Envision Africa from the ground up.
Freelance Senior Consultant helping businesses and institutions enter and grow in West Africa: business development, strategic partnerships and market expansion, in French and English.
Connecting opportunities. Solving challenges. Accelerating growth.
Who I am
Olafemiwa Okanla
More than a strategist. A connector, a storyteller and a woman of many passions.
I am a freelance senior consultant working across West Africa. For more than twenty years, between France and the region, I have helped organisations understand their environment, find the right partners and move ambitious projects from intention to execution. I connect people, solve problems and accelerate growth, with a storyteller’s eye for the narrative that makes a vision travel.
Three ways I help ambitious projects move.
01 · Connector
Connect
I bring the right partners, institutions and decision-makers to the same table, across francophone and anglophone West Africa.
02 · Problem solver
Solve
I turn complex, local realities into clear options and workable plans.
03 · Accelerator
Accelerate
I help projects move from intention to execution, with the narrative to carry them.
Expertise
From strategy to execution, with the story to carry it.
Business Strategy & Development
A clear, workable route from potential to growth.
Stakeholder Engagement
Authorities, communities and partners moving in the same direction.
Market Entry & Expansion
Benin, Nigeria, Ghana: ground-level insight before you commit.
Strategic Communications & Narrative
Complex projects made clear, credible and supported.
Strategic Partnerships
The right local partners, identified, introduced and aligned.
Project Development & Implementation
Plans that get delivered, teams that stay aligned.
Selected work
What I have helped build.
Port Authority of Cotonou · 2021–2024
Master Plan Communications & Public Engagement
Built the port’s first communication function to carry its 2021–2026 Master Plan and 12 modernisation projects.
300+
e-WALO Group Corp. · 2025 →
Market Entry & Strategic Partnerships in Benin
Market assessment and entry for a U.S.-based energy-transition company, then strategic advice to its Benin subsidiary.
15+
ADN Benin · 2017–2019
Benin Digital Week: Digital Economy Promotion
Three editions of the Digital Week, the national HackerLab and 20+ campaigns for Benin’s digital agenda.
300+
Recommendations
What clients, partners and teams say.
“Impressive knowledge of the market, professionalism and the ability to deliver with quality under a short timeframe.”
“Dynamic, well connected in our ecosystem and always looking for pragmatic solutions.”
“Professional, self-motivated, ambitious, confident and determined, with the ability to build projects from scratch.”
“A rare ability to motivate and inspire her team, and to create an environment where everyone gives their best.”
Notes from Africa
-
A Beninese Woman in Kinshasa
All I knew of Kinshasa came from its diaspora and its headlines. Four days at Kinshasa Digital Week in 2019 changed that.
-
Living in Africa: How Do You Stay for Good?
Returning to Africa is one thing. Choosing to stay is another. More than a decade after first writing about my own return, I reflect on what it truly…
-
The Diaspora: Africa’s New Settlers?
The title is meant to provoke. Some of us come home convinced we are bringing the solutions. Africa needs its diaspora, but not as lecturers. Updated for 2026.
-
To Each Their Road: Africa Lives in Us
Not every African’s destiny lies in Africa. A reflection on identity, belonging and the many places from which the continent is built.
Work with me
Building something in West Africa? Let’s build it together.
Market entry, partnerships, stakeholder engagement or a story that needs telling, in French or English.
