Ada Osakwe is a Nigerian economist, food investor, corporate executive, an entrepreneur and agribusiness advocate. She is the founder and chief executive officer of Agrolay Ventures, an agribusiness investment firm in Nigeria.
Ada Osakwe is an advocate of agricultural businesses and is one of the ladies creating an impact in the agro sector building businesses that creates job and increase access to opportunity in agricultural sector. She was born on September 2nd, 1980 in Lagos State, Nigeria.
Ada grew up in Lagos where she attended primary and secondary schools. She earned a a BSc in Economics (First Class Honours) from the University of Hull, U.K., a Masters in Economics and Finance from the University of Warwick, also in the U.K., and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, Illinois, United States, where she was awarded a Merit-based Scholarship and the Kellogg Leadership Award, the highest student honour given for distinguished leadership.
Since beginning her career, Ada has worked in several national and international firms. She served at the African Development Bank (AfDB) in Tunisia, where she worked as a Senior Investment Officer. In London, she worked as an Analyst in the Debt Capital Markets team of BNP Paribas – an investment bank.
In New York where she lived, she was a Vice President at Kuramo Capital Management, a private equity firm. She also worked briefly with Actis, a multi-billion dollar private equity fund focused on emerging markets investment.
Upon her return to Nigeria, Ada served as the Senior Investment Adviser to Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, Nigeria’s former Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development between 2012 and 2015.
In this role, amongst various initiatives, she led the development and launch of the Fund for Agricultural Financing in Nigeria (FAFIN), an innovative private equity fund dedicated to investing in small and medium agri-business companies in Nigeria.
Ada is a creative food entrepreneur and the founder and CEO of Agrolay Ventures, a four in one company, Nuli Juice, Nuli Foods, Nature’s Bounty and African Courier Express.
In 2014, Ada was named one of Forbes 20 Youngest Power Women in Africa. She is an Archbishop Desmond Tutu Leadership Fellow of the Africa Leadership Institute and a fellow of the African Leadership Network (ALN).
In 2015, she received the ‘Achiever in Agriculture’ Award. She is also a 2016 Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum.
