Short Bio:
Awele is the Founder and CEO of Credo Advisory, a leading strategic and development communications consultancy based in Abuja and Washington, DC. Credo supports governments, international institutions, donors, organizations, and INGOs to raise awareness, develop campaigns on key development issues, build trust with diverse target audiences, and effect change. For over 25 years, she has led communications teams to design and implement communications initiatives for institutions, including the United Nations, the United States Agency for International Development, the United Kingdom Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. As a World Bank consultant, Awele has experience delivering reform communications programmes in Nigeria, Jordan, Sudan, Zambia, Romania, Croatia, Bulgaria, and Kazakhstan. In 2012, she was appointed as a Technical Advisor to the Presidential Task Force on Power and, in 2020, to the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 by the Federal Government of Nigeria. Before her consultancy work, she spent seven years with the International Monetary Fund in Washington, DC, supporting the launch of strategic operations in over 90 countries through communications and stakeholder engagement. In 2022, Awele was nominated and inducted into the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Goalkeepers Community in recognition of being a changemaker catalysing action toward the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. She is passionate about advancing the Global Goals through communications. In 2023, Awele began supporting the advancement of women in the clean cooking sector as a mentor in the Women in Clean Cooking Mentorship Program – a joint initiative of the Sustainable Energy for All, Clean Cooking Alliance and the Global Women’s Network for Energy Transition. In 2024, Awele was chosen to join a distinguished group of 49 dynamic women visionaries from around the globe as a Vital Voices Fellow. In partnership with the Estée Lauder Emerging Leaders Fund, Vital Voices Global Partnership invests in women leaders “who are taking on the world’s greatest challenges – from gender-based violence to the climate crisis, economic inequities, and more.” She hosts Credo Voices, a podcast highlighting inspiring stories of everyday heroes. The podcast is a growing global community of change agents driving the Sustainable Development Goals. She is a regular industry speaker and Co-Chair of the Board of Trustees at the Thacher School, a co-educational preparatory boarding school in California. Awele is also a Board Member of Relief International, a global humanitarian organization that partners with communities in Africa, Asia and the Middle East impacted by conflict, climate change, and disaster. Married with four children, Awele is an avid cyclist and culinary enthusiast who speaks French and Igbo.
