Meet Clare Akamanzi – Newly Appointed CEO of NBA Africa

Clare Akamanzi – an accomplished business executive and international trade and investment lawyer – is the new CEO of the National Basketball Association (NBA) Africa. 

Akamanzi will start her position on January 23, 2024, and report to NBA Deputy Commissioner and Chief Operating Officer Mark Tatum.

For the last six and a half years, Akamanzi was CEO of the Rwanda Development Board (RDB), where she spearheaded Rwanda’s economic development by enabling private sector growth. 

Previously, Akamanzi was the Chief Operating Officer of RDB and Head of the Strategy and Policy Unit, at the Office of the President of the Republic of Rwanda. 

She has extensive international trade, business and diplomatic experience, having previously worked for the Rwandan Government at the World Trade Organization in Geneva, Switzerland and the Rwandan Embassy in London, England.

Akamanzi has worked or studied in seven different countries and holds an honorary LLD from Concordia University in Montreal, Canada, in recognition of her work in Rwanda. 

She earned a master’s degree in public administration from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where she was the recipient of three prestigious awards for academic excellence and distinguished contribution to the community: the Lucius N. Littauer Fellows Award, the Raymond & Josephine Vernon Award and the Robert Kennedy Public Service Award.

In addition, Akamanzi holds a Master of Laws degree in international trade and investments from the University of Pretoria in South Africa, a Bachelor of Laws degree from Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda and an Honorary Doctor of Law from Concordia University.

In May 2020, Clare Akamanzi was appointed as a Founding Board Member of the World Health Organization Foundation and serves as a Member of the Board of Advisors of the World Intellectual Property Organization.

In 2012, she was named as a Young Global Leader at the World Economic Forum and one of Africa’s Top 20 Leading Women in Economic Development by Forbes in 2013.

In 2019, Clare Akamanzi was named among the Inaugural List of 100 Most Influential African Women by Avance Media and one of Africa’s Top 50 Powerful Women by Forbes in 2020.

Akamanzi has served on several company boards, including the World Health Organization (WHO) Foundation, ECOBANK and Aviation, Travel and Logistics (ATL) company.