Olu Akanmu
Strategist · Author · Public Intellectual

A life’s work in ideas, leadership and inclusion.

Olu Akanmu has spent decades leading and transforming businesses across telecommunications, banking and fintech in Africa — and thinking deeply, in public, about strategy, purpose and the common good.

“True mastery is knowing the why behind the how.”

His Story  Explore the Ideas

Olu Akanmu in white traditional attire
Who He Is

Business for the common good

Olu Akanmu is one of Africa’s most distinctive business leaders — a pharmacist by training who became the chief architect of MTN Nigeria’s consumer marketing strategy, led commercial strategy at Airtel Nigeria, spent more than a decade shaping retail banking at Bank PHB and FCMB, and served as President and Co-CEO of OPay Nigeria as it reached unicorn valuation and 30 million users.

Today, as Academic Director of the Tech-Leap Initiative at Lagos Business School, he is shaping the next generation of African leaders — carrying forward a conviction that has defined his career: that profits and purpose belong together.

6+
Industries led at C‑level
30M
Users reached at OPay
$1.5B
Yearly revenue led at Airtel
3
Professional fellowships
From the Ideas Archive

Featured writing

All Essays
“The mission should extend beyond the banked and the underserved, to the completely excluded.” — Olu Akanmu, on the future of financial inclusion
The Podcast

Olu’s Files

A podcast distilling a multi-industry C-suite career into lessons on strategy, marketing, management, leadership and public policy — from Blue Ocean strategy in payments to forty stoic reflections on leadership.

Browse Episodes

Featured Talk

The Future of Financial Inclusion — TEDxLagos

Watch on YouTube →

Thrive: Mastering E-commerce the African Way — book cover
The Book

Thrive: Mastering E-commerce the African Way

Co-edited with Uchenna Uzo and Elo Umeh, and published by Pan-Atlantic University Press, Thrive grew out of the Lagos Business School Africa Retail Academy’s inaugural E-commerce and Payment Forum. Across 394 pages, it equips entrepreneurs, executives and policymakers to navigate the intersection of e-commerce, payments and logistics in Africa.

Get the Book

Olu Akanmu speaking at a lectern
Speaking

A much sought-after voice at business events

From TEDxLagos to the IFC Digital Financial Services Knowledge Exchange, Olu Akanmu speaks on strategy, innovation in traditional firms, financial inclusion and purpose-driven leadership.

Invite Olu to Speak

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