Damilola shines, makes Forbes’ 2025 sustainability leaders list
Damilola Ogunbiyi. Credit; seforall.org
*Ogunbiyi was chosen out of 120 finalists.
* First female GM Lagos State Electricity Board
* First female MD of Nigerian Rural Electrification Agency
Nigerian-born chief executive of Sustainable Energy for All and the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Sustainable Energy for All, Damilola Ogunbiyi, has been named to Forbes magazine’s Sustainability Leaders 2025 list, the business title announced on Thursday.
The annual Forbes list recognises 50 global figures whose recent work is driving measurable progress on climate, clean energy, and sustainability across public, private and multilateral arenas.
According to the Magazine, Ogunbiyi was selected out of 120 finalists, including founders, scientists, researchers, policymakers, executives, investors, activists, and artists.
She shares the leadership spot with Kenya’s Wanjira Mathai and Benin’s Romaric Odoulami.
“At the United Nations, Damilola Ogunbiyi leads efforts to advance an equitable energy transition that benefits underprivileged communities in the Global South,” Forbes said in her tribute.
Ogunbiyi is a trailblazer with a track record in the energy sector in Nigeria and internationally.
As a woman, she is a landmark for gender representation in the sector, showing that African women can and do lead transformative, continent-wide clean-energy solutions.
Ogunbiyi is currently a co-chair of UN-Energy, a commissioner for the Global Commission to End Energy Poverty, and the COP26 Energy Transition Council co-chair.
In Nigeria, she was the first female General Manager of the Lagos State Electricity Board and, later, the first female Managing Director of the Nigerian Rural Electrification Agency.
“Through her office’s Energy Compacts initiative, she has helped secure $201 billion in investments to provide affordable clean energy to the 685 million people living without electricity and over 2 billion still cooking with polluting fuels.
“From 2021 to 2024, the program built infrastructure to provide a reliable electricity supply for 177 million people and 6,000 healthcare facilities,” Forbes said.
Ogunbiyi is also a co-chair of Mission 300, a joint initiative by the World Bank Group and the African Development Bank to provide electricity to 300 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa by 2030.
She holds a bachelor’s degree in project management with Construction from the University of Brighton and a master’s degree in Construction Management with Public Private Partnership from the University of Brighton.
