Obai Khalifa

Deputy Director for Agricultural Development in Africa | Gates Foundation

Obai Khalifa is Deputy Director for Agricultural Development in Africa at the Gates Foundation, where he oversees the foundation’s strategy and investments to accelerate inclusive agricultural transformation across the continent, spanning crops, livestock, and market systems.

Previously, he led the foundation’s livestock and private-sector engagement work, focusing on market development, downstream delivery, and business models that enable smallholder and pastoralist farmers to sustainably increase productivity and incomes. Before joining the foundation in 2018, Obai spent over two decades in the private sector, holding senior leadership roles in global animal-health companies, and earlier practiced as a veterinarian in Sudan.

He holds a degree in veterinary medicine from the University of Khartoum, an MSc in veterinary epidemiology and animal health economics from Utrecht University, and an Executive MBA from HEC Paris.