Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is a Nigerian-American economist and international development expert. She sits on the Boards of Standard Chartered Bank, Twitter, Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI), and the African Risk Capacity (ARC).
| Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Ngozi Okonjo June 13, 1954 Nigeria |
| Residence | United States |
| Education | Harvard University |
| Alma mater | Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) |
| Occupation | Development Economist |
| Employer | World Trade Organisation (WTO) |
| Known for | Being the first woman to be Nigeria's minister of Finance and Foreign Affairs |
| Spouse(s) | Ikemba Iweala |
| Children | Onyinye Iweala and three sons, Uzodinma Iweala, Okechukwu Iweala and Uchechi Iweala |
Background
Born in Nigeria on 13 June 1954 and she is married to Ikemba Iweala, a neurosurgeon. They have four children - one daughter, Onyinye Iweala (AB, MD, PhD, Harvard) and three sons, Uzodinma Iweala (AB, Harvard, MD, Columbia), Okechukwu Iweala (AB, Harvard) and Uchechi Iweala (AB, MD, MBA, Harvard)
Okonjo-Iweala is a development economist by training graduated from Harvard University in 1976 (A.B. in Economics) and then earned a PhD in Regional Economics and Development from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). She then became the first woman to take on the Nigerian finance ministry and the foreign ministry too. She was also the first female to run for the World Bank presidency, where she spent 25 years.
She is the author of numerous articles and several books, including Reforming the UnReformable: Lessons from Nigeria (MIT Press, 2012), and The Debt Trap in Nigeria: Towards a Sustainable Debt Strategy (Africa World Press, 2003).
Career
Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is Chair of the Board of Gavi, the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation. She is also Senior Adviser at Lazard, one of the world’s premier financial advisory and asset management firms.
Previously, Dr Okonjo-Iweala served twice as Nigeria’s Finance Minister, from 2003-2006, 2011-2015, and briefly Foreign Minister in 2006, the first woman to hold both positions. She spent a 25-year career at the World Bank as a development economist, rising to the No. 2 position of Managing Director, responsible for an $81 billion operational portfolio including Europe and Central Asia, South Asia, and Africa (2007-2011).
Dr Okonjo-Iweala Chairs 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 Commission on the New Climate Economy with Lord Nicolas Stern and Paul Polman. In addition, she is a member of numerous boards and advisory groups, including the Rockefeller Foundation, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, Harvard University, the Oxford University Martin School Advisory Council, Mercy Corps, Women’s World Banking, the World Economic Forum Young Global Leaders Foundation, the International Commission on Financing Global Education (Chaired by Gordon Brown), among others.
Helping Nigeria's Economic Turnaround
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala helped Nigeria's economy, the largest in Africa, grow an average of 6% (per annum) over three years when she was the minister of finance. She was credited with developing reform programs that helped improve governmental transparency and stabilizing the economy. Okonjo-Iweala was the first woman to be the finance minister and the foreign minister of the West African country with a GDP of $502 billion.[1]
World Trade Organisation Appointment
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was appointed the new chief of the World Trade Organization on 15 February 2020, becoming the first woman to ever lead the Switzerland-based institution and the first African citizen to take on the role. However, this is not the first time that Okonjo-Iweala makes history.
In October 2020, her WTO candidacy was supported by all geographic regions at the trade body apart from the United States, where the then-Trump administration said it would continue backing the Korean candidate. However, Okonjo-Iweala’s appointment was cleared when President Joe Biden announced a few days ago his support for the 66-year old.
On facing challenges
Okonjo-Iweala said she can take hardship, having experienced Nigeria’s brutal civil war during her teenage years, during which her family reportedly lost all their savings.
“I can take hardship. I can sleep on the cold floor anytime,” she told the BBC in an interview in 2012.
When serving as Nigeria’s finance minister, kidnappers demanded Okonjo-Iweala resign after taking her mother hostage. She refused to comply and they ended up releasing her mother a few days later, the BBC reported.
She has also been involved in the fight against the Coronavirus pandemic, being the African Union’s special envoy on the matter. Okonjo-Iweala has been a board member of GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance — a public-private health partnership immunizing people in poorer countries.[2]
Achievements
Dr Okonjo-Iweala has been listed as one of the 50 Greatest World Leaders (Fortune, 2015), the Top 100 Most Influential People in the World (TIME, 2014), the Top 100 Global Thinkers (Foreign Policy, 2011 and 2012), the Top 100 Most Powerful Women in the World (Forbes, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014), the Top 3 Most Powerful Women in Africa (Forbes, 2012), the Top 10 Most Influential Women in Africa (Forbes, 2011), the Top 100 Women in the World (The Guardian, 2011), the Top 150 Women in the World (Newsweek, 2011), and the Top 100 most inspiring people in the World Delivering for Girls and Women (Women Deliver, 2011).[3]
Awards
Dr Okonjo-Iweala is a recipient of Bishop John T. Walker Distinguished Humanitarian Service Award (2011), the David Rockefeller Bridging Leadership Award (2014), the Devex Power with Purpose Award (2016), the Global Fairness Award (2016), and the Columbia University Global Leadership Award (2011), to name a few. She received over ten honorary degrees, including from Yale University, the University of Pennsylvania, Brown University, and Trinity College, Dublin.
