She’s the first woman and the first African to serve as Director-General.
The economist and international development expert has worked in and around Asia, Africa, Europe, Latin America and North America for over 30 years.
After serving twice as Nigeria's Finance Minister, the first woman to hold that position, she spent 25 years at the World Bank rising to the No. 2 position.
Reports indicate that she believes that trade is capable of lifting developing countries out of poverty and providing them with robust economic growth.
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.
Okonjo-Iweala is renowned as the first female and African candidate to contest for the presidency of the World Bank Group in 2012, backed by Africa and major developing countries in the first truly contestable race for the world's highest development finance post.
For four years in a row, Okonjo-Iweala has been recognized by Fortune as one of the 50 Greatest World Leaders (2015) and by Forbes as one of the Top 100 Most Powerful Women in the World.
She holds a Bachelor’s in Economics from Harvard University and a PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
In 2020 Dr Okonjo-Iweala was named Forbes African of the Year and the following year she received a Global Leadership Award from the United Nations Foundation as a ‘Champion for Global Change’.
Okonjo-Iweala is currently also Chair of the Board of the African Union's African Risk Capacity (ARC), an innovative weather-based insurance mechanism for African countries, and co-chair of the Global Commission on the Economy and Climate with Lord Nicholas Stern and Mr Paul Polman.
In addition to all these positions, she is Chair of the Board of the Nelson Mandela Institution, an umbrella body for the African Institutes of Science and Technology, and Chair of the Board of the African University of Science and Technology, Abuja.
Furthermore, Okonjo-Iweala is formerly Chair of the Board of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance and was previously on the Boards of Standard Chartered PLC and Twitter Inc.
She was appointed as African Union (AU) Special Envoy to mobilise international financial support for the fight against COVID-19 and WHO Special Envoy for Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator.
Known to the government as an effective consensus builder and an honest broker, she has negotiated numerous agreements that have produced win-win results.
As a development economist and Finance Minister, Okonjo-Iweala steered her country through various reforms ranging from macroeconomics to trade, financial and real sector issues.
Previously, she served as Senior Advisor at Lazard and sat on the Boards of Standard Chartered PLC and Twitter Inc. Dr Okonjo-Iweala was appointed as an AU COVID-19 Special Envoy and WHO COVID-19 Special Envoy.
Dr Okonjo-Iweala has been listed as one of the world's most influential leaders.
This week, Channel Africa salutes Dr Okonjo-Iweala as an extraordinary African who has been a champion of change.
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