Olawale Ajai is the Professor of Legal, Social and Political Environment of Business and Head, Department of Strategy at the Lagos Business School. He holds a PhD in law and facilitates sessions on business law, financial inclusion/digital economy and law, non-market strategy, microeconomics of competitiveness and public policy/administration. His research focuses on financial inclusion/digital technology laws and policies, business laws, corporate sustainability, corporate governance and non-market strategy.

Olawale has led strategic repositioning, consulting and training engagements for organizations, such as: The World Bank, Exxon Mobil, Dangote Plc, Novo Health Africa HMO, Central Bank of Nigeria, Securities and Exchange Commission, Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, Nigeria Railway Corporation, DESOPADEC, MONAN, OPTS, Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF) and The Partnership for African Social and Governance Research (PASGR,) Nairobi.
He is a member of the Environmental Law Commission of the IUCN, Bonn, Germany. He is the Public Policy Lead for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation funded ‘Sustainable Business Models for Delivering Digital Financial Services to Lower Unbanked Citizens of Nigeria’ Research Project at Lagos Business School, 2015 to date.

Olawale was the inaugural Chief Olu Akinkugbe African Business Law Fellow at the Centre for Comparative Law, Faculty of Law at Cape Town University, South Africa in 2014. He was the inaugural Visiting Professor at the Yale University School of Management on the Global Network Scholars Fellowship for Africa in 2019.

He was formerly Group Company Secretary/Legal Adviser; Executive Director, Human Capital and Executive Director, Marketing and Strategy at Dunlop Nigeria Plc. He was also at various times, Senior Research Fellow, Associate Research Professor and Ag. Director of Research at the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies. He was a member of Council/ Chair of the Professional Development Committee of Chartered Institute of Personnel Managers of Nigeria for ten years. He has drafted major national legislation on environmental and natural resources law.

He is an alumnus of Lagos Business School, IESE Business School and Harvard Kennedy School of Government. He is a Member of: the Nigerian Bar Association, IUCN World Commission on Environmental Law, Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria, Institute of Directors of Nigeria, Chartered Institute of Personnel Management of Nigeria; and a Fellow of the Leadership for Environment and Development International (LEAD).