In this episode of the McKinsey Global Institute’s Forward Thinking podcast, guest interviewer Acha Leke talks with Ngozi-Okonjo-Iweala. Acha Leke is a McKinsey senior partner in Johannesburg and is chairman of McKinsey’s Africa region. Okonjo-Iweala became director-general of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in March 2021—the first woman and the first African to serve in this role.

Okonjo-Iweala talks about her first few months leading the WTO and some of the initiatives underway, and discusses the challenge of inclusive and sustainable growth in the years ahead. She answers questions including:
— How has the COVID-19 crisis affected world trade?
— As trade rebounds, what will it take to ensure that trade patterns are much more inclusive?
— How do emerging economies ensure that they have the access they need to vaccines and build the capacity to manufacture them? What role can trade and the WTO have?
— What is the interplay between growth, inclusivity, and sustainability?
— What else do we need to do to ensure that women and SMEs have access to trade?
— What do you see as some of the opportunities emerging from the pandemic crisis?

This conversation was recorded in December 2021. To read a transcript of this episode, visit: mck.co/NgoziOkonjoIweala

Follow @McKinsey_MGI on Twitter and the McKinsey Global Institute on LinkedIn for more.

See www.mckinsey.com/privacy-policy for privacy information