Speakers
The Nordic Nigeria
Connect 2023
Innovation for a Greener Future
Meet Our Speakers
Dr. Inya Lawal
EVENT MODERATOR
Social Entrepreneur
Dr. Inya Lawal is a social entrepreneur working to impact the world positively through capacity building and economic empowerment. She is the founder of Ascend Studios Foundation (ASF), an organization focused on capacity building and social, educational, and economic empowerment of women and youth.
Dr. Inya is a recipient of an Honorary Doctorate Award from the ESCAE Benin University, the Benin Republic for her outstanding contribution to Women’s Leadership and Global Trade Development. She serves on the board of the Women In Film and Television International (WIFTI) as secretary; and is the president of the Women In Film and TV Africa (WIFT Africa).
H. E. Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu
Executive Governor, Lagos State
His Excellency, Mr. Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu, is the governor of Lagos State since 2019. Sanwo-Olu briefly attended Government Demonstration School, Gbaja Surulere before moving to Ijebu-Ife Grammar School, Ogun State to complete his secondary education. He has a BSc in Surveying and an MBA from the University of Lagos. He is an alumnus of the John F. Kennedy School of Government, the London Business School and the Lagos Business School.
He is an associate member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel Management (CIPM) and fellow of the Nigeria Institute of Training and Development (NITAD).
He is married to Ibijoke Sanwo-Olu.
H.E. Dr. Bosun Tijani
Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Government of Nigeria
Born and raised in Nigeria, Honourable Minister Dr. Bosun Tijani is a Nigerian entrepreneur, co-founder, and CEO of Co-creation Hub (CcHUB), a technology innovation center dedicated to accelerating the application of social capital and technology for economic prosperity in Africa. He is passionate about the concept of distributed innovation systems and the need for African countries to leverage each other’s strengths and weaknesses to push the continent forward.
He’s currently the Minister of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy in Nigeria.
H.E. Mr. Dan Jørgensen
Minister for Development Cooperation and Global Climate Policy, Denmark
His Excellency Dan Jørgensen was appointed as the Minister for Development Cooperation and Global Climate Policy on 15th December 2022, under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark. He has established an esteemed career in the Danish political system - serving as a member of the Danish Parliament (Folketinget) for the Social Democratic Party in Funen greater constituency since 18 June 2015 and a candidate for The Social Democratic Party in Middelfart nomination district from 2011. Mr. Jørgensen presently chairs the IEA's Global Commission on People-Centered Clean Energy Transitions. Mr. Jørgensen earned an MSc in political science from Aarhus University in 2004. He was born June 12th, 1975 in Odense, Denmark.
H.E. Mr. Jarno Syrjälä
Deputy Minister for International Trade, Finland
His Excellency Mr. Syrjälä (born 1964) joined the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in 1990. Since then, he has served in various functions at Finland’s bilateral missions in Jakarta, Tel Aviv, Ramallah, Washington, and Berlin. His most recent post in the Foreign Service was Ambassador in Beijing from 2017 to 2021. During that period, he also was accredited to Mongolia, before that, he worked as Director General of the Department for Africa and the Middle East from 2013 to 2017.
Since September 2023, Mr. Syrjälä has been the Representative of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in the Business Finland Board of Directors. Syrjälä holds the degree of Master of Science in Economics and Business Administration from the University of Vaasa.
H.E. Mr Per-Arne Hjelmborn
Director-General for Trade, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Sweden
H.E. Mr Per-Arne Hjelmborn is a career diplomat. He is since September 2019 the Director-General for Trade Policy at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Sweden.
Before taking that position he was the Swedish Ambassador to Brazil. Per-Arne Hjelmborn has also served as Sweden’s Ambassador to Malaysia, as well as being the Head of the Department for the EU Internal Market and the Promotion of Sweden and Swedish Trade at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in Stockholm.
Per-Arne Hjelmborn has also served at the Swedish embassies in Chile, Spain and China. He has a Master of Science in Business and Economics and a Master in International Management from Stockholm School of Economics.
Mr. Muhammad Sani Abdullahi
Deputy Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria
Mr. Muhammad is a seasoned development economist with over two decades of experience in policy formulation, public finance, and project implementation. He is the former Kaduna Central Senatorial candidate of the APC in the 2023 elections. Muhammad has served in various high-level positions, including as a Policy Adviser at the Executive Office of the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon in New York. In this role, he was a core member of the team that designed the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). He also serves as a member of the World Bank expert Advisory Council on citizen engagement.
