Olubunmi Oluwadare appointed as Director, Strategy and Trade Relations, Africa

Following recent end of tenure of the former National Head of Nigeria Olubunmi Oluwadare, he has been appointed as the Director, Strategy and Trade Relations, Africa. His appointment now covers a continental and global raider where he is expected to formulate strategies for the organization and also foster development trade relationships across Africa nations and the global community.

This portfolio comes in handy after the AfCFTA agreement was adopted and opened for signature on 21 March 2018 in Kigali, Rwanda and entered into force on 30 May 2019 then took effect on 1st January 2021. The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) will be the world’s largest free trade area since the formation of the World Trade Organization. It aims to bring together all 55 member states of the African Union (AU) covering a market of more than 1.2 billion people, including a growing middle class and a combined gross domestic product (GDP) of $2.6 trillion. Estimates from the Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) suggest that the AfCFTA has the potential to boost intra-African trade by 52.3 percent, and to double this trade if non-tariff barriers are also reduced.

The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is viewed as a welcome socioeconomic objective and represents an important milestone in the context of the Pan-African imperative of achieving an economically integrated Africa. This agreement, has the potential to fuel the socioeconomic transformation of Africa through industrialization.

However, the AfCFTA will live up to its potential only if the benefits of production and trade expansion are equitably distributed and the process leaves no one behind, in particular marginalized groups. This is why the organization decided to be fully involved this initiative by having a member representative in the forefront.

Olubunmi Oluwadare is a passionate and energetic entrepreneur, an advocate for African growth and entrepreneurship development in Africa with over 2 decades of vast experience in entrepreneurship. He is the CEO Vertrag International Limited, Co-founder, Quikkpromo, the director, Oldang International Limited, managing consultant, delivery.io and the author/publisher “I SEE MONEY IN AFRICA”. This and many more qualities make him the most suitable person for this position.