Gbemisola Abudu is an accomplished entrepreneur, business leader, luxury marketing expert, and social activist with 17 years of experience developing businesses, brands, and human capital in Nigeria, the Middle East, and the U.S. She is the NBA Africa Vice President & Country Head of NBA Nigeria, where she is responsible for leading the league’s basketball and business development initiatives to increase the footprint of basketball and the NBA in Nigeria. She was instrumental in the planning and execution of the 2023 NBA All-Star Afrobeats-themed halftime show. In 2022 was recognized by Sports Illustrated as one of the 100 Most Influential Black Women in Sports in the World and was recently listed as one of ISPO’s 30 Female Changemakers Shaping the Future of Sports. Abudu founded the BMGA Foundation (where she serves as a non-Executive Board), an NGO dedicated to fostering gender equity in the business environment in Africa. She was recognized as one of the Most Influential People of African Descent (MIPAD)’s Global top 100 under 40 in the category of activism & & humanitarian for her philanthropic work and the impact of the BMGA Fellows Program, a social impact initiative designed to narrow the gender skills gap. She has worked for Anap Jets, Polo Luxury, Louis Vuitton, White & Case LLP, The Walt Disney Company, The Clorox Company, etc. Abudu, a dual citizen of Nigeria and the U.S. holds an MBA from the Thunderbird School of Global Management in Glendale, Arizona. She has a bachelor’s degree in marketing and public relations from the University of Wyoming.
