Akinyi Ochieng
2015-2016 Fellow with
Global Shea Alliance,
Ghana
Yale University Class of 2015
Akinyi Ochieng is a strategist and advisor to mission-driven organizations. She identifies, incubates, and scales innovations that advance a more sustainable, inclusive, and resilient world. Akinyi currently leads strategic planning and operations at the Autodesk Foundation, which invests in nonprofits and startups helping to de-risk innovation and leverage design and engineering solutions to address pressing social and environmental challenges.
Prior to Autodesk, Akinyi served as Director & Vice President at APCO, where she advised leading corporations, foundations, and nonprofits on their social impact initiatives. She partnered with innovators and changemakers to design and scale programs that support economic mobility and inclusive innovation throughout North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. She began her career in the financial services industry, developing economic mobility campaigns and programs at Nova Credit and WorldRemit.
Akinyi holds deep expertise in economic development and food security in Africa, with a successful track record of mobilizing multi-million-dollar public-private partnerships to accelerate sustainable business practices in the region. Her insights on business, culture, and politics in Africa have been featured in Forbes, CNBC, BBC, African Business Magazine, and the World Economic Forum. She serves as Board Chair of SOS Sahel USA (Africa’s oldest food security nonprofit), a Trustee of Operation Fistula, and a Board Member of Princeton in Africa. She previously served as co-president of the inaugural Princeton in Africa Alumni Board and was a Fellow at Global Shea Alliance in Accra, Ghana during her time as a Princeton in Africa Fellow.
Akinyi holds an MSc in Global Politics from the London School of Economics and a BA (with distinction) in Political Science and African Studies from Yale University. She has also completed certificates in strategic philanthropy and social impact from the University of Cambridge’s Judge School of Business and the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Social Policy. She has been named one of the 100 Most Influential People of African Descent under 40.