Dr. Adesida is co-founder and partner in Ihaba, a business development firm, the interim CEO for Bonako, a mobile app and games development firm, and the founder and director of the Africa Innovation Summit, a platform for promoting innovation in Africa. He is also an Associate of Imara Africa. Adesida serves on the boards of the Africa Leadership Institute, Pedro Pires Leadership Institute, and Jose Maria Neves Foundation for Governance.

He worked extensively as a strategy consultant in many countries and very closely with the government of Cabo Verde, advising the prime minister, the minister of economy, the minister of foreign affairs and the minister of finance, helping the government to undertake strategic programs including institutional reforms, between 2001 and 2016.  Earlier in his career, he worked with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) between 1992 and 1998, where undertook high-level advisory work and assisted African countries to undertake perspective studies and scenarios planning. He led the studies such as Cabo Verde:

The Road Ahead, and co-designed and co-facilitated the South Africa 2020 Scenarios and the Nigeria 2025 Scenarios. He also participated in global projects such as the Foundation for the Future’s Humanity 3000, World Water Commission’s World Water Scenarios, and the Millennium Project’s State of the Future Reports. Additionally, has authored papers on development management, futures studies, and technology policy. He co-edited a book (African Voices, African Visions), and served as editor or co-editor for special editions of African Development Review (Knowledge and Africa’s Development), Futures (Futures studies and the future of Africa), Foresight (Is Africa the land of the future?), and African Journal of Science, Technology and Development (Building innovation driven economies in Africa). He co-edited Innovation Africa: Emerging Hubs of Excellence which was published in 2016. He is an associate editor of the African Journal of Science, Technology, Innovation and Development.

Adesida obtained his BA and MA in Economics from The City College of New York and PhD from the London School of Economics (UK) for research on the role of intermediary institutions in the diffusion of complex technological innovations. He is particularly interested in the interplay of foresight, institutions, innovation and national competitiveness.