His Excellency Dr. Akinwumi A. Adesina
President, African Development Bank Group
Akinwumi A. Adesina is the 8th elected President of the African Development Bank Group. A distinguished development economist and agricultural development expert with 25 years of international experience, Adesina served as Nigeria’s Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development from 2011 to 2015, during which time he implemented bold policy reforms in the fertilizer sector and pursued innovative agricultural investment programs to expand opportunities for the private sector.
Adesina’s past leadership positions and experience include: Vice-President (Policy and Partnerships) of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA); Associate Director (Food Security) at the Rockefeller Foundation; Principal Economist and Social Science Research Coordinator for the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA); Principal Economist and Coordinator of the West Africa Rice Economics Task Force at the West Africa Rice Development Association (WARDA); and an Assistant Principal Economist at the International Crop Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT).
Adesina has received a number of global awards for his leadership and work in agriculture. In 2010, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon appointed him as one of 17 global leaders to spearhead the Millennium Development Goals, along with Bill Gates, the Spanish Prime Minister and the President of Rwanda. He was named Person of the Year by Forbes Africa magazine in 2013.