Michael Ilesanmi is a Senior Social Development Specialist with the World Bank, Africa region. Michael is passionate about unlocking the potentials of women’s collectives to address social, political and economic empowerment of women and girls in Nigeria and Africa and he currently leads the World Bank’s flagship women’s economic empowerment operation in Sub Saharan Africa, Nigeria for Women Program. He is also co- Task Team Leader for the Sustainable Procurement, Environment and Social Standards Project, SPESSE aimed at developing sustainable capacity in managing procurement, environment, and social risks in the public and private sectors. Michael has worked extensively in Africa and Latin America and Caribbean Regions on broad ranging social risk management and social development issues including women’s empowerment, financial inclusion, markets systems development and gender-based violence prevention and response.