Damilola Ogunbiyi

Damilola Ogunbiyi is a Nigerian-born sustainable energy advocate. She is the Chief Executive Officer of Sustainable Energy for All, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Sustainable Energy for All, and Co-Chair of UN-Energy.[1]

Ogunbiyi was the first female Managing Director of the Nigerian Rural Electrification Agency from 2017 to 2019,[2] where she negotiated the US$550 million Nigerian Electrification Project that powered universities and led to the development of solar hybrid projects powering hundreds of communities around Nigeria. She was also the Senior Special Assistant to the President of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, and Head of the Advisory Power Team within the Office of the Vice-President.

A commentator on renewable energy access,[3] the Sustainable Development Goals and the inclusion of women and youth in the energy sector, she has written about the importance of energy access for health-care services during the COVID-19 pandemic[4] [5] and how energy access can support economic recovery from the pandemic in countries like Nigeria.[6] Prior to joining SEforALL, Ogunbiyi was the first female Managing Director of the Nigerian Rural Electrification Agency, where she negotiated the US$550 million Nigerian Electrification Project that powered universities and led to the development of solar hybrid projects powering hundreds of communities around Nigeria.

Ogunbiyi is the Co-Chair of the COP26 Energy Transition Council aimed at driving action to accelerate the shift to clean energy ahead of COP26 and to bring together leaders in the power sector across politics, finance and technology to speed up the transition from coal to clean renewable energy in developing countries.

She is a member of the Development Advisory Council of the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), member of the clean cooking alliance advisory board and a member of the Advisory Board of the University of Oxford – Future of Cooling Programme. She is also Commissioner for the international think-tank the Energy Transitions Commission, and a Commissioner for the Global Commission to End Energy Poverty, an initiative by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Rockefeller Foundation.

Ogunbiyi maintains a keen interest in mentoring and empowering young people. [7] She created the Lagos State Energy Academy to build the capacity of young people in renewable energy technology, and the Energizing Education Programme (EEP) which launched a Female STEM Student Internship Programme to provide hands-on practical experience in designing and constructing power systems for 700 female undergraduates.