Ndidi Okonkwo Nwuneli on coalition-building and resilient leadership in driving social change

TRANSCRIPT

Decoding Corporate Responsibility Episode #2, 2026
Guest: Ndidi Okonkwo Nwuneli
Record Date: May 4, 2026
Posting Date: May 11, 2026

Ndidi Okonkwo Nwuneli:

What gives me hope …are young innovators and young entrepreneurs and social entrepreneurs who continue to innovate and solve at the micro level, at the grassroots level. And they still are working against all odds to scale their innovations, to fill the gaps that are being created by government and business.

Jane Nelson:

Welcome to “Decoding Corporate Responsibility,” a production of the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government at Harvard Kennedy School. I'm your host, Jane Nelson, Director of the Center's Corporate Responsibility Initiative. And through the series, I'm speaking with some of the world's leading pioneers and practitioners in the fields of responsible business and finance. We're focused on exploring lessons and insights from the past so that together we can find practical and feasible ways to improve the future.

And I'm especially pleased to welcome today's guest, Ndidi Okonkwo Nwuneli, who is currently president and CEO of the One Campaign and a truly inspiring and visionary social entrepreneur and leader. Over the past 30 years, Ndidi has demonstrated in a number of different roles how innovative business models and partnerships can support more inclusive economic development with a focus on Africa. She's been recognized as a young global leader by the World Economic Forum, as an Aspen Institute New Voices Fellow, an Eisenhower Fellow.

She's been a fellow at our Center for Business and Government at the Kennedy School, and has also received national honor from the Nigerian government and the Harvard Business School Distinguished Alumni Award. Ndidi, it is wonderful to see you and to have you with us today. Thanks for joining us.

Ndidi Okonkwo Nwuneli:

Oh, it's such a pleasure to be with you, Jane. Not only are you a mentor and a big sister, but you have led the way in this ecosystem with such authenticity, kindness, and integrity. So, I'm truly honored to be on this podcast with you.

Jane Nelson:

Oh, thank you indeed. Well, that really, really means a lot to me. And I'd love to start with you sharing a bit more about your personal and professional story and journey, because you have done so many amazing things building bridges between government and business and civil society and between economic development and social impact, and between Africa and the rest of the world. How did you get started in this field and what is it that keeps your passion and your commitment so strong?

Ndidi Okonkwo Nwuneli:

Well, I would say that I've been very fortunate. First, I was born into an amazing family. My father, Professor Paul Okonkwo, my mother, Professor Rina Okonkwo, set a very good example. For us, we grew up in Enugu, which is in the Southeastern part of Nigeria, and we were exposed to the importance of learning, integrity, and service from very young ages. I'm the third of five children, the middle child. And I believe that that was my first introduction to fighting for rights and fighting for middle children often feel like they have to fight for their voice to be heard. But I grew up at a time when Nigeria was going through quite a few changes. We were going through a military era, and I got to see firsthand advocacy, but also the power of collective voices and resilience of people. And I would say that through the exposure and childhood, I also was confronted with this narrative of Africa when I moved to the U.S. and the face of Africa being a hungry child and the face of poverty being a female farmer from Nigeria or from Ethiopia. And that narrative was quite dangerous. It demonstrated the power of a single story because it was quite different from the childhood that I had been exposed to. And it kind of started this fire in me to try to work diligently, to not only change the narrative, but to help elevate African growth, inclusive growth, to drive change, and to empower others.

So, from 16, I started getting involved in activities when I moved to the U.S. for college and became the president of the African Students Association at Penn and started the Africa Business Conference at Harvard. Wherever I was, I was really very committed to that narrative change. But I think my early exposure also to service, Jane, through my childhood, but also through coming to Harvard Business School at a time when they were just creating the Center for Social Innovation and coming to the Kennedy School actually and taking a class on poverty and policy in the developing world and things like that just really blew my mind. And so, this is a shout out to great professors who inspire, but also great schools that lay a great foundation. And so yeah, I took a traditional route, McKinsey, Wharton, Harvard, back to McKinsey, and then really felt that my calling wasn't just shareholder value creation, but transforming lives. And that started my whole journey into social innovation.

