Executive Office

The Executive Team oversees financial management, establishes corporate policy of the organization and hires its senior directors. It ensures that the organization is managed efficiently and is well focused on its targets.

Ousmane Badiane

Executive Chairperson

Ousmane Badiane, Executive Chairperson

Dr. Ousmane Badiane, a Distinguished Fellow of the African Association of Agricultural Economists, recipient of the Africa Food Prize in 2015, and a member of the World Academy of Sciences, serves as the Executive Chairperson of AKADEMIYA2063. He has over 30 years of experience as an academic and a practitioner in international development.

As the Director for Africa at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), he was instrumental in developing and guiding the implementation of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP).

As Lead Specialist for Food and Agricultural Policy at the World Bank, he served as advisor to the Vice President for Africa and originated projects with large-scale funding. Between research and development finance, Dr. Badiane taught Economics of Development in Africa at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies for many years.

Dr. Badiane received a PhD in Agricultural Economics from the University of Kiel in Germany. He is also the recipient of a Doctorate Honoris Causa from the University of KwaZulu-Natal.

Debisi Araba

Managing Director

Debisi Araba, Managing Director

Dr. Debisi Araba is a public policy, innovation, and strategy specialist with a focus on the future of food, the environment, and entrepreneurship. He currently serves as the Managing Director of AKADEMIYA2063.

Prior to this role, Dr. Araba was a Senior Consultant with the African Development Bank (AfDB), advising on Agriculture and Food Systems. He is also a Visiting Research Fellow at the Centre for Environmental Policy, Imperial College London.

Dr. Araba previously served as the inaugural Managing Director of the Africa Green Revolution Forum (now known as the Africa Food Systems Forum) and as the Africa Region Director at the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), a member of the CGIAR Consortium.

He is an Emeritus member of the Malabo Montpellier Panel – an eminent group of global experts supporting African and European governments in advancing agricultural development and food security in Africa. Earlier in his career, he served as Senior Technical Adviser on Environmental Policy to the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development in Nigeria.

Dr. Araba holds a Doctorate in Environmental Policy from Imperial College London, a Master’s in Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School, a Master’s in Clean Technology from the University of Newcastle Upon Tyne, and a Bachelor’s in Physical Geography from the University of Ibadan.

Mariama Ba

Chief of Staff

Mariama Ba, Chief of Staff

Christian Henning

Chief Scientist

Christian Henning, Chief Scientist

Dr. Christian Henning, is lead scientist at Akademiya2063. He is currently on leave as a professor and chair of agricultural economics, University of Kiel (Germany), where he taught agricultural economics and computational political economy since 2000. His main areas of specialization are applied political economy and applied economic modelling of agricultural and development policies. He has over 30 years of experience, as scientist and consultant, in developing and applying innovative methods for modelling and evaluating policy processes especially in African and European countries, where he worked with leading international research institutions and universities including University of Chicago (James Coleman, Department of Sociology), Stanford University (Barry Weingast, Department of Political Science), MIT (Prof. Ezra Zuckerman, Sloan School of Management), IFPRI, the FAO, the World Bank and the EU.

Dr. Christian Henning studied economics, agricultural economics, sociology, political science and mathematics and earned PhD’s in agricultural economics, in economics and in political science.

Julia Collins

Senior Associate Scientist

Julia Collins, Senior Associate Scientist

Julia Collins is a Senior Associate Scientist with AKADEMIYA2063, based in Washington, DC. She supports a variety of ReSAKSS projects and AKADEMIYA2063 publications.

She previously worked at IFPRI as a Senior Research Analyst, contributing to support for National Agriculture Investment Plans and other ReSAKSS projects.

She earned her MS in Agricultural and Applied Economics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2012 and holds a BA from Knox College in French and International Studies.

Sylvie Thérèse Kanziga

Executive Assistant

Sylvie Thérèse Kanziga, Executive Assistant

Sylvie Thérèse Kanziga is a highly organized and proactive Executive Assistant with over eight years of experience supporting senior leadership and operational functions across East Africa. She has a proven track record in executive-level calendar and travel management, stakeholder communication, event coordination, and handling sensitive information with discretion.

A graduate in Development Studies from Uganda Christian University, Sylvie has developed expertise across healthcare, banking, real estate, and civil society sectors. Multilingual and technically proficient.

Sylvie will be joining AKADEMIYA2063 as Executive Assistant to the CEO, where she will support strategic initiatives, streamline operations, and enhance organizational effectiveness.

AKADEMIYA2063