When he was only 14, Ugochukwu Achara ’24 moved from his home country of Nigeria to the United States with two goals in mind: to accelerate his education and to play soccer.
He attended private school for a year before finishing his high school diploma at Berkshire School in Massachusetts. From there, he came to Northwestern to study learning and organizational change and play soccer. Two years in, he transferred to the University of Louisville to focus more on athletics while also completing a BS in Communication.
After earning his bachelor’s degree, Achara continued right on to graduate school, returning to Northwestern once again—this time to enroll in the MS in Leadership for Creative Enterprises (MSLCE) program.
“I still had eligibility after I graduated from Louisville, so I reached out to Coach Russell Payne here since I was eager to return to Northwestern,” explains Achara. “We had a conversation about the possibility of me returning to play soccer. I was excited not only about that opportunity, but also about being closer to family I have in Evanston.”
In order to return as a student-athlete, however, he had to find an academic program that aligned with his interests off the field.
“In case things don’t work out in terms of playing soccer professionally, I want to have a plan beyond athletics,” he says. “For me, that plan is MSLCE. I’ve always had a passion for the creative side of things—especially music—and it’s been the perfect way to learn more about what happens behind the scenes to make these things come to life and create the final result.”
Joining a cohort full of creatives has only added to the experience. While some of his peers have years of work under their belts, others have never worked in a creative industry before. A handful of students enter the program knowing exactly what they wanted to pursue—whether it’s museum exhibits, theater, or something else—and others, like Achara, are ready to try new things
“Learning alongside this mix of students ended up working out great for me,” he explains. “They became not only people I could learn from, but also friendships I could rely on. Conversations naturally shift from the work we do in class to the work my classmates do professionally and work they’ve done in real life.”
He says these discussions hold his attention straight through even the longest courses, with creativity and business fused into every conversation.
For example, in Clinical Assistant Professor Allison Henry’s Business Models course, one of the most valuable lessons he learned was about different types of business models, when they work, and when it may be time to pivot toward a new approach—accompanied by real company stories and what some students have seen play out in their own workplaces.
In Entrepreneurship in the Creative Industries, Achara had the opportunity to create the solution to a problem from scratch, along with deciding how the solution should be communicated in order to appeal to stakeholders, including potential investors.
“We’ve also learned about frameworks to analyze businesses,” he explains, “and how critical every strategic decision is, no matter how minute it might seem.”
Another lesson that resonated with Achara was a discussion and paper about the shift in athletics as professional athletes leverage their skills and brands to turn themselves into businesses.
All the while, he continues to play soccer at Northwestern as part of the Big Ten Conference, recently earning Second Team All-Big Ten Accolades and Third Team All-Region honors during his final season of collegiate soccer.
No matter where his soccer career takes him, however, Achara says he plans to pursue a career in the creative industries—specifically within creative consulting.
“With the problem-solving skills I’ve built through the MSLCE program, I’ll be able to apply my capabilities to help different clients,” he says, “whether they’re in music, film, fashion, or another creative industry.”
Six technical skills the MSLCE program helped Ugochukwu Achara build:
- Conducting SWOT/TOWS analyses
- Identifying and analyzing competitors using Porter’s Five Forces
- Establishing business value using Porter’s Value Chain
- Reading and analyzing financial statements
- Creating business plans
- Defining and communicating business ideas using the Business Model Canvas
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