It is worth noting that seven highly accomplished and distinguished Nigerians have been able to secure their positions on a list that is considered to be one of the most prestigious lists in the world. 

The list spans various categories such as Politics and Public Service, Business, Science and Academia, Environmental, Creative, Media, and Sports, which further highlights the diverse range of talents and skills that these Nigerians possess. 

The fact that these individuals were able to make it on this list is a pointer to their hard work, dedication, and exceptional achievements in their respective fields.

Akinwumi Adesina 

Akinwumi Adesina is a highly respected Nigerian economist who has made a huge impact in the field of agricultural economics and rural development. He currently serves as the President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), a position he has held since 2015. Prior to this, he was Nigeria’s Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, where he implemented key policies that helped to transform the country’s agricultural sector. 

Adesina has also held several high-profile positions in international organisations, including the Rockefeller Foundation and the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA). He is widely recognised for his expertise in agricultural development, having received numerous awards and honors for his contributions to the field.

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is a highly accomplished Nigerian economist who is currently serving as the Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO). She has had an illustrious career in public service, having previously served as the Finance Minister of Nigeria on two separate occasions, from 2003 to 2006 and from 2011 to 2015. Prior to that, Okonjo-Iweala spent 25 years at the World Bank, where she held various key positions, including Vice President and Corporate Secretary. 

Throughout her career, Okonjo-Iweala has made commendable contributions to the fields of economic development and international finance. She has been a leading voice on issues such as poverty reduction, debt relief, and trade. She has been recognised for her expertise by numerous organisations and institutions around the world. In 2005, she was named one of Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world, and in 2014, she was awarded the prestigious David Rockefeller Bridging Leadership Award. Okonjo-Iweala is widely regarded as one of the most influential and accomplished women in the world of international economics and finance.

Bola Tinubu

Bola Tinubu, who currently serves as the President of Nigeria, is a highly respected politician who was once the Governor of Lagos State. He is widely recognised as one of the most influential figures in Nigerian politics, and his contributions to the country’s ruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), have earned him a reputation as a political powerhouse. 

Tinubu’s political career spans over two decades and has seen him occupy several prominent positions in both the public and private sectors. His commitment to the development of Nigeria and his tireless efforts to promote good governance have made him a highly respected figure both in Nigeria and beyond.

Olugbenga Agboola

Olugbenga Agboola is a highly successful and well-known Nigerian entrepreneur who has made a name for himself as the co-founder and CEO of Flutterwave, a global payments technology company that has revolutionized the way people send and receive money all around the world. 

With his keen business acumen and innovative thinking, he has helped to position Flutterwave as a leader in the African fintech industry, where he is widely respected and admired for his contributions to the field. His dedication to his work and his commitment to making a positive impact on the world have earned him a reputation as one of the most influential and inspiring figures in the business world today.

Professor Benedict Okey Oramah 

Professor Benedict Okey Oramah is a highly acclaimed Nigerian economist who has made great contributions to the field of economics. He is currently serving as the President of the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), a major financial institution that promotes and finances trade within and outside Africa. 

With over 30 years of experience in economic policy, research, consulting, and banking, Prof. Oramah is widely regarded as an expert in African trade and development. He has authored several articles and books on trade and finance, and has received numerous awards for his outstanding contributions to the development of Africa’s economy.

Aliko Dangote

Aliko Dangote, born on April 10, 1957, is a Nigerian business magnate, investor, and philanthropist, and is currently the chairman of Dangote Group. The company is one of the largest conglomerates in Africa and has interests in various fields including cement, sugar, salt, flour, and more. 

Dangote’s company is also involved in real estate, telecommunications, and oil and gas exploration. He is one of the wealthiest individuals in Africa with a net worth of $9.5 billion as of January 1, 2024. Dangote is a prominent figure in the global business community, with several honors and awards to his name, including the Forbes Africa Person of the Year award in 2014, the Clinton Global Citizen award in 2015, and the Bloomberg 50 in 2017.

Shola Akinlade

Shola Akinlade is a highly respected Nigerian entrepreneur, who has been key in the Nigerian tech startup ecosystem. As the co-founder and CEO of Paystack, a leading online payment platform in Nigeria, he has played an indispensable role in bolstering the way online payments are made in the country. 

Under his leadership, Paystack has become one of the most successful and fastest-growing tech startups in Nigeria, attracting huge investment and recognition from both local and international organisations. With his impressive track record and deep understanding of the Nigerian tech scene, Shola Akinlade is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the country’s growing tech industry.

Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, the President of the African Development Bank, gave a compelling keynote address. His insights shed light on the programme’s theme “Fintech: Resilience, Innovation, & Diversification” in the fintech industry, not only in Nigeria but across the entire African continent and the global fintech arena.