I became a serial social entrepreneur first with Leap Africa, which I started to inspire and empower the next generation of African leaders. And then with Aace Foods, which I co-founded with my husband, a social innovation focused on food and ag and sourcing locally from 10,000 farmers producing some of the best food we have in the continent, Sahel Consulting, which is really a dynamic consulting firm that works across the region. I co-founded Sahel Capital, which is a private equity fund that my husband runs now full-time, and then African Food Changemakers with the one-stop shop for food and ag entrepreneurs, and we have entrepreneurs in 49 African countries. And so, through all of these experiences, really learned and grew and was stretched as a person. And I'm proud to say that all of those organizations are thriving without my direct involvement.

And I was headhunted for this role at the ONE Campaign in late 2023. And it's been an amazing journey to lead one of, I think, a dynamic organization co-founded by Bono, Bobby Shriver, and Jamie Drummond, really standing on the shoulders of giants. So, this is where I sit today, and that's just a quick run through on my journey. But I would say my journey has been defined by great mentors, great leaders, faith. And the faith journey is really important to me, feeling a sense of urgency that my life has to make a difference to improve the lots of others and that I've been very fortunate.

Jane Nelson:

Oh, wonderful. And I'd love to come back to some of those amazing organizations that you created and have built, and as you say, have now also let go of and all of them have been sustained by a new generation of leaders. But maybe we can start with the ONE Campaign. And as you say, it was created by some amazing leaders, but can you tell us a bit more about why it was created and how it's evolved over the years and where it's now in terms of its priorities?

Ndidi Okonkwo Nwuneli:

Yeah. So, I'm really standing on the shoulders of giants who created an organization over 22 years ago. The first incarnation was actually called Data, Debt and Trade for Africa, and quickly evolved into what is called ONE today. And we at ONE believe that where you're born should not determine whether you live and that none of us are equal until all of us are equal. And ONE was created at the height of then the Iraq War, where HIV/AIDS was ravaging many, many countries in Africa and across the world, and we had unusual partnerships. Bono, an amazing gifted musician globally recognized, Bobby Shriver who came from a lineage of the Kennedys, service out of the box thinking. And then Jamie, who was really the advocate, young, dynamic advocate. And these three individuals just shared a common commitment to humanity, values around the fact that everyone deserves to live their full and meaningful life, and that if you have the opportunities to serve others, you should. And so, they partnered with Bush at a time when many people didn't believe such unusual allies could come together to create PEPFAR. And today we look at PEPFAR, it saved so many lives, nearly six million lives and galvanized over a hundred billion dollars. At the time, it cost $10,000 to save one person who had HIV/AIDS. Through innovation, partnerships and support, we're down to closer to $25 to keep someone alive, but it's probably one of America's most profound contributions to the world and one that has generated bipartisan support across the aisle. I've seen both Republicans and Democrats tell me how proud they are of what America did through PEPFAR. But ONE’s history is not just about PEPFAR and HIV/AIDS, but also about fighting for fairer financing. We actually got $110 billion in debt forgiven, unjust debt that many African countries had absorbed.

In partnership with the Catholic Church and the Jubilee movement, we were able to fight for the African Union to get a seat at the G-20, and I can go on and on and on. So, our history has really been shaped by the mission we have today, which is that we fight for equity and justice and the investments to ensure healthier lives and economic opportunity in Africa. And our vision is that Africa is an equal player. And so it's truly been one of the greatest honors of my life to build on the heritage and the history and to take it to the next level where our focus very clearly is on a pathway to sustainability, not only changing narratives about the African continent, which define my own early days, but ensuring that it directly affects the cost of capital to ensure that Africa is able to attract fairer financing, to address the debt challenges we face on the continent, but also to galvanize support for lifesaving medicines and a pathway to sustainability to ensure that African countries can fully finance their own healthcare.

So, it's been really amazing to work across nine countries. We have offices in Berlin, Brussels, Paris, London, teams across Canada and the United States. And then on the continent, we have an office in South Africa, Nigeria, and Senegal, and team members in East Africa. So, it's been truly a world-class journey that I've had to walk, but alongside so many great minds, brilliant colleagues. And so yeah, we keep fighting every day.

