Dr. Odaga is the Managing Director for the Dangote Foundation.  Previously, she was the Ford Foundation’s representative for West Africa for 11 years, having served as a program officer for 

environment and microfinance in West Africa. Before joining the foundation, she worked on a project to strengthen the role of the World Bank in promoting female education in Africa and as the International Potato Center’s Social Scientist for West Africa based in Cameroon. She holds a Ph.D. from St. Anthony’s College at Oxford University, which she attended as Kenya’s first Rhodes Scholar.