Nigeria Fintech Week has evolved into a pioneering event for financial sector leaders, not just within Nigeria but on a global scale. It serves as a platform for dialogue and collaboration between industry leaders, offering a unique opportunity to explore the latest trends and developments in fintech.

“The theme for this year’s Fintech Week, ‘Resilience, Innovation, and Diversification,’ resonates particularly with the current global economic landscape,” Adesina said speaking through Lamin Barrow, the Director General of Nigeria, African Development Bank (AfDB).

“Fintech companies are grappling with the need to adapt to rapidly changing conditions, particularly in the wake of global economic downturns characterized by volatility and heightened uncertainties. These challenges are particularly evident in Nigeria and other African nations, with manifestations in macroeconomic instability, rapid forex depreciation, and rising inflation. Consequently, Africa’s GDP growth has seen a decline, estimated at 2.8% in 2022, down from 4.8% in 2021.”

In light of these challenges, the need for resilience through innovation and product diversification has never been more urgent. The fintech sector in Africa plays a major role in building this resilience by driving financial inclusion across the continent. “Recent studies indicate that 33% of adults in sub-Saharan Africa have mobile money accounts, the largest of any region globally.”

Mobile Money Revolution

Speaking further, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina noted that the 2022 GSMA report highlights that Africa now accounts for 621 billion registered mobile money accounts, representing 46% of the global total and approximately 70% of the world’s $1 trillion mobile money transactions in 2021. The spread of mobile money accounts has opened doors to better serve underserved populations traditionally excluded from the formal financial system.

“The COVID-19 pandemic underscored the significant role digital technologies can play in managing shocks. Continents with advanced digital financial service ecosystems were able to scale up emergency cash transfer programs, demonstrating the resilience of fintech in addressing critical societal needs.”

Fintech Beyond Banking

African fintechs extend their impact well beyond banking and payments. From healthtech solutions that make healthcare accessible with just a click, to agritech platforms connecting farms to markets and providing real-time weather forecasts, and affordable education services, innovation is driving inclusion and addressing various societal needs.

Global Investor Attraction

African fintechs’ capacity to innovate has attracted global investors. “Reports from Disrupt Africa and the International Finance Corporation reveal that there were 26 reported fintech acquisitions in Africa between June 2021 and July 2022. In 2021, 63% of tech funding in the continent, amounting to $2.7 billion, went to the fintech industry,” Dr. Akinwumi Adesina highlighted.

Nigeria’s Growth Potential

As the hub of the African fintech industry, Nigeria has seen the emergence of five of the 11 digital companies that have reached unicorn status. To witness significant growth in the fintech industry, Nigeria must further integrate technology into business activities. This necessitates domesticating the Startup Act and implementing regulatory reforms to simplify procedures for cross-border trade transactions, enhance access to finance for startups, and accelerate SME integration in e-commerce.

The African Development Bank’s Commitment

The African Development Bank strongly believes that a resilient, innovative, and diversified fintech sector is key to accelerating economic transformation in the continent. The bank is actively supporting African countries in bridging digital infrastructure and knowledge gaps, creating a conducive business environment to promote entrepreneurship and innovation in the fintech industry, and upskilling the youth to prepare them for the jobs of the future.

Since 2012, the African Development Bank has invested approximately $2 billion in 40 innovation and ICT projects across the continent. Notably, this includes $170 million in financing for the investment in digital and creative enterprises projects in Nigeria, a significant component of which is the establishment of venture capital funds to support startups in the digital creative industries.

Dr. Akinwumi Adesina’s keynote address at NFW Day 1 emphasized the key role that fintech plays in Africa’s economic development. In fostering resilience, innovation, and diversification, the fintech industry addresses economic challenges and also provides innovative solutions to improve the quality of life for people across the continent. 

The African Development Bank’s commitment to this sector further emphasizes the transformative potential of fintech in Africa. 

The Global Leadership Council (GLC) of the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP) recently convened on the sidelines of UNGA 78 to review progress against its two signature initiatives: first, to mobilize 5 GW of accelerated commitments to Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS); and second, to enable large-scale aggregation in the distributed renewable energy (DRE) sector, with the near-term target of securing a $500 million pooled procurement order by end 2024.

These are crucial steps to unlock an estimated 90 GW market for BESS in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean and lowering the average price of DRE power from more than $0.5/kWh in most contexts today, to below $.25/kWh within five years.

Together, these initiatives have the potential to transform the pace at which energy poverty can be alleviated.

Currently, global power systems are not serving the people who most desperately need energy; 3.6 billion people still live in energy poverty today, and of those, 760 million have no electricity and 2.8 billion have costly, unreliable access.

