Mrs. Kanayo Awani is the Managing Director, Intra-African Trade Initiative at the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank).
She holds a Master of Public Administration Degree (specializing in International Trade and Finance) from Harvard University (Kennedy School of Government), Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America. She also holds the Edward S. Mason Fellowship in Public Policy and Management from the same University.
Mrs. Awani has extensive banking experience having worked for Citigroup in Nigeria for about 17 years in various functions, the last being Vice President and Head of Industrial and Commercial Corporates. She joined the African Export Import Bank (Afreximbank) to pursue development finance in 2009 as Director, Trade Finance and Branches.
In her current role as Managing Director, she leads the Bank’s efforts in implementing its Intra-African Trade and Industrialization Strategies, and in that role, She chairs the Bank’s Industrialization Working Group. She is also the Chairperson of the Africa Chapter of FCI, a global factoring Association.