Jane Nelson:

Fantastic. And I think what you've been amazing you and your colleagues in doing, is bringing together the hard evidence and data with compelling narrative and stories. And can you pull that out a little bit more for us? Particularly this - data matters so much, but we've got to make it real and connect to people on the storytelling level as well.

Ndidi Okonkwo Nwuneli:

Yeah. So, one works in a very interesting, creative way. We have a toolkit that we use for advocacy, and the first component of this toolkit is what we call hard-hitting data. And through a dynamic team at ONE Data, led by David McNair, we've been able to not only partner with Google and Rockefeller and many other partners to get data from across the development sector. And what we've created is a one-stop shop that demystifies very technical issues in finance and health and makes it available and accessible, not only to the development community, but policymakers, the media, and thought leaders. This data has shaped not only how philanthropists fund work, but how governments engage. And honestly, this is one of the most powerful components of our data toolkit. Just coming out of the [World Bank] Spring Meetings a few weeks ago, we have data that shows that African governments between 2020 and 2024 are paying 91 percent more for debt than they have been in the past.

So, the cost of debt is going in the wrong direction. This data then shapes the entire dialogue during the Spring Meetings because it put on notice organizations such as the World Bank that are supposed to be providing concessional financing. And the data is showing us that their cost of lending is increasing. So, this data is so critical, and I've seen it just really, really rattle ecosystems and propel action. The second component of our toolkit is the importance of the insider outsider game. We have phenomenal colleagues who have worked in government who know how to shape policy within the ecosystem, who have built trusting relationships with policymakers across different political parties, and those who are outside the system but have a strong voice. And this insider outside game is critical and enables us to not only shape policy, to provide political cover for those who are fighting for the right things, but also to bring unusual voices together around a common agenda.

The third component of our toolkit is our youth voices. We have for the last 22 years galvinized youth activists, champions, advocates in all of our countries who speak with one voice. We empower them and equip them with the tools that they need to shape policy, but youth's voices matter in many, many, many rooms around the world. And then we have uncommon allies. We have a Global Faith Council. We have faith leader programs because faith leaders are so important in shaping policy. We have a diaspora creative councils. We've created a bunch of circles in all our markets. And this is really important because sometimes athletes and musicians and actresses and actors can get into rooms and leverage their platforms to fight. And this builds on the legacy of working with Bono and the power of his voice across the world.

And then finally, it's really around community mobilization. Many times you have to go to districts to shape policy before you come to capitals. And there we leverage the voices of soccer moms and grassroots influencers and media. Media is so critical, social media, traditional media, and we galvanize them. And so together, this toolkit is almost like magic. Some things work better than others. Sometimes you pull three or four components together, but it makes a difference. And even with the [aid] cuts across the world, we've seen the toolkit demonstrate impact. In Germany, where the German government was able to contribute significant amounts of money to The Global Fund and GAVI [the Vaccine Alliance]. We've seen even in the U.S., despite the cuts, congressmen and women vote for lifesaving medicines. And we've seen real contributions to IDA, the World Bank Concessional Financing and GAVI and The Global Fund. So, across the board, we've really demonstrated that advocacy matters, it's still as relevant today as ever, and ONE's work in partnership with many great organizations around the world needs to be supported.

Jane Nelson:

Fantastic. And I think that critical importance, as you say, of building these sorts of unusual cross-sector collaborations and coalitions for change. And the ONE Campaign really demonstrates that in practice, but I think many of the things you've done demonstrate that. And yet, we're obviously facing some very challenging times, as you say, cuts in spending, geopolitical tensions, geoeconomic fragmentation. What are some of the lessons you've learned on building these unusual coalitions for change and how can we continue to build them in these challenging times?

Ndidi Okonkwo Nwuneli:

I've learned many, many lessons over the last two plus years. And I would say if I had to pick a few around the importance of building unusual partnerships [with] unlikely allies, the first one is, and I believe, first of all, that you always have to say who has a voice and whose voice matters, but also whose voice is not heard and whose voice needs to be heard. And that takes some wisdom, it takes courage, but it also takes tremendous humility. And I'll use a few examples. We created this Global Faith Council under my leadership because we had seen the tremendous impact of the U.S. faith program since ONE's inception. The ability to bring alongside actors in the faith community who have trust on the ground, but who also have trusting relationships with their congressmen and women. We had mapped them across the 50 states and made sure that we had at least one strong faith leader in the state.

