Nabila Aguele
Nabila is a member of Women for Women International’s International Board.
Nabila Aguele is Chief Executive, Nigeria at Malala Fund, where she sits on the global Executive Leadership Team. She leads the organisation’s Nigeria strategy and operations and oversees the country’s external affairs portfolio.
An accomplished lawyer, public policy expert, and advocate for gender equality with more than 20 years of experience, Nabila is recognised for her expertise in sustainable development and her use of data-driven and narrative-based advocacy to shape policy and shift societal norms.
She is a Non-Resident Fellow at the Center for Global Development and a Senior Fellow at the African Center for Economic Transformation. She also serves on the boards of Women for Women International, INSEAD, and Girl Rising, where she is Vice-Chair of the Board and Chair of the Nominating & Governance Committee. She previously served on the board of INSEAD’s Force for Good Campaign, which raised over €300 million.
Before joining Malala Fund, Nabila was Special Adviser to Nigeria’s Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, where she championed gender-responsive fiscal policies and budgets and helped develop Nigeria’s Integrated National Financing Framework. She previously co-led the Strategic Revenue Growth Initiatives as Special Adviser to the Minister of Finance and served as Technical/Special Assistant to the Minister of State for Budget and National Planning.
Earlier in her career, Nabila was a faculty member at American University Washington College of Law, where she co-led the Glushko-Samuelson Intellectual Property Law Clinic and designed and taught the school’s first Patent Litigation course. She began her career in patent litigation, representing Fortune 500 companies at major U.S. firms including Morrison Foerster, and was appointed Special Assistant Attorney General with the District of Columbia Office of the Attorney General.
A global citizen, Nabila grew up in Nigeria, England, Qatar, and Canada. She holds a B.Sc. from the University of Toronto, a Juris Doctor from American University Washington College of Law, and an MBA from INSEAD, where she was Valedictorian. She is also a proud mother of three young children and an acrylic artist.