Ben Ainsley

His Majesty’s Deputy Trade Commissioner for Africa | UK Department for Business & Trade

Ben Ainsley is the Deputy Trade Commissioner for Africa, based in Johannesburg. His role is to drive forward UK trade and investment right across Africa. Prior to this, Ben was the Chief Operating Officer for the UK’s Department for Business and Trade for Latin American and the Caribbean (LATAC), based in Sao Paulo for 4.5 years. He led the team to triple the value of UK exports the team supported over a 3-year period, as well as seeing large LATAC investments into the UK.

Ben has also worked for DBT/DIT in Johannesburg as the Chief Operating Officer for the Africa region and before this was based in Lagos, as the Country Director for Nigeria. Ben started his career in Whitehall where he has done an array of trade and private sector facing roles, such as HMG’s response to a steel works closure.