Dode Seidu

Dode is the CEO of Africa Trade Academy, a pan-African organization building capacity of Africa’s public and private sector to take advantage of national, regional, continental and global trade opportunities. Dode has over 15 years’ experience spanning trade policy and investment promotion, trade facilitation, private sector development, agribusiness, finance facilitation, market research, project planning and management, and development communications.

He is an experienced and dynamic trainer, facilitator and moderator having trained Customs, Business Executives and Private Sector Operators in Ghana, Ethiopia, Malawi and SACU Region on the taking advantage of the AfCFTA and other international trad agreements. He has also trained public and private sector officials in Ghana on the WTO Agreements on Trade Facilitation, Sanitary and PhytoSanitary Measures, Technical Barriers to Trade as well as on topics of Green Customs, Environment and Trade, and Non-Tariff Measures.

He consults for the World Bank, GIZ Support Programme to the AfCFTA, West Africa Competitiveness Programme, EU-Compete Ghana as well as the AfCFTA Secretariat on Trade Facilitation. Dode is currently the International Consultant for the Gambia supporting the country to implement AfCFTA at the natonal level under the AfDB sponsored project Enhancing Post- Pandemic Resilience and AfCFTA Participation and Developing SMEs and Private Sector Capabilities in the Gambia from 2023 to 2025. Dode holds a Masters’ in International Law and Economics from World Trade Institute, University of Bern, Switzerland; Post-Graduate Certificate in Marketing, Social and Organizational Research; Post-Graduate Diploma in Business Administration and a Bachelors’ Degree in Economics from Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) as well as a Higher National Diploma in Statistics from Accra Technical University. Dode is a board member of the Business Advisory Services Providers Association of Ghana (BASPAG)-an association of business development consultants and the Northern Innovation Lab an incubator based in Walewale, North East Ghana providing undeserved communities with ICT education and rural enterpreneurship and business development