Aisha Maina is the Managing Director of Aquarian Consult and Founder of Aquarian Oil and Gas. She combines private sector discipline with public minded vision, using business tools to create long term diplomatic and commercial bridges between Africa and the Caribbean. In March, 2025, she convened the Aquarian Consult Afri Caribbean Investment Summit (AACIS 25) exploring trade, culture and policy collaboration. She also led a historic 120 persons Nigerian delegation to Saint Kitts and Nevis, chartering an Air Peace Boeing 777 to Basseterre, the largest organised African business mission ever to visit the island nation. In this interview, she speaks on her activities ensuring that Africa and the Caribbean must move from shared history to shared opportunity.
Take us through your career path? What informed your passion in diplomacy?
My career has been a journey of intentional evolution. I established Aquarian Consult over 16 years ago to strengthen business ecosystems and empower professionals with the skills and strategies to scale up. Through my work, I have come to see how capacity-building, enterprise development, and strategic advisory can transform not just organisations but entire communities. This revealed a deeper truth: development cannot thrive in isolation. I saw how interconnected trade, culture, and policy truly are, and I realised that economic diplomacy was no longer the sole preserve of governments. The private sector has a critical role in shaping trade corridors, forging alliances, and accelerating regional diplomacy. My passion for diplomacy was informed by my absolute belief that Global Africa must begin to advance the narrative from the external metrics it has been shaped by to metrics defined by Global Africa for Global Africa and actively build bridges of cooperation that generate tangible benefits for the people. This led me to convene the Aquarian Consult’s Afri-Caribbean Investment Summit (AACIS), a platform dedicated to transforming our shared history with the Caribbean into shared opportunities. Our inaugural edition in Abuja in March 2025, brought together government officials, policymakers, private sector leaders, and business owners from Africa and the Caribbean, forging MOUs in agriculture, culture, and trade.
You are regarded as a catalyst in using private sector diplomacy to forge Africa-Caribbean commercial ties. How has your leadership philosophy shaped your approach to building these bridges?
My leadership philosophy is anchored on three principles: collaboration, intentionality, and sustainability. Collaboration because no meaningful bridge is built in isolation – we need governments, businesses, creatives, and communities around the same table. Intentionality because these connections must go beyond symbolic gestures to result in measurable impact such as trade deals, investments, and cultural exchange. And sustainability because we’re not chasing quick wins; we’re laying a foundation for lasting trade corridors. Diplomacy is not a ceremonial exercise; it is a tool for development. AACIS embodies this philosophy. The 2025 summit wasn’t just a talk shop; in 11 weeks, it resulted in bilateral agreements, a historic 120-person business mission to St. Kitts and Nevis for the Afri-Caribbean Business Expo, and set the stage for joint ventures in agriculture, creative industries, and small business development. We don’t have the luxury of endless negotiations without outcomes. Now, we’re scaling this momentum for AACIS 2026, scheduled for March 25–28, 2026 in Abuja. It will be a bigger, more sector-focused summit designed to unlock trade and investment opportunities across, agriculture, health, culture, and other industries. We are intentional about who we bring into the room, how we frame the opportunities, and why representation must be meaningful.
From Aquarian Consult to Aquarian Oil and Gas, you’ve demonstrated how Africans can lead successfully in both human capital and energy sectors. How are you achieving this?
I see sectors as interconnected rather than isolated. Aquarian Consult builds people, strategy, and systems, which are the backbone of any thriving economy. Aquarian Oil and Gas extends this into energy, focusing on sustainable practices in the oil and gas value chain. Energy development is linked to job creation, trade, and education. Human capital drives innovation in energy. By maintaining this ecosystem mindset, we’ve been able to move seamlessly between these spaces while keeping impact at the center.
You often speak about moving from “shared history to shared opportunity” between Africa and the Caribbean. How do you see this evolving over the next decade?
In the next decade, I see Africa and the Caribbean evolving from heritage diplomacy to strategic economic prosperity especially as the Heads of Government in CARICOM have agreed to pursue new market opportunities with the African Union and the second AU-CARICOM meeting holding in September 2025. Our shared history of culture, resilience, and identity will translate into trade agreements, joint ventures in agriculture and creative industries, cultural and knowledge exchanges, and mutual investments in various sectors. I envision regional corridors shipping, aviation, digital trade that connect Lagos to Kingston, Abuja to Basseterre, Accra to Bridgetown. These pathways will facilitate not just goods and services, but a movement of ideas, innovation, and people that will redefine South-South cooperation. So, when I say “shared history to shared opportunity,” I’m talking about creating trade routes, new partnerships, and new prosperity pipelines that will drive sustainable development and economic growth. These trade routes are not new, they were used over 400 years ago, we just need to reestablish them.
How have you practically supported the rise of women entrepreneurs within your networks, and what more needs to be done to accelerate female participation in trade and investment across Africa and the Caribbean?
