Dr. Akinwumi A. Adesina, born in 1960, is the President of the African Development Bank Group, widely recognized as “Africa’s Optimist-in-Chief” for his visionary leadership and dedication to Africa’s transformation.

Dr. Adesina graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Economics (First Class Honours) from the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University), Nigeria, in 1981. He continued his academic journey with a master’s degree (1985) and a PhD in Agricultural Economics (1988) from Purdue University, USA, where he received the Outstanding PhD thesis award.

His career highlights include serving as Nigeria’s Minister of Agriculture from 2011 to 2015, where he implemented groundbreaking reforms. Notably, he eradicated 40 years of corruption in Nigeria’s fertilizer sector by introducing an innovative electronic wallet system.

This system provided subsidized farm inputs directly to farmers via mobile phones, benefiting 15 million farmers within the first four years of its launch.

Under Dr. Adesina’s leadership, the African Development Bank Group achieved its highest-ever capital increase, raising general capital from $93 billion to $208 billion in October 2019. In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, the bank launched a $3 billion Covid-19 Social Bond and established a $10 billion Crisis Response Facility.

Dr. Adesina’s contributions have been widely acclaimed, including receiving the World Food Prize in 2017 and being named African of the Year 2019 by the African Leadership Magazine. He was also honored with the 2020 Distinguished Fellowship Award by the West African Institute of Public Health for his efforts in mitigating the pandemic’s impact in Africa.

In recognition of his global leadership in agriculture, food security, development finance, and good governance, Dr. Adesina was conferred an Honorary Doctorate by the Federal University of Technology in Nigeria in February 2022.

Congratulations!!