Jumoke Oduwole, former presidential adviser, appointed Harvard University Senior Fellow

The former Special Adviser to the President on Ease of Doing Business, Dr Jumoke Oduwole, has recently been appointed as a Senior Fellow at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government in the United States of America.

In a letter conveying the appointment, Richard Zeckhauser, Frank Plumpton Ramsey Professor of Political Economy said Dr Oduwole will be affiliated with the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government from 1 July 2023 through 30 June 2024. 

Prof Zechauser noted that Dr Oduwole was subjected to “a rigorous screening process” from a large and strong pool of globally acclaimed high achievers. 

“Only a few individuals are invited to be Senior Fellows each year.”  

He went on to note, “We believe that you will make a valuable contribution to the Center, to Harvard Kennedy School, to Harvard more generally, and to effective public policy.”

Dr Oduwole took time off her duties teaching international economic law at Faculty of Law, University of Lagos, Nigeria, to serve in the Buhari Administration from November 2015 to May 2023, first as Senior Special Assistant to the President on Industry, Trade & Investment, and then as Special Adviser to the President on Ease of Doing Business. 

She also served as the pioneer Secretary to the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC).

Under her watch, Nigeria moved up an unprecedented 39 places in the World Bank’s Doing Business rankings and was twice recognised as a top ten economy in three years for impactful reforms that created a more conducive environment for micro, small and medium sized enterprises to thrive. 

She and her team took the intervention from ideation stage in 2016 and grew it to a national program spanning all arms and levels of government.

From 2013 to 2015, Professor Oduwole was holder of the Prince Claus Chair in development and equity at the International Institute of Social Studies, The Hague, The Netherlands. 

She is a 2013 Archbishop Desmond Tutu Fellow, African Leadership Institute, South Africa, an inaugural member of President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf’s Amujae initiative (2020), and was in 2022 selected as member of the 6th cohort of Africa Leadership Initiative West Africa (ALIWA), part of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.

In 2022, Jumoke was appointed Governance Advisor to Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Governance Lab, another leading academic institution, for her innovative strides in governance, and has been the recipient of a number of awards, including a national honour, Member of the Order of the Federal Republic (MFR). She sits on the Boards of Trustees of the Mandela Institute for Development Studies (MINDS), South Africa and GIG Logistics, a subsidiary of the GIG Group; and previously served on the Board of Ecobank Nigeria. She started her career working in investment and corporate banking in Nigeria from 2000 to 2004 at FCMB Capital Markets and Guaranty Trust Bank Plc.

Dr Oduwole holds an LL.B from University of Lagos, and is called to the Nigeria Bar. She has an LL.M from Cambridge University UK; and a JSM as well as a JSD, both from Stanford Law School, USA.

During her time at Harvard Kennedy School she will interrogate the role of businesses in strengthening government reforms.

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