At the helm of the African Center for Economic Transformation (ACET), African Center for Economic Transformation, Ghanaian economist Mavis Owusu-Gyamfi has established herself as one of the leading African voices in economic policy thinking. She advocates for a transformation of the continent grounded in investment in human capital, education, innovation, and industrialization, with the aim of strengthening the competitiveness of African economies.
As President and Chief Executive Officer of ACET, Mavis Owusu-Gyamfi promotes the mobilization of human capital and domestic resources to finance Africa’s transformation. Through the Accra-based think tank, she emphasizes industrialization, education, and innovation as key pillars of development.
“Much of the discussions we have had in recent days have primarily focused on the national level. How do we strengthen domestic resource mobilization? How do we broaden and deepen this mobilization? How do we develop our domestic capital markets? And when speaking with permanent secretaries and ministers, one realizes that the fundamental issue in both areas is what I call ‘de-fragmentation’: a disconnect at the national level.”
Mavis Owusu-Gyamfi
Although she operates outside partisan politics, her influence on African leaders remains significant. Her career has led her to advise governments, international institutions, and development organizations on economic and social policy. Before taking the helm of ACET in 2024, she held senior positions at the UK Department for International Development (DFID), the NGO Save the Children, and The Power of Nutrition, an organization focused on financing nutrition programs in developing countries.
“By working together, we will actually move much faster in mobilizing domestic resources. And today, with public digital infrastructure, everything is possible. As for the domestic capital market, appropriate policies and regulations are needed to ensure people that their money is safe and will be invested. Once that capital market is consolidated, we can then move to the regional level.”
Mavis Owusu-Gyamfi
In the education sector, ACET argues that Africa’s economic future depends on its ability to train a skilled workforce adapted to technological change. Mavis Owusu-Gyamfi advocates for education systems that are more oriented toward skills, science, digital technologies, and innovation. For her, education is not only a social issue but a strategic investment essential to transforming Africa’s demographic potential into a driver of growth and competitiveness.
“If a Ministry of Finance reviews its annual budget and genuinely wants to ensure that women are part of the workforce, it must take certain steps. First, it must ask: are we adequately funding girls’ education? What challenges do women face in education, and are we allocating sufficient funding to address them?”
Mavis Owusu-Gyamfi
Having joined ACET in 2020 as Executive Vice President, she helped strengthen the institution’s role as a leading African reference in economic research and policy formulation. Under her leadership, ACET focuses on structural transformation of African economies, job creation, private sector development, regional integration, and the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
