Dr Aida Opoku-Mensah

Biography

Dr Aida Opoku-Mensah is currently the founder and MD of Centric Digital Ltd a private company based in Ghana, which is providing innovative, practical & value-centric services and applications to promote the digital economy of the country. She is also the co-founder of the Consortium on the Fourth Industrial Revolution for Africa’s Development (FIRCAD), an initiative promoting the Fourth Industrial Revolution Economy (FIRE) focused on reskilling and capacity building. 

She previously worked with the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) as Chief of Staff to the Executive Secretary & Special Advisor on SDGs where she coordinated and provided strategic advice on SDGs activities within the Commission, including the African Union-UN Framework on SDGs & Agenda 2063.  

In previous roles in the same organisation she was Director, ICT, Science & Technology Division, where she managed ECA’s programme on Harnessing Information, Science and Technology for Africa’s Development, which included the Knowledge, Library and Information Services programme. As Director of that division, she specifically led and implemented impressive initiatives such as ECA’s African Information Society Initiative (AISI) a continental digital agenda supporting African countries to develop and implement national ICT4D policies and strategies. In supporting African countries to develop and implement digital policies, Dr Opoku-Mensah & her team focused on ICTs in various sectors to advance socio-economic development on the Continent in partnership with various international partners. 

Aida holds a BA Hons in Linguistics from the University of Ghana; a Diploma in - International Studies from the University of London; a MA in Communication Policy Studies from the City University, London; and a PhD in Political Science and Communications from the School of Politics and International Studies at the University of Leeds. 

Dr Opoku-Mensah sits on a number of boards, and is the current vice-chair of the advisory board of the Lagos-based CSO, Paradigm Initiative that focuses on digital rights in Africa. She is also on the Advisory Committee of the ATAF African Tax Research Network (ATRN). She was instrumental in the registration of the Network of African Women in Cybersecurity (NAWC) and is a director/executive member of the organisation.