The Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Minister's Profile

Profile of the Minister of Foreign Affairs,
Republic of Liberia

Minister Olubanke King-Akerele (o.d.s.) was born on May 11, 1946. A trained Economist, she studied at the University of Ibadan in Nigeria, and graduated from Brandeis University with a BA in Economics (1967). Subsequently she studied Manpower Economics at Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts (USA) from where she earned an MA degree, and a second MA in Economics of Education from Columbia University, in New York. She also completed the first year of law school at the Louis Arthur Grimes School of Law at the University of Liberia.

Professional Accomplishments
• Prior to assumption of duties as Minister of Foreign Affairs in September 2007, Minister King-Akerele served as Minister of Commerce & Industry from April 2006 to September 2007. She brought a wealth of experience from her 24 years of senior-level service with both the United Nations System (UNIFEM, UNDP, UNIDO and UNESCO) and the Government of Liberia.
• Before joining the United Nations System, Minister King-Akerele served as Senior Planning Officer with the Ministry of Planning and Economic Affairs from 1968 to 1969, and again from 1975 to 1980, making significant contributions over time to the establishment of the Social Planning Division, the Manpower Planning Division, and the National Development Plan, among others.
• Under a secondment from the Ministry of Planning and Economic Affairs, she also served as Deputy Director of the National Social Security and Welfare Corporation from 1975 to 1980. There she played a lead role in the process that led to the actual launch of the National Social Security and Welfare Scheme in Liberia in 1980.
• Minister King-Akerele has served in the following capacities in the United Nations System:
Deputy Director of United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) in New York from 1982 to 1989; Deputy Resident Representative, UNDP Senegal, from 1989 to 1991; UNDP Resident Representative and Resident Coordinator for UN Operational Activities in Mauritius and Seychelles from 1991 to 1994, representing the United Nations Secretary-General.
• She also served as: Managing Director, Country Strategy and Programme Development Division, United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) from October 1994 to February 1996; Chief, East and Central Africa Division, Regional Bureau for Africa, UNDP, from 1996 to December 1997, with oversight responsibility for 12 country offices, namely Cameroon, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Kenya, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Uganda, and the then referred to crisis countries of DRC, Congo (Brazzaville), Rwanda, Burundi and Central African Republic. Subsequently, she was Country Programme Advisor, UNDP - Africa from January to October 1998.

• In 1998, she undertook a UNDP-supported sabbatical to the South-East Asian "Tiger" economies over a four-month period (from May to August), which resulted in, amongst others, the application of the South-East Asian experience in southern Africa, in particular the economic “Growth Triangles”,
an approach to promotion of economic integration through micro regionalism among countries with contiguous borders (e.g. Zambia – Malawi – Mozambique GT): “Business Coalitions” on HIV/AIDS and training in visionary leadership development.
• UNDP Resident Representative and Resident Coordinator of the United Nations System Operational Activities for Development in Zambia from November 1998 to September 2003; Programme Coordinator for an innovative joint UNDP-UNESCO Project that she conceptualised, "Foundations for Africa’s Future Leadership", at UNESCO’s Regional Office for Education in Africa, Dakar, Senegal, from January 2004 to March 2006.

Highlights of Accomplishments as Minister of Commerce & Industry (April 2006 to September 2007):
1. Broke the long-standing rice monopoly and brought in several Liberian importers such that upon her turnover in late September 2007:
(a) Full, open market was functioning, with six rice importers, five of whom, for the first time ever, were Liberians.
(b) Rice dealers in Kakata and Harbel were in charge of retail markets with access to more than $200,000 in revolving credit, arranged with the help of the Ministry of Commerce & Industry in collaboration with EcoBank.
(c) Maintained a stable rice price and constant supply throughout the country, with accessibility in south-eastern Liberia thanks to UN vessel.
(d) Managed the rice stabilization fund that increased from $68,000 at the beginning of the Johnson-Sirleaf administration, to a high of $1.2 million by December 2006, with a balance of $750,000 at September 2007.

