Olumide Okunola

Olumide Okunola is the Program Lead for the Nigeria program of the Health in Africa Initiative (HiA) and Senior Health Specialist at the International Finance Corporation of the World Bank Group. He leads the work on private sector participation in health systems and has been involved in the conceptualization, design and implementation of several pro-poor risk pooling schemes in Nigeria including the Catastrophic Health Fund (CHF) - The CHF aims to support qualified beneficiaries to finance the treatment of illnesses that represent a risk of catastrophic expense. Olumide undertook graduate studies at the London School of Economics/LSHTM and University of Oxford -Said Business School where he earned master’s degrees in Health Policy, Planning & Financing and Major Programme Management (MPM) respectively. He also graduated with an MBA from the Said Business School at the University of Oxford.

He brings to healthcare an uncommon combination of skills in healthcare as a practitioner and expertise in management of complex projects. He is passionate about bringing innovative approaches to healthcare delivery in Africa through alternative financing models for healthcare. Prior to joining the IFC/WBG he was project coordinator for a large Greenfield hospital project in Nigeria. A trained medical doctor, he has worked at all levels of the Nigerian healthcare. He is passionate about pushing through reforms to rethink and redesign the way primary healthcare services are financed and delivered in developing countries.