Olatunde Akande, NIRSAL Plc’s Executive Director, Technical, is a seasoned expert in Development Finance, Agribusiness and Project Management. Over the course of a glowing career spanning over 30 years across Sub Saharan Africa, Olatunde has obtained experience in Business Development, SME Management and Financial Inclusion.
More recently, Olatunde has served as the Special Assistant to the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Development Finance, during which he led the Team that designed and successfully implemented the CBN Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP), an achievement for which he received a special recognition award from President Muhammadu Buhari GCFR, in December 2018.
Olatunde has also served as the Director, Portfolio Management of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa’s (AGRA), Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund, where he managed an investment portfolio of over $370m across Sub-Saharan Africa.
He briefly served as an Agric Advisor to the influential Nigeria Governors’ Forum’s (NGF), through which he provided counsel to all 36 State Governments on policies and strategies designed to drive sustainable Agricultural development at the Sub-national level.
Olatunde has an MPhil in Development Finance from the University of Stellenbosch Business School, Cape Town, South Africa, where he graduated Cum Laude and top of his class. Prior to that, he acquired an MBA from the Middlesex University Business School, England, where he also graduated as the top student in Financial Management and Financial Performance.
He is also an alumnus of the prestigious Harvard Business School, Executive General Management Program (GMP). In addition to his numerous University degrees, Olatunde has also attended key Management Development courses in Europe, Africa and North America.
When he is not engrossed in his work, Olatunde enjoys playing football, reading, travelling and listening to music.