Olufemi Babarinde

Associate Professor, Global Business
Thunderbird School of Management, Arizona State University

Olufemi A. Babarinde is an Associate Professor in the Department of Global Business at Thunderbird School of Global Management (the premier business school for international business), a unit of Arizona State University, USA. His academic degrees, from Wittenberg University and Miami University, are in Economics and in Political Science. His expertise and areas of specialization include Sub-Sahara African Business, European Business, Global Political Economy, Global/Economic Development, and Regional Trade/Economic Agreements. In addition to teaching and publishing on subjects in the aforementioned areas, he has taught courses for Thunderbird in different parts of the world, including in the Republic of South Africa, Kenya, Asia, and Europe. Some of his recent (co-authored) publications include “Reforming Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation,” “Africa-EU –EU Partnership on Trade and Regional Integration,” “Africa-EU Partnership on the Millennium Development Goals,” “Implications of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership for Africa,” “The Private Equity Market in Africa,” “Africa on the move: ignore the continent at your own risk,” and “The African Union and the quest for security governance in Africa.” He also serves on the editorial boards of a number of academic journals, and has consulted for companies/organizations and made media appearances on a variety of issues, including, but not limited to Doing Business in Africa, Doing Business in Europe, the European Union, Exports-based jobs creation, and Political Risk assessment. He serves on the editorial boards of a number of academic journals, reviews book manuscripts and academic papers for publishers, and is a member of a number of professional/academic associations. He served as the Academic Director of Thunderbird’s flagship MBA degree program from 2002 through 2012, and currently chairs the Curriculum Committee and the Assessment of Learning Committee at Thunderbird.