Thelma Naa Aku Maclean

Head - Partnership & Trade

Thelma Naa Aku Maclean is an Economist, Investment Banker, and Transaction Advisory Consultant with over 20 years of experience in corporate finance, trade facilitation, and private sector development across Africa. As Partnership and Trade Lead at the West African Centre for Agribusiness and Apiculture Development (WACAAD), she drives strategic partnerships, business development, and trade advisory initiatives that strengthen agribusiness and apiculture value chains and expand market access for SMEs across the region.

Thelma brings hands-on international trade credentials to this role. As Business Development Lead and Partner for the Sustainable Improvement of Productivity of African Businesses (SIPAB), an initiative of the Shout Africa Foundation, she led the development of investment readiness profiles for Ghanaian agribusinesses and facilitated connections between African enterprises and European investors at the SIPAB Berlin Business Forum. Earlier in her career at SAS Finance Group, she contributed to transactions mobilising over US$3 billion in domestic and international capital markets for the Government of Ghana and other public and private sector clients. In this role, she also played a key part in the strategic partnership between SAS Finance Group and HNA Group of China that established Africa World Airlines, and contributed to securing the World Trade Centre Accra franchise, landmark initiatives that opened new trade and investment corridors for Ghana. She also led and participated in business and trade delegations and investor roadshows across Brazil, Côte d’Ivoire, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, South Africa, and UK.

Her recent trade advisory work includes serving as Access to Finance Consultant under the USAID Ghana Trade and Investment Activity (Feed the Future), where she supported over 50 agribusiness SMEs across grains, oilseeds, horticulture, and export-oriented value chains toward financing targets of approximately US$7.5 million. As Trade and Investment Director at the Chamber of Agribusiness Ghana, she led trade and investment promotion for a national association representing over 100 associations and roughly 3,000 agribusiness members, and contributed to the development and launch of the Ghana-EU Agribusiness Platform connecting Ghanaian agribusinesses to European markets.

Thelma is the Founder and Chief Servant of Anchor Resource Management and Trading Ltd, providing trade facilitation, market entry strategy, and investment advisory services to SMEs, cooperatives, and development partners, with particular focus on market access for agricultural commodities including rice, maize, and soybeans.

Thelma holds an MSc in Money, Banking & Finance from the University of Birmingham, UK, and a BA in Economics & Geography from the University of Cape Coast. She has certification in investment risk, governance, and compliance, data protection, project management, and green projects. She is a passionate advocate for women, youth, and inclusive trade-led growth in African businesses, including agribusiness.