It’s Women’s History Month

Today we spotlight Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as one of the great women in Nigeria.

Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is a Nigerian-American economist and international development expert who has served since March 1, 2021 as Director-General of the World Trade Organization.

Notably, she is the first woman and first African to lead the World Trade Organization as Director-General.

Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is a firm believer in the power of trade to lift developing countries out of poverty and assist them to achieve robust economic growth and sustainable development. As Finance Minister, she was involved in trade negotiations with other West African countries and contributed to the overhaul of Nigeria’s trade policy enabling it to enhance its competitiveness. She has closely followed developments at the WTO, as she believes that a strengthened multilateral trading system is in the interests of all countries, particularly least developed and African countries.

Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala sits on boards of: Danone, Standard Chartered Bank, Twitter, MINDS: Mandela Institute for Development Studies, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security, One Campaign, GAVI: Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization, Rockefeller Foundation, R4D: Results for Development, ARC: African Risk Capacity and Earthshot Prize plus others.

Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has also been listed among 73 “brilliant” business influencers in the world by Condé Nast International.