Dr. Fred Olayele is a seasoned economist, professor, and innovation leader with a diverse career focused on global business, finance, public policy, economic development, and academia. His expertise covers trade policy, innovation strategy, FDI, urban policy, political economy, and inclusive development. He has published and shared best practices in these areas at numerous conferences and institutions around the world.

He is the Founder and Chairman of ECANY Capital, a private investment firm connecting capital and expertise to support growth-oriented ventures via multiple investment vehicles. He also founded EIPG Development Partners, a boutique economic development advisory firm. He combines strategic insights and a rigorous application of theoretical and practical economic reasoning to drive sustainable resource mobilization and public-private partnerships.

Professor Olayele has held academic positions and taught graduate and undergraduate courses in economics, strategic management, public policy, venture capital, and the finance of innovation across four Canadian universities: University of Regina, Mount Allison University, Carleton University, and Crandall University. He has served as a visiting professor and guest speaker across universities and academic institutions abroad. He was a Visiting Scholar at the World Trade Institute in Bern, Switzerland, and a Visiting Professor of Trade and Development at the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain. He has consulted widely and advised several public, private, and development institutions internationally.

He previously served as Chief Economist and Senior Vice President at the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) — where he oversaw a wide range of initiatives and provided executive leadership to help position New York as a global model for innovation. Prior to NYCEDC, he advised the Canadian provincial governments of British Columbia and Saskatchewan across the FDI, economic development, and energy policy domains. Earlier in his career before joining academia, he was a global trade finance specialist with Citigroup.

A global development leader, Professor Olayele serves on various boards and supports many social causes. He sits on the Academic Advisory Board of the Emerging Markets Institute, Cornell University in New York. He serves on the Board of Directors of Canada’s Ocean Supercluster, the Board of Directors of the Canada-Nigeria Chamber of Commerce in Ottawa, and the International Advisory Board of the International Economic Development Council in Washington, DC. He chairs the Board of Directors of the Economic Club of Africa in New York and the Governing Board of Blue Global Canada Institute.

A global citizen, he speaks and lectures internationally on innovation, finance, public policy, and development. He hosts the Global Recast podcast, a series of curated conversations with global leaders on grit, courage, and economic optimism — all at the intersection of global business, public policy, innovation, development, and diplomacy: www.theglobalrecast.org.

A Senior Fellow at the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs, Carleton University, he is a member of the Economic Club of New York. 

He holds a PhD in Economics from Lancaster University, United Kingdom, and an MA in Economics from the University of Victoria in British Columbia, Canada.