EU YOUTH SOUNDING BOARD IN NIGERIA

Karinate Olali is a Nigerian lawyer specialising in international development, with a focus on International Trade Law. She started her career in the German Development Cooperation (GIZ) with the project: Support to the ECOWAS Commission in the Implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA); there, she provides general support and conducts research on trade information and trade facilitation. She speaks English & French fluently.

With an additional background in project management, Karinate has been involved in social activism initiatives, including organising TEDx events around climate change, the journey to Net Zero, diversity and inclusion.

In addition to her role in the AfCFTA project, she coordinates a team of over 30 interns across different cities under the auspices of the Gender and Diversity Secretariat, GIZ Nigeria & ECOWAS, to foster peer-to-peer support, enhance welfare, and promote human capacity development. 

Karinate is also a strong advocate for equity and inclusion, focusing particularly on the dimensions of gender, age and social background. She believes that guided liberalised trade, especially in services, is essential for achieving freedom, equality and inclusion. She supports causes that are geared towards the achievement of SDGs 5, 8, 10, 13 & 17.

In her free time, Karinate passionately volunteers on mental health and social justice initiatives. This she has done with the Mentally Aware Nigeria Initiative, amongst others. She also enjoys corporate communications, and she regularly listens to podcasts, as well as reading African literature.

Ibrahim is currently the Founder of Hope for HER, which tackles gender-based violence through the provision of education to young vulnerable girls, vocational training to the victims and advocacy against it to young male high school students. 

Ibrahim is the 2016 Winner of the ICT Whizkids Competition, and a 2023 alumnus of the Aspire Leaders Program, United People Global Leadership program and McKinsey’s Forward program. He is a 2023 mentee for the MCW Global Youth Fellowship in New York, and as a recipient of the 2023 MCW Roberta Richin Memorial Vision Plan Award at NYU School of Professional Studies, the Nigerian Youth SDG’s Network Spotlight Series, and a finalist for the Global Youth Awards by the Legacy Project in the UK.