Biography

Dr. Chii Akporji is a Director representing the African Development Bank on the Board of Shelter Afrique Development Bank (ShafDB), a 46-member institution headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya with a mandate to provide affordable finance for housing and urban development across Africa. She recently served as the first female Chairperson of the board for an unprecedented three-year term, during which she led the where she oversaw ShafDB’s restructuring and transformation from a existential crisis to one of profit and of becoming a leading DFI on the continent.

She is results-driven, development finance professional with over 25 years’ experience in designing and managing the execution of complex programs and projects in emerging economies in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, to measurable and sustainable impact.

She had an impactful, 15-year career at the World Bank Group headquarters in Washington DC, beginning with work on health and education projects, and later on with the Bank’s Cities Alliance Trust Fund, where she set a solid track record for originating government, private sector and civil society partnerships to mobilize resources, and execute programs and projects that resulted in improved city planning processes, enhanced city creditworthiness and competitiveness unlocking jobs and wealth creation and improved livelihoods for the most vulnerable citizens.

Dr. Akporji also served as a Senior Advisor to the acclaimed economist, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo Iweala (currently the Director-General of the World Trade Organization – the WTO) in her prior role as Nigeria’s Minister of Finance/Coordinating Minister from 2012 to 2015, during which she was instrumental to the design and delivery of several economic policy reforms and implementation. These led to the well recognized growth of the Nigerian economy; the achievement of an average GDP growth of 6%; reduced tax to GDP ratios, enhanced FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) and the rebasing of the country’s GDP data by the IMF to re position it as the largest economy in Africa.

Most notable outcome of her tenure was the coordination of the set-up and operationalization of the Nigeria Mortgage Refinance Company (NMRC), the very first mortgage refinance institution in the country, mobilizing a US$300 million IDA loan from the World Bank, and from commercial banking investors, in addition to managing the very first bond issuance in the Nigerian capital market for mortgage refinancing.

As Executive Director/Board member at NMRC, she superintended the de-risking of a nascent mortgage and complex housing market through transformative initiatives such as streamlining mortgage underwriting processes, instituting the enabling environment for the growth of the housing and mortgage markets, originating a model mortgage market and foreclosure law, and deploying an end-to-end integrated technology infrastructure to enhance efficiency of systems and processes among market operators.

Prior expertise in the set up and operationalization of startups includes that of MBI TV in London, UK in the late 90s, a satellite TV channel with programming targeting the significant Afro-Caribbean community in the UK; and of Family Homes Fund Limited in Nigeria, setup to enable low-income groups in Nigeria access affordable mortgages for housing.

Dr. Akporji is the Founder/CEO of ALPHACITIES Consulting LLC, providing bespoke advisory development finance services to clients as wide ranging as the World Bank Group, the German Development Corporation (GIZ), the Central Bank of Nigeria, the Gates Foundation, and the African Development Bank.

A published author and a recognized thought leader, Dr. Akporji possesses a Bachelor’s degree in Humanities from University College Dublin, Ireland, a Masters’ degree in Anglo-Irish theater from the University of Ottawa, Canada and a Doctorate in comparative sociocultural studies from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria. Additionally, she holds professional and executive management certifications from Harvard/Radcliffe, Cambridge University’s Judge Business School, and from Wharton.