Oluwamiseun Olufemi-White, commonly known as Olu White, is a strategist, investor, and legal thinker at the forefront of finance, technology, and global development. She is the CEO of Alami Capital, where she leads transformative investments that bridge local insight with global standards, focusing on deep tech, infrastructure, and inclusive growth across Africa.
A qualified lawyer in Nigeria, the UK, and New York, Olu brings cross-border expertise to complex challenges from structuring sovereign-backed fintech deals to advising governments on ethical technology regulation. Her work spans the public and private sectors, always grounded in the belief that innovation should serve people, not just markets.
Olu is a 2025 Fellow and Scholar at Harvard Kennedy School, where her research explores epistemic sovereignty how African nations can protect digital agency and prevent technology-driven exploitation. She is collaborating with partners such as AFC, Google, Stears Insights and Flutterwave to shape Africa’s digital future on its own terms.
Equal parts rigorous and imaginative, Olu’s approach is defined by systems thinking, collaboration, and a commitment to justice. Whether in Lagos, London, or Cambridge,MA, Olu believes in the power of bold ideas, good people, and designing systems that honour complexity, centre equity, and leave no one behind.
Project: What happens when a continent full of the world’s youngest, brightest minds is online, but not in control? This project is my attempt to answer that by tackling a quiet but powerful threat: the unchecked extraction of African data by global tech giants. As Africa’s digital economy grows, so too does the risk of a new kind of exploitation—where data is harvested here, monetised elsewhere, and governed by rules we didn’t write. Rooted in my policy work with some of Africa’s tech regulators and inspired by thinkers like Zuboff and Risse, this research poses bold questions about privacy, power, and who gets to decide what our digital future will look like. I’m blending legal analysis, political theory, and real-world case studies as a financier from Lagos to Nairobi to develop policy frameworks, public education tools, and an African Data Rights Charter that centres dignity, democracy, and homegrown innovation. This is about more than tech policy; it’s about voice, agency, and building systems that reflect who we are and what we value. With support from the Carr Centre, I aim to spark a continental (and global) conversation on what true digital sovereignty entails and how we ensure Africa isn’t just online, but in charge.