Haslam College of Business - Jaachinma Okafor

Biography

Jaachinma Okafor is a fourth-year Ph.D. candidate in Haslam’s Department of Business Analytics and Statistics. She holds an undergraduate degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from the Federal University of Technology, Owerri, Nigeria. Building on her strong technical foundation, Okafor began her professional journey in cybersecurity, where she developed specialized expertise in identity and access management, data protection and risk management. This unique combination of skills provides a foundation for her current academic focus: leveraging advanced data analytics to promote sustainable and responsible business practices.

Central to Okafor’s research is a profound commitment to generating tangible sustainability impacts that address real-world challenges. Her work focuses on developing innovative renewable energy servicing models that aim to improve access to affordable and reliable clean energy for residential homes in developing countries. One of her key research contributions proposes the concept of “energy as a service” to overcome traditional financial and infrastructural barriers that often limit energy affordability and reliability. This approach was tested using actual energy demand data collected from Nigerian households, demonstrating the feasibility and potential scalability of the model. This pioneering research is currently under revision for publication in the premier Production and Operations Management (POM) journal.

In addition to her work on renewable energy, Okafor explores strategies to incentivize voluntary emission reductions among suppliers. By aligning economic incentives with climate action goals, her research helps organizations design more effective programs that encourage sustainable practices throughout their supply chains. Furthermore, Okafor critically investigates the phenomenon of inclusion washing—the discrepancy between a firm’s publicly communicated commitment to inclusion and employees’ perceived inclusiveness of their workplace. Her research evaluates how such initiatives affect employees within an organization.