Adaku Ufere-Awoonor

Founding Executive Director, Chief of Party - USAID & Power Afric, West Africa Energy Program at Deloitte USA

Adaku Ufere is an award-winning international Energy, Gender & Development Attorney. She has extensive experience in the implementation of energy projects in Africa.

She is currently the Chief of Party of the West Africa Energy Program in Accra, Ghana. A USAID and Power Africa coordinated initiative helping 23 countries in West and Central Africa expand supply of and access to affordable and grid-connected electricity services; through technical assistance, capacity building and transaction support.

Adaku is the first African to lead a USAID and Power Africa Program.

Prior to this, she founded DAX Consult, an Energy, Gender & Infrastructure consulting firm, providing business strategy and operational support to clients throughout West Africa. Her previous professional experience includes Head of the Energy Practice of Centurion Law Group in Equatorial Guinea, and with General Electric as Legal Counsel GE Oil & Gas in Nigeria.

Adaku sits on the Board of JBW Limited, an energy and tech solutions company. She is also a Legal Advisor to Stand to End Rape Initiative, a youth-led non-profit that provides legal, financial and rehabilitation services to victims of gender-based violence. She is a Member of the Ghana National Committee of The International Lawyers for Africa (ILFA) which provides secondment opportunities in international law firms for African lawyers and is an Accredited Mentor with the Women in International Affairs Network.

Adaku has an LLB from the University of Nigeria, a BL from the Nigerian Law School, an LLM Oil & Gas from the University of Aberdeen, UK. She also has professional Certifications in Energy, Gender and Public Management from the UNISA Graduate School of Business Leadership, the University of British Columbia, Canada and the University of California, Davis.

Adaku has been named one of the 40 Under 40 Leading Lawyers in Nigeria 2016, Attorney of the Year at the African Legal Awards 2017, Young African Professional of the Year 2018, a Fellow of the Institute of Energy Security, Ghana, a Mandela Washington Fellow 2018, a YALI Young Woman in African Power 2018, one of the Ten Most Influential Nigerians in the Corporate Sector 2018, a Nominee for the Career Woman of the Year 2018, an Obama Foundation Leader for Africa 2019, one of Nigeria's 100 Most Inspiring Women in 2019 for and is an Atlantic Dialogues Emerging Leader for 2019.

She is a member of the Association of International Petroleum Negotiators, the Women in African Power, the Nigerian Bar Association, the International Lawyers for Africa, the International Bar Association, the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators United Kingdom, the Young Women in Energy and Women Leading in Law.