Akinwumi Adesina · President · African Dev. Bank · The WLS 100 · 2026 Edition
Finance
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Inaugural edition 2026 · Africa

Akinwumi Adesina

President

Milliards mobilisés pour l'Afrique.

Education
University of Ife · Purdue (PhD)
Organization
Profile

President of the African Development Bank since 2015, Akinwumi Adesina has put agriculture, energy and regional integration at the heart of the continent's development finance. An agricultural economist trained in the United States, he served as Nigeria's minister of agriculture, and his reforms there earned him the World Food Prize in 2017. At the Bank he launched the High 5 priorities to light up, feed, industrialize and integrate Africa, secured a historic increase in the institution's capital and mobilized tens of billions of dollars in investment.

Why this selection

His work translates into power capacity, harvests and concrete infrastructure for millions of Africans, with a voice heard in every major financial forum.

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