Olajumoke Omoniyi Oduwole MFR is a Nigerian academic and lawyer. From 2013 to 2015, she served as the Prince Claus Chair holder.
Oduwole was a member of the executive committee of the Oxford and Cambridge (Oxbridge) Club of Nigeria and served as a previous co-president of the Stanford Alumni Club of Nigeria. She is an enthusiastic street photographer who has had two shows, one in Lagos, Nigeria, and two in the Netherlands.
Prior to entering academia, Oduwole headed the corporate banking team for the telecommunications industry at Guaranty Trust Bank Plc. She also worked as an investment banker with First City Monument Bank Plc’s FCMB Capital Markets from 2000 to 2003, where she worked on a number of capital raising, mergers and acquisition, and privatisation deals for both domestic and international customers. She also served on the Nigeria Economic Summit Group’s (NESG) research faculty.
The World Economic Forum on Africa, the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD), the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the European Union Commission, and the International Criminal Court are just a few of the reputable conferences and workshops where Oduwole has been invited to speak and contribute.
Oduwole served as the Vice President’s Office’s Special Adviser to the Nigerian President on Ease of Doing Business. From November 2015 until May 2019, Oduwole served as the President’s Senior Special Assistant on Industry, Trade & Investment (OVP), where she helped establish the Nigerian Office for Trade Negotiations (NOTN). She was appointed to this position in August 2019 and began her job there. Additionally, she participated in the Technical Working Group of the Presidential Committee for the Impact and Readiness Assessment of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) (Sub-Committee on Ease of Doing Business).
Oduwole once served as the executive secretary to the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council, which was presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and had the Minister of Industry, Trade, and Investment serving as vice chair.
Oduwole graduated with a master’s degree in international legal studies from Stanford University in the United States in 2007 and worked as a graduate fellow at the SCICN from 2007 to 2008. She earned a PhD in international trade and development (WTO Negotiation Strategy) from Stanford Law School and spent 2008 to 2010 as a visiting scholar at the University of Houston Law Centre in Houston, Texas, USA.
Her elementary and secondary education were completed in Lagos State, Nigeria, where she was born. She earned a second-class upper LL.B degree in law from the University of Lagos and was admitted to the Nigerian Bar in 1999. As a DFID-Cambridge Commonwealth Trust scholar, she earned an LL.M. with a focus in Commercial law from Cambridge University, England, in 2000.
She is happily married with two kids.
