Dr. Chii Akporji
Chairperson of the Board of Directors
Dr Chii Akporji is a results-driven development finance professional with over 20 years’ experience in designing and managing the execution of complex programs and projects in in urban development and housing finance spaces in industrializing economies in Africa, Asia and Latin America to sustainable impact.
She had a successful 15-year career with the World Bank Group in Washington DC, working primarily on country response programs to rampaging urbanization and climate change, where she set a solid track record for originating government, private sector and CSO partnerships to implement reforms to improve city planning and growth through urban policy development, slum upgrading and city development plans, mainstreaming mitigation and adaptation processes in Sam’s while enhancing cities competitiveness and credit worthiness. Key multiplier effects unlocked include improved access to basic services for citizens, jobs creation, wealth creation and increased GDP ratios for the specific economies.
Dr. Akporji has also served as a Senior Advisor to a world renown development economist, former Managing Director of the World Bank Group and currently Director General of the World Trade Organization, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, when she worked as the Nigerian Minister of Finance/Coordinating Minister for the Economy. Then, she played key roles in the conceptualization and delivery of several economic policy reforms with tangible results for the Nigerian economy, including the achievement of an average GDP growth of 6%, making Nigeria then one of the fastest growing economies in sub-Saharan Africa; reduced tax to GDP ratios, the institution of e-governance technology platforms to enhance transparency of operations and cost efficiencies, grew FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) and the rebasing of the country’s GDP data by the IMF to re-position it as the largest economy in Africa.
She coordinated the set-up and operationalization of the Nigeria Mortgage Refinance Company (NMRC), the first mortgage refinance institution in the country with a US$300 million IDA loan from the World Bank. She served as Board member and Executive Director, superintending business development, partnerships, the de-risking of a nascent mortgage and complex housing market through streamlining underwriting processes, originating a model mortgage market and foreclosure law and the deployment of an end to end technology infrastructure to enhance efficiency of systems and processes, transparency and cost effectiveness along the entire housing market value chain.
Dr Akporji is currently CEO of ALPHACITIES Consulting LLC, her own consulting firm with headquarters in Washington DC providing bespoke advisory services to clients as wide ranging as the World Bank, the International Finance Corporation, the Central Bank of Nigeria, the Gates Foundation, a number of state governments in Nigeria and the African Development Bank, which she represents on the board of directors of Shelter Afrique, the pan-African housing finance institution headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya.
A well-published author and a passionate community activist, Dr Akporji got her Bachelor’s degree in Arts from University College Dublin, Ireland, a Masters’ degree from the University of Ottawa, Canada and a Doctorate from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria. She also holds professional certificates and diplomas from Harvard, University of Cambridge’s Judge Business School and Wharton.
