Raquel Wilson

With a career spanning almost two decades, Raquel Wilson is an outspoken advocate for more equitable and sustainable communities. She is a licensed REALTOR® serving residential and commercial real estate clients globally, the CEO and Founder of Africa Means Business—an international business and economic promotion advisory—and General Manager at Baobab Consulting, a global firm customizing impact solutions for organizations investing in Africa’s growth.Raquel has managed multi-partner, international development projects across the public, private, and social sectors and has previously served as a Diplomat with the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, where she led the deployment of the first online platform for monitoring hate crimes.Raquel has also helped Senegal’s National Office of Sanitation increase visibility and investment for critical infrastructure projects and has worked extensively with the African Development Bank. At the Bank, she provided strategic communications support to the Youth Entrepreneurship and Innovation Multi-Donor Trust Fund and, as part of the External Relations and Communications Department, led social media engagement for the 2023 Africa Climate Summit, the African Emergency Food Production Facility, and the 16th replenishment of the African Development Fund.Specializing in creating communication strategies that both inform and inspire behavior change, Raquel contributed to the Federal Government of Somalia’s reconciliation efforts as Head of Strategic Communications for the Somalia Stabilization Initiative, designing and implementing a USAID-funded radio program that connected women in rural areas of Somalia to government services.Since 2006, Raquel has remained on UNICEF’s global consultant roster, providing digital strategy support for offices across Europe, the Middle East, West Africa and North America.

Raquel has worked with Roselake Ventures, a Hong Kong-based venture fund, sourcing and evaluating high-growth investment opportunities within African tech ecosystems. As Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Senegal’s Dakar Farmers Market, she developed a community-focused approach to promoting economic growth for local food producers. She also co-founded Jetstream Africa, an Accra-based supply chain platform simplifying export logistics for African suppliers, and advised technology startups at the pan-African business incubator MEST Africa, preparing emerging entrepreneurs for investment into their new companies.As Co-Editor of No Tees Please: Why Africa Aid Campaigns #FAIL, a crowdsourced inquiry into the practices of disadvantageous aid campaigns, Raquel managed Social Media Week Lagos’ #55FORWARD initiative, bringing together ambassadors from 55 African nations to discuss how they use social media to meet the needs of a rapidly increasing youth population.Raquel holds a Bachelor of Science in New Media from Indiana University, completed the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa’s training for African Women Investors, and is an MBA candidate at Imperial College London, where she focuses her studies on climate and creating pathways to capital for historically underfunded communities.Renowned for connecting people across her expansive network, Raquel is committed to introducing more diverse voices into culturally considerate climate change conversations and building new leadership and equity models that make cities better for people and the planet.Raquel also mentors young women in discovering themselves unapologetically.