Kanayo AWANI
Executive Vice President - Intra-African Trade Bank, Afreximbank
Mrs. Kanayo Awani is the Executive Vice President, Intra-African Trade Bank (IATB) at Afreximbank. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Nigeria (Enugu Campus) and a Master of Public Administration in International Trade and Finance from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, Cambridge, USA. She is also a recipient of the Edward S. Mason Fellowship in Public Policy and Management from Harvard.
Mrs. Awani has garnered extensive banking experience with Citigroup in Nigeria, serving for nearly 17 years and leaving as the Vice President and Head of Industrial & Commercial Corporates before joining Afreximbank in 2009. As the Executive Vice President, she provides strategic and operational leadership in implementing the Bank’s Intra-African trade and industrialization objectives, in support of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA).
Under her leadership, the Bank’s support for the AfCFTA negotiations led to the historic signing of the Agreement in Kigali in March 2018. Committed to the industrialization of Africa, Mrs. Awani has championed various initiatives, including the development and expansion of Industrial Parks and Export Processing Zones across the continent. Her efforts were also instrumental in the harmonization of standards in pharmaceuticals and medical consumables during the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, she led the development of the African Collaborative Transit Guarantee Scheme to facilitate cross- border trade and championed innovative programmes such as the Creative Africa Nexus (CANEX), which has allocated a $1 billion facility to finance and support several sectors. Mrs. Awani has actively promoted Africa-Caribbean trade and investment flows by directing the Bank’s Diaspora Strategy in accordance with the African Union (AU) agenda for the 6th Region. Since Mrs. Awani joined Afreximbank in 2009, she has supported the growth of the Bank from total assets of US$1.4bn to approximately $30 billion in 2022.