“The GLC is working together to tackle the barriers to renewable energy adoption in low-and-middle-income countries, said GLC Co-Chair, Jonas Gahr Støre, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Norway. “We need a more ambitious and inclusive renewable energy agenda globally, and to deliver this it is critical to find partners, secure funding from new sources and encourage creativity.”

The Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) Consortium is a multi-stakeholder partnership set up to galvanize a transformation of energy systems in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean via expanded deployment of battery energy storage. The objectives of the Consortium are to:

–        Secure 5 GW of BESS commitments by the end of 2024

–        Mobilize more than $4 billion in grant, concessional, and commercial finance to accelerate project deployment

–        Unlock the 90 GW deployment needed by the end of this decade to enable 400 GW of renewable energy that avoids a gigaton of carbon dioxide emissions

The Distributed Renewable Energy (DRE) Scale-Up Initiative focuses on enabling collective action to unleash the market potential in developing countries, bringing affordable and reliable power to nearly half a billion people who remain unserved by traditional electricity grids. The objectives of the initiative are to:

–        Develop a 500 MW pipeline of procurement in three to four key markets by Q4 2024

–        Enable order volumes for DRE technologies totaling $500 million by Q4 2024

“As GEAPP approaches its second birthday, the GLC provides a critical role in delivering scale, urgency, and connectivity to our initiatives,” said Simon Harford, CEO of GEAPP. “Whether that’s GEAPP facilitating the first wave of BESS in India, or our investment in the private sector development of solar metro grids in eastern DRC, the GLC champions our efforts and amplifies our reach as the climate emergency continues to take hold.”

“Renewable energy is out of reach for too many people. Extending access to affordable and stable clean energy is a crucial component of our climate solution,” said Ajay Banga, President of the World Bank. “The World Bank supports the efforts of GEAPP’s Global Leadership Council to address these challenges, and we must continue to move with even more urgency and scale.”

“Tackling the existential threat of climate change requires urgent and bold leadership. That is why I am energized by the GLC’s mission and ability to connect leaders across the globe,” said Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director General of the World Trade Organization. “This work is helping to facilitate the just energy transition that the world needs, I encourage the GLC to continue on their path forward with even more urgency, scale, and action.’’

“Five months ago, the GLC made one of the world’s largest collective commitments to significantly reduce the cost of renewable energy technologies. We will mobilize 100 GWh of accelerated BESS by 2030, and today we are many steps closer to identifying the ‘first-mover’ countries who will spearhead this work. This is the kind of collaboration we must see more of,” said GLC Co-Chair, Dr. Rajiv J. Shah, President of The Rockefeller Foundation.

“600 million Africans have no access to electricity. To close this gap, we need bolder approaches that work at scale and can reach hundreds of millions of people such as the Desert to Power Initiative”, said Dr. Akinwumi A. Adesina, President of the African Development Bank Group. “In Africa, the cost of capital for utility-scale clean energy projects is at least two to three times higher than in advanced economies. Today, we discussed how the GLC can help overcome the political, technical, and financial barriers that lead to these asymmetries, and accelerate universal energy access.’’

The announcement was made at the Eighth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD8) held Sunday 28 August 2022 in the Tunisian capital, Tunis.

The funds consist of $4 billion under the existing window, and an additional up to $1 billion that will be provided under a new Special Window. Japan will establish this Special Window to support countries that are making progress in the enhancement of debt transparency and sustainability, and other reforms, thereby making steady and significant improvement in their debt situations.

Given the importance of food security, Japan and the African Development Bank will add agriculture and nutrition as a priority area under EPSA 5. As a result, EPSA 5 will cover 1) electricity, 2) connectivity 3) health, 4) agriculture and nutrition as priority areas in order to address key challenges in Africa.

At the EPSA 5 launch ceremony, Japan’s Vice-Minister of Finance for International Affairs, Mr. Masato Kanda, said his country is committed to supporting African countries while respecting their own initiatives.

The President of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Dr. Akihiko TANAKA said, “Under the severe situation caused by multiple crises, enhancing resilience and promoting human security are critical components of Japan’s support for Africa. EPSA is an essential element of our partnership with the African Development Bank to tackle social and economic challenges facing the continent. JICA commits to work with EPSA to create a bright and prosperous future.”

The African Development Bank Group President Dr. Akinwumi Adesina said, “EPSA 5 is the kind of cooperation Africa and the world needs. Escalating climate change impacts, the Covid-19 pandemic, and the war in Ukraine means that we must do even more than we already have done, to mobilize the private sector and create job opportunities in Africa. The newly signed initiative will positively impact millions of lives across Africa.”

Japan and the African Development Bank will join forces to support countries that address enormous challenges, including food security, climate change, health, digitalization, and debt issues.