Now, many of these faith leaders, you take for granted that they know about these issues, but their voices have not ever been in the public square. They're very focused on their spiritual education and pastoral care for their congregation, but inviting them to come into the public square, equipping them with the data, the insights, and the connections is important. And what we saw just by bringing them to Washington D.C. together, we're talking about Muslim leaders, Christian leaders, Jewish leaders, Mormon, as well as our first Buddhist monk.

And Jane, you'd be happy to know that I met this Buddhist monk on a shuttle in Davos, literally at 6 am on that lonely journey. But he was opening the day at the World Economic Forum with the words of prayer, and I started talking to him about our work at ONE. He came to Washington D.C. for the first time. His interaction with faith leaders, you would say, wow, isn't it unusual? But they were able to connect around our common humanity and the fact that we see each other as one, that when you remove all the divisions in our mind, all the man-made divisions, that we actually have some shared values. One shared value is that if we have the opportunity to save a human life, we should. Another shared value is that no child should die an unnecessary death, so you can connect on values. And I think that commonality is so powerful. And then we gave them the tools and skills. They went to Congress and they were able to have the most meaningful conversations and impact. And all of them said, “We're going to take this back to our countries.” Whether it's Zambia, Uganda, Japan, it was incredible. And that is just a little example of how you can bring people who have never been in the same room, never had a need to be in the same room, and obviously have heard narratives about each other, but you galvanize them around a common opportunity to use their voices and platforms to make change happen and you see them light up and the humility to learn from each other is beautiful.

So, I have seen that that is a key learning and we've replicated that engagement with our G7 leaders, with engagement with our G-20, with the cost of capital work, especially with the cost of capital and narrative change work. So, for me, that's a key one.

The second is the tenacity. I mean, change does not happen overnight. You have to keep at it. We at ONE fought for a campaign that Africa is a return on investment, not a risk - linked to the issue around the high cost of capital where African countries pay five times more than other world regions for debt, which we have unpacked to be associated with this risk premium associated with Africa - that Africa is considered too risky. So, we started changing narratives, right? And we have first of all gotten the G-20, which South Africa hosted [in 2025], to adopt this Cost of Capital Commission.

The expert panel took it on, the data was useful, the programming was useful, the celebrity voices were useful. But the U.S. has now taken on the G-20 and we see that it might have to be the UK G-20 that this becomes an even bigger issue, but we're not giving up in this year that the U.S. is hosting the G-20. We're continuing to fight with our faith communities, our business communities. So, it might take a few years for us to bring down this cost of debt, but we will not give up. So, I'm just using that tenacity as an example that some of these fights are prolonged and we need the firepower and the staying power to keep pushing in spite of all the odds. And then the final one I would say is where my faith comes in, I mean, I have leaned on my faith from a very young age to give me courage and wisdom to choose my battles, but also to know how to navigate.

And in addition to the unlikely allies, the tenacity, the wisdom, and courage to know how to fight, when to fight, who to fight alongside, and what issues we can really push through on is really critical.

Jane Nelson:

Yeah, no, absolutely. And I think that critically important role that bridge builders play, and whether it's bridge builders or facilitators or conveners, but it's a new type of leadership, isn't it? I think our traditional leadership from the top is still there to a certain extent, but can you say a little bit more about how you see the role of leadership changing to be much more this bridge building, partnership building approach, and how you keep resilience and tenacity in such challenging processes?

Ndidi Okonkwo Nwuneli:

Yes, definitely. I would say that I've been very lucky to have been exposed to bridge builders from a young age. My mother happens to be American, born in New York, having to live in Nigeria and be a professor. Seeing her navigate those two world cultures, I think was a very good gift, a great gift that I had and my siblings had from a young age. And as a result, I've carried that notion with me that wherever you are, you're going to have to pull others along. And bridge building today is a necessity because in a world where oftentimes we feel alone or we feel different, others feel even more alone and different and social media has not helped. We've seen all the indicators. However, what I would say is the consistency to say, “I'm going to understand the language that the other person speaks.” I'm going to know how to relate to them from that perspective.

