professionals

Nnenna Uboma, the Chief Strategic Officer (CSO) of Beyond Math, is one amazon whose watchwords are resilience, consistency and being intentional. While she continues to steer the Canada-based initiative, Beyond Math, with her teenage children, Jasmine and Jami, the CSO is helping kids to develop and retain in-depth analytical, complex problem-solving skills required to succeed and other professionals attain excellence.  

Uboma is an Analytics Senior leader with over two decades of experience leading high-performing analytical teams to develop industry-edge solutions in one of the leading financial institutions in Canada. Her quest to nurture high school children in leadership and entrepreneurship skills is limitless. She has tutored and coached analytical professionals over the past decade, a passion that has made her a sought-after speaker at different conferences across the globe and earned her local and global accolades including her recent recognition as one of the 100 Accomplished Black Canadian Women. 

Childhood Influence

As the daughter of a successful lawyer, A.T Udechukwu, Uboma recounted how her father wanted her to be a lawyer because he thought she could put her perspectives rightly on the table. “He marvelled at my ability to ideate quickly,” the CSO said. “I did not pursue the law profession, as I wanted a STEM career. However, my childhood, which included visiting many legal courtrooms, enhanced my logical thinking, which I find very beneficial as a data analytics professional.

Today, Uboma calls herself a data solicitor. “I present my perspectives in a business courtroom instead of a legal courtroom. From my perspective, I am living the childhood dream of my father as a (data) solicitor.

Inspiration Behind Beyond Math
During COVID-19, “We were locked down at home and I wanted something worthwhile that will keep us all motivated at home. Beyond Math was birthed by my daughter Jasmine Uboma who is a second-year student”, she narrated.

According to her, Beyond Math kept her and her two teenage children, Jasmine and Jami, connected during COVID-19. Adding to it, “Three of us authored Beyond Math workbooks. I led the project and managed through the cycle to ensure it got birthed. Math was something we had in common.”

My Role As A Senior Analytics Leader

Uboma works in one of the leading financial institutions in Canada as a director. It has been a journey in the analytics field; a career she pivoted into when she arrived in Canada. Pleasantly, she reminisced about how far she has come. “I remember analysing the job listing on indeed.ca at the time and noticed SAS being mentioned in many of the analyst roles. Building a career in analytics involves knowing how to code in tools like SQL and use visualisation tools like PowerBI.”

Just like every field has its peculiar hitches, the Beyond Math CSO admits that the technology field is always evolving, and new applications are introduced into the market continuously. “I built a niche for myself in Business IT as a Business Data Analyst, which simply identifies me as an end user and removes the burden of learning the configuration of every new tool in the market. It is a very stable career path.”

On why she made her daughter CEO of the initiative, Uboma noted, “Yes, Jasmine Uboma is the CEO of Beyond Math. I am only playing the role of a mother and nurturing what you see or do not see is one great role of mothers. I see the best in people and with the methodology of ‘make-believe,’ we achieve a lot.

“Jasmine is a very shy lady and introvert by personality, but I think I have succeeded in making her the talk of the town. She recently got appointed as the Executive Director of External Affairs for Women in STEM, Western Ontario. She is one to watch out for.”

From the production of Beyondmath, Uboma believes that kids need a role model and mentor, as they take on challenging tasks, such as being a kidpreneur. One thing I did at the time Beyondmath was being authored was to roll my sleeves and carry the blocks as well.

Jasmine and Jami authored the 256 pages of Beyondmath while I did the editing and publishing as well as marketing. We raised over $5000 from Kickstarter pre-launch. They could see my real involvement and not just dishing out tasks. This kept the motivation going; kids playing at their level made a great difference.

Creating Room for Women in the Community

Uboma has participated in many immigrant platforms in Canada. She has also volunteered as a guest speaker or panellist at many community functions. “I have also mentored many young women like Jasmine, who are playing in their respective careers today. It’s been very fulfilling seeing my mentees grow. I also support immigrants who want to play in any data field with coaching and mentoring.”

Meanwhile, the CSO has doubts about the curriculum. “I think that the classroom does not represent today’s digital environment. Students have still been taught with a curriculum developed many decades ago. I think that subjects like quantitative reasoning should be introduced early to kids which is one of the reasons I love Beyondmath workbooks.”

Indeed, Uboma sees herself as a woman of rubies. “I see myself as a role model for my younger self. I have had a rough journey in which one comes to the heart being told in my early career that I could not climb the professional ladder, because of my Igbo accent. It was hurtful, but at the same time great motivation to be my better self. My story is an inspiration to many like me as they try to navigate corporate Canada.”