THE FOUNDER
Emmanuel Junior Zakka, founder and Executive Director of Servants for the Needy Foundation, is a Master of Theological Studies candidate – Class of 2025 – (with focus on Religion, Ethics and Politics) at Harvard Divinity School, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. He is also in the Certificate in Religion and Public Life (CRPL – 2025 Cohort) program at the same Harvard school. An alumnus of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, where he bagged a Bachelor of Engineering and Master of Science in agricultural engineering, Zakka is a public affairs analyst with passion for social justice and heart for the less privileged in society and a social media influencer.
Experience
Before he went to Harvard on further studies, he worked as a lecturer at the department of agricultural and bio-environmental engineering technology, Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation, Kaduna. For yeaars, he was a columnist with and associate editor of the Archdiocesan monthly newspaper ‘The Cross News’, a publication of the Catholic Archdiocese of Kaduna, programme coordinator at Catholic Vocational Institute (CVI), Catholic Archdiocese of Kaduna, Nigeria, and onetime Human Resource Manager at the Catholic Social Centre, Kaduna where he doubled as Secretary of the Management Board of the Organization.
Background
Born 44 years ago in Kaduna Nigeria, Zakka lost his dad at age 18 months and was raised by his mum, to whom he owes eternal gratitude and who has continued to inspire his involvement in social justice work. He is a youth leader, motivational speaker, an author of three books: “Food For The Soul: Compass For Sojourners“, “And The SK Dream Wakes Me Up” and “God’s Miraculous Healing Of An Unworthy Servant”. A team player with the ability to work with minimum or no supervision, Zakka has given numerous invited lectures and made presentations at different fora, significantly on issues relating to youth and the family. In his leisure time, he loves to write, read and walk.