I'm going to step out of my comfort zone and put myself in their shoes and I'm going to learn how to hold my hand out to them from a place of humility. Wisdom and courage is required from anybody who wants to lead today. And I mentioned media because my colleagues have taught me a word - pre-bunking. There's so much noise in the media. We don't know what to believe. We don't know who to believe and ability to pre-bunk, to get ahead of the news and set the narrative straight, is also critical to bridge building because otherwise there are more issues that we can say divide us than unite us. And so, I think leaders are required to do that. Step out of your comfort zone, anticipate what is being discussed and what will be put in the public domain and get ahead of it.

Jane Nelson:

Yeah. No, no, that's a wonderful ... I love that sort of humility, wisdom, and courage, and then backed by data and evidence, I think can really make a major difference. And indeed, as we come to the end of our all too short time together, where do we go from here? I mean, what are some of your biggest concerns at the moment in the leadership role that you play, and you see others playing, and what is it that's giving you greatest hope right now as we move forward?

Ndidi Okonkwo Nwuneli:

Yeah. So, I think they have two major concerns, which I think all of us should be concerned about. One is who is showing up as the voice of authority today and what is the source of the authority? And I think we as individuals and leaders have to question that but also have to create and continue to create alternative narratives around what leadership means today. And for me, I go back to the people who I look up to as leaders. And I just want to use the example of Bono because in this time as the CEO of ONE Campaign, I've just been amazed at his strength and tenacity, but also his leadership. He's actually come out with some phenomenal music at a time when many people would not even be as courageous to put it out, but then the humility and the understanding of the times.

And often I think we are cowering. We're seeing too many people cower out of fear, out of fear of backlash, out of fear of being excluded, out of fear of losing status. And when we think about who has shaped the world we live in today, we think about the Mandelas of the world, the Bonos of the world, the Jane Nelsons of the world, we realize that the quiet tenacity, but also the courage to provide alternative leadership is critical. So, for me, I ask who's leading? What is their source of power? And is it fear of force or love or faith? And it sounds strange, but that's one that keeps me up at night because I think we're going down a slippery slope. The second is really the importance of designing for the most vulnerable. I think we're moving into a very transactional nature with our businesses, with our governments, where it's like, “What can you do for me and what can I get in return?” And we are losing track of this fight for the most vulnerable, the elderly, the children, those who care. Are we designing for them? Are we designing for the survival of the fittest, the strongest, the most vocal? And I think that's a missed opportunity and that's a slippery slope as well.

What gives me hope is that in spite of all this despair and absence and vacuum of authentic leadership, there are young innovators and young entrepreneurs and social entrepreneurs who continue to innovate and solve at the micro level, at the grassroots level. And they still are working against all odds to scale their innovations, to fill the gaps that are being created by government and business. And the second obviously is, as I've mentioned, faith leaders, celebrity voices who despite all the backlash are coming out to say, “I will stand for something. I will be known for something. I will not lose my tenacity and courage to fight for the most vulnerable.” And you see them show up every single day.

So, that gives me hope and that gives me a belief that we will come through stronger and with a new definition of what it takes to lead. And so that's where I am. That's where I sit today.

Jane Nelson:

Wonderful. Thank you so much Ndidi. And I just absolutely love that sort of framing of the humility, the wisdom, the courage backed by evidence, but also strengthened by community and coalitions, and whether it's grassroots community, whether it's coalitions of government leaders and business leaders, that that ability to build those coalitions I think really does give us a practical and feasible pathway forward. And you and your colleagues at ONE Campaign and in so many of the initiatives that you've started are really demonstrating that in practice. So, thank you for your many years of fantastic leadership and friendship and inspiration and it’s been wonderful to have you with us today.

Ndidi Okonkwo Nwuneli:

Thank you so much. It's been a pleasure.

Jane Nelson:

So, thank you. And to our listeners, our guest today again has been Ndidi Okonkwo Nwuneli, who is President and CEO of the ONE Campaign and has been an incredible social entrepreneur and visionary leader for many years. And please join us for our next episode of “Decoding Corporate Responsibility” from the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government at Harvard Kennedy School. I'm your host, Jane Nelson, and thank you for listening.