Set for April 19 awards, recognition in Switzerland
MIPAD Announces Okonjo-Iweala, Mene, Afede, Onyeali-Ikpe, Others Among Global Top 100 Trade Champions of African Descent Worldwide
The Most Influential People of African Descent (MIPAD) has unveiled the inaugural honorees of the Most Influential 100 Export and International Trade Edition.
The first set of honorees and highly celebrated personalities in trade and export announced by MIPAD include the Director-General of the World Trade Organisation, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala; Secretary-General, African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat, Wamkele Mene; President and Managing Director, Trade and Development Bank (TDB) Group, Admassu Tadesse; Chairman, Export Barbados (Caribbean), Adrian Padmore; Commissioner for Trade and Industry, African Union Commission, African Union, Albert M. Muchanga; Caribbean Export, Permanent Secretary of Trade and Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Antigua and Barbuda) Clarence E. Pilgrim; President and CEO, AstrategiK Group, Angelle B. Kwemo; Assistant US Trade Representative for Africa (USA) Constance Hamilton; Director, US Trade and Development Agency,
Enoh T. Ebong; President and CEO, Corporate Council on Africa, Florizelle Liser.
The list also has the Minister of Trade and Export Promotion, Algeria, H.E. Kamel Rezig; Chairman, World Trade Centre Accra, Ghana, H.R.H Togbe Afede; the Nigerian Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr. Doris Nkiruka Uzoka-Anite; Executive Vice President, IntraAfrican Trade Bank (IATB), Kanayo Awani; Director, Trade Development (Africa & Caribbean), World Trade Centre Miami, US, Kemi Arosanyin; Secretary of State for Business and Trade and President of the Board of Trade (United Kingdom/Nigeria), Kemi Badenoch; President, US-Africa Business Centre at US Chamber of Commerce, Kendra Gaither; President of the Buenaventura Chamber of Commerce (Colombia), Milady Garces Arboleda; Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Fidelity Bank Plc (Nigeria), Nneka Onyeali-Ikpe.
Others are Nonye Ayeni, Executive Director and CEO, Nigerian Export Promotion Council (Nigeria); Pamela Coke-Hamilton, Executive Director of the International Trade Centre (ITC); Prof. Benedict Okey Oramah, President, African Export–Import Bank (Afreximbank); Prof. Landry Signé, Executive Director, Thunderbird School, Co-Chair, World Economic Forum Friends of the AfCFTA and Senior Fellow, Brookings; Reta Jo Lewis, President and Chair of the Board, ExportImport Bank of the United States (USA); Sand Mba Kalu: Executive
Director, Africa International Trade and Commerce Research (Nigeria); Susan Namulindwa, Executive Director at Africa Trade Desk; Thiago Thobias, Advisor, Foreign Trade, Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES); Wrenelle Stander, CEO, Cape Town and Western Cape Trade Promotion Agency (WESGRO); and Wanjiru Machugu-Zenz Joy, Founder and CEO, African Women in Trade (AfWITrade).