2. Promoted Liberian entrepreneurs in various sectors and levels of society. As part of this, she developed the programme for “grooming” future Liberian entrepreneurs in cooperation with University of Liberia and Liberia Business Association, while supporting war-affected youths in Ganta, as well as small Liberian businesses in Nimba and Bassa. In all cases, she facilitated access to financing for the entrepreneurs, in association with EcoBank, while tapping expertise at Ghana Institute for Management & Public Administration (GIMPA) for training of Liberian Small Scale entrepreneurs.

3. Introduced innovative programmes, with UNIDO, UNDP and FAO assistance, for a Harper/Pleebo Growth Center with the Center-Songhai model as its core, while establishing a pricing support unit and a consumer education unit at the Ministry of Commerce & Industry.

4. Responsible for work that led to Liberia's successful admission into the U.S.- Africa Growth & Opportunity Act, while initiating steps for Liberia's application into the World Trade Organization (WTO). Liberia now has observer status at the WTO.

5. Encouraged the design of a trade and export promotion programme for the Ministry through the assistance of the International Trade Center, (Geneva), mobilizing some $950,000 while establishing cooperation with the U.S. Government West Africa Trade Hub (WATH), in Accra, Ghana.

6. Initiated steps for putting in place a Quality Control Standard Laboratory, with assistance of
Standard Organization of Nigeria (SON) which financed the training of five Liberians over a six months period in Nigeria in order to address issues of sub-standard goods entry into the Liberian market.
UNIDO, through an EU regional programme, is also supporting the initiative.
7. Mobilised $50,000 from Coca-Cola Africa Foundation for export programme for small and medium Liberian entrepreneurs, and an additional $50,000 from EcoBank as part of a matching grant programme serving as “seed” capital to respond to the lack of access to financing for Liberian entrepreneurs.

Publications, "Think" Pieces and Initiatives
Published by Africa Training & Research Centre for Women, UNECA
• "Women Workers in Zambia, Ghana and Kenya" (1975)
• "Women and Palm Oil Processing in Sierra Leone, Cameroon and Ivory Coast” (1980)
• "Women in the Fishing Industry in Ghana and Liberia" (1980)
Other “think” Piece on
• Arresting Capital Flight in Africa (1991)
• "Growth Triangles and Their Potential for the Indian Ocean Rim Region (IOR – ARC) in J. M. Reddy (ed.) "Trade and Investment Issues in the Indian Ocean” (Sterling Publishers, 2000)
• "Positioning” Africa in the Global Space (CODESRIA Bulletin, 1998)
• Conceptualization and Implementation of Africa-wide Joint UNDP/UNESCO Programme, "Foundations of Africa's Future Leadership" – a program that forms the basis for other succession planning initiatives (2004 – 2006)
• ”An Analysis of Integration of Women in the Agricultural Sector of Zambia's Third National Development Plan" (1981)
• Dag Hammarskjold Living memorial initiative, Zambia
• “Walking” the Vision: the story of the ZMM - Growth Triangle (1999 – 2000)
• “Grooming” Development Diplomats – an innovative trainee program recently launched (April 2009) by the Foreign Service Institute of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Liberia) with support of UNDP – Liberia as part of laying the foundations for emphasis on economic and development Diplomacy in support of the vision underlying the Johnson Sirleaf Government Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS).
Honors, Awards and Recognitions
•    The distinction of having been nominated as the African candidate (and the first woman so nominated by the OAU) for heading a UN organization, the post of Director-General of UNIDO, in 1997.
•    Honored by Government of Zambia through receipt of the Order of Distinguished Services (o.d.s) Second Division, for valuable services rendered the Government during five years there as Resident Coordinator of UN System Operational Activities for Development.
•    UNDP-Zambia, under her management, was the only country office in the African region to receive the 2004 Award for Excellence in Support of the Millennium Development Goals through the Zambian National Human Development Report (2003), which underscored the relationship of food security and the MDGs.
•   Africare: Recognition for Extraordinary Commitment to Zambian Youth.
•    Liberian Business Association: Recognition for Successful Promotion of Liberian Entrepreneurs during service as Minister of Commerce & Industry.