Dr Olumide Abimbola is the founder and director of APRI, with expertise in economic informality, trade policy, regional integration, and natural resources management. He has worked across West and North Africa and with senior government officials in multiple African countries. Previously, he worked at the African Development Bank on continental initiatives such as the Africa Visa Openness Index and the Africa Regional Integration Index, and later at the G7-funded CONNEX Support Unit hosted by GIZ.

He has published widely across academic, policy, and media platforms, including co-authoring studies on climate and racial justice and on financial modelling for extractive projects in Africa. Olumide holds a PhD from the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, a master’s from Uppsala University, and a bachelor’s from the University of Ibadan. He has held a postdoctoral fellowship in Switzerland, taught at German universities, and currently serves on advisory and policy boards at UC Irvine and the University of Cape Town