Joseph Okpaku, Sr. is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Telecom Africa International Corporation and is leading the reconception of Africa’s global role post COVID-19. Dr. Okpaku is highly regarded as a leading expert in global and African telecommunications development (especially in the areas of affordable access), industrialization, strategic policy, competitive capacity-building in a globalised economy, and 21st Century Issues.

As a Founding Member of the African Advisory Group on ICT to the African Ministers of Communications of the African Union, Dr. Okpaku contributed invaluable input into the development of telecommunications policy and strategy in the SADC region and throughout the African continent. Dr. Okpaku was a senior Founding Member of the Billion Minds Foundation. He also consults for Governments and international organizations in the fields of strategic development and governance. Dr. Okpaku’s academic credentials mirror the breadth of his professional expertise.

A renowned scholar, publisher and globally recognized expert in Long-Term Strategic Planning, Futures Studies and Innovation, Dr. Okpaku has consulted in these fields for international organizations, including the United Nations, UNDP, the World Bank, the International Telecommunication Union and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). He has written and lectured extensively worldwide on strategic development, telecommunications and ICT. His book, Information and Communications Technologies for African Development, published by the United Nations ICT Task Force, was considered to be the leading edge on the subject. He served on the Digital Divide Task Force of the World Economic Forum and also as an Advisor to the United Nations ICT Task Force. A popular keynote speaker, Dr. Okpaku was called “the philosopher of the New Millennium” in a 2002 Business Day article.

His current focus is on developing a new paradigm for transforming Africa’s development strategy from survival and poverty management to a culture and knowledge-based, science and technology-driven ambitious and globally-competitive quantum self-development strategy through Project R&D, his instrument for accomplishing this dream. Dr. Okpaku holds a B.S. degree in Civil Engineering from Northwestern University, an M.S. degree in Structural Engineering from Stanford University, and a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Dramatic Literature and Theatre History, also from Stanford University. He won a BBC drama prize while still in engineering school at Stanford. Recently he has spoken on the compelling need for a Smart, More Ambitious and More Equitable China-Africa Partnership.

Dr. Joseph Okpaku Sr.’s worldview is best captured in his address on Knowledge and the Translucency of Government, delivered in Seoul at the Sixth Global Forum on Reinventing Government.