Through Aquarian Consult’s programmes, we’ve provided business development training, access to market linkages, and networking opportunities for women entrepreneurs. In the delegation to St. Kitts and Nevis in June, for example, about 90 percent of our small businesses were women-led enterprises, and they got a chance to exhibit and engage directly with government officials and other business owners, exploring opportunities for possible collaborations or partnerships. Also a part of this delegation were members of the Nigerian chapter of Business and Professional Women, who got to meet and interact with members of the St. Kitts and Nevis chapter.
However, to accelerate participation, we need institutionalised platforms such as Afri-Caribbean women’s business councils, women-focused export programmes, and pooled funding mechanisms that reduce individual risk. Partnerships between African and Caribbean women entrepreneurs can create cross-regional value chains that are self-sustaining.
As a thriving woman in business, what specific policies or frameworks do you advocate for to ensure more women not only enter but also lead in critical sectors like energy, diplomacy, and finance?
I think what we need are not frameworks or policies tailored to women, I think what we need are training sessions, women leaders who show other women that it can be done, letting women know that being a woman is not a disability and we are strong and able. We do not need any “special treatment” in my opinion, we just need to look around us, see our strength and know that we can do it. Nothing and I mean nothing can get in the way of a focused, determined woman.
You’ve successfully led historic delegations, including the landmark Air Peace business mission to Saint Kitts and Nevis. What lessons can African business leaders learn from Caribbean partnerships, and vice versa?
Just to clarify, this was an Aquarian Consult in collaboration with the St Kitts and Nevis Ministries of Agriculture, Small Business and Creative Economy initiative, Air Peace was chartered and paid in full. Some of the lessons learnt (as they are so numerous, I could write a book about them) include the absolute need for collaboration, not individualistic quest for public aggrandisement but for real collaboration in the interest of the collective, in the interest of our progeny in Global Africa who will live with the choices we make today. We need to focus on Africans for Africans while not taking any credit away from what the north has done and also not excluding the North but intentionally creating the metrics on which we interact. A big lesson is that scale is not the only measure of strength, but agility and collaboration are as well.
The Caribbean teaches us the power of strategic unity despite smaller markets. Their integration models, like the OECS and CARICOM, demonstrate how collaboration amplifies collective power. Africa offers lessons in market depth and resilience. Our scale, diversity, and youthful population present opportunities that, when well-organised, can be transformative. When both regions learn from each other, we unlock a hybrid model that is ready for the now.
The upcoming ACTIF 2025 forum puts you alongside global heavyweights. How will these conversations help shape future trade corridors that women can actively participate in and lead?
ACTIF 2025 is a platform for shaping policy narratives and ensuring everyone has access to networks and trade corridors, we have to see the opportunities, create the networks and utilise them. AfreximBank has done a fantastic job creating this platform, they have moved us from ideology to action, they have done what a lot of multinationals have not done; moved the conversation from the table of only policymakers, they have included businesses and individuals to the table, created access to Global Africa and actively support the connectivity between and amongst Global Africa, we must do our part. My aim is to build the bridge within the continent of Africa and between Africa and the Caribbean as only when Global Africa unites would we truly move from a position of “potential” to being kinetic, only then would we truly understand our identity, own our identity and be proud of our identity.
What are the most significant barriers you’ve encountered in advancing Africa-Caribbean business diplomacy, and how are you addressing them through your platforms?
The major barrier actually comes from within. We have been programmed for so long to believe that “Black” is a problem, black is inferior, black is bad and so we approach each other with a mindset that is suspicious, half-hearted and hardly believe that South South collaboration will work or is worth it. We have been programmed for so long to believe that we are mostly scammers, rude, what we produce is inferior and the Caribbean is too small a market for anything business worthy to happen. We have to first reorientate our mindsets, reprogramme our minds and give us, “black” a chance. Limited connectivity in terms of infrastructure and logistics, information gaps, and policy stagnation or lack thereof are also barriers which are also quite real.
Connectivity between Africa and the Caribbean remains limited, with very few direct flights or shipping routes linking the two regions. This is why the ACL charter flight to St. Kitts and Nevis was so historic. It demonstrated what becomes possible when we bridge these logistical gaps. Beyond connectivity, there are significant information gaps, as both regions know very little about each other outside of shared historical ties. Our summits and trade expos aim to serve as vital knowledge bridges, fostering mutual understanding and collaboration. Finally, while there is genuine interest in deeper engagement, policy action is needed. To address this, we are driving private-sector-led Memoranda of Understanding that encourage and liaising governments towards meaningful implementation. Through platforms like AACIS, we are moving beyond talk to practical frameworks and measurable outcomes.
What is your life mantra?
My life mantra is: “Impact is the true currency of legacy.” For me, success is not about titles, awards, fame or wealth. It’s about what positive impact you make, what value do you positively add to lives and environment, how many lives you transform, how many doors you open, and how many bridges you build for others to cross without building a toll gate only you control, what positive impact have you made to the collective, what value have you added to the collective.
