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She took over 100 Africans to the Caribbean. Now Aisha Maina is quietly reshaping Afri-Caribbean business and diplomacy.

When Aisha Maina hosted the Aquarian Consult Afri-Caribbean Investment Summit in Abuja earlier this year, she was setting the stage for a new era of cross-regional collaboration. It was the foundation for a new model of African-led diplomacy. The summit brought together Caribbean leaders, business executives, creatives, and policymakers, including Prime Minister Dr. Terrance Drew of St. Kitts and Nevis, in what would become a launchpad for something bigger.

Aisha, the Managing Director of Aquarian Consult and Founder of Aquarian Oil and Gas, has since emerged as a central figure in Africa’s pivot toward South-South cooperation, particularly with the Caribbean. In June 2025, just weeks after the Abuja summit, she personally funded and led a 120-member Nigerian delegation to St. Kitts and Nevis, a mission that bridged business, culture, and diplomacy in one of the most strategic people-to-people exchanges in recent African-Caribbean relations.

The delegation travelled via a chartered Boeing 777 operated by Air Peace, marking the airline’s first-ever landing in St. Kitts and Nevis. Following the success of that flight, Air Peace confirmed it was exploring a permanent West Africa to Eastern Caribbean route, a move that could establish direct connectivity between two regions that have long shared cultural ties but limited infrastructure.

“Africa and the Caribbean must co-author their future,” Maina says. “We can’t afford to wait for multilateral frameworks. The alignment must be intentional, and it must be actionable.”

A Business Driven Approach to Foreign Relations

Aisha’s path to regional influence has been through business, not politics. Over the last decade, she has grown Aquarian Consult into one of Nigeria’s most respected advisory firms, delivering on national and cross-border initiatives focused on youth development, enterprise strategy, and capacity building. She also leads Aquarian Oil and Gas, an emerging energy company with a focus on sustainable participation and regional trade.

Her approach to diplomacy is rooted in clarity of agenda and structure. From the summit to the follow-up mission, Maina applied a private-sector lens: mobilise funding, define measurable goals, and execute with discipline.

That structure continues. She is now building out an Afri-Caribbean Investment Council, a diaspora exchange platform, and a follow-up summit to be hosted in the Caribbean in 2026.

“Aisha brings the mindset of a strategist and the delivery of an operator,” said a Caribbean official involved in the June visit. “She’s not there to impress. She’s there to build.”

Why Afri-Caribbean Alignment Matters

The alignment between Africa and the Caribbean is not only an emotional or historic one. It is economic and urgent.

Both regions are facing high youth unemployment, energy transitions, and geopolitical marginalisation. Their shared linguistic, cultural, and political heritage is an underutilised asset, one that could support joint development in areas like:

• Creative economy and IP commercialisation
• Food systems and climate resilience
• Tourism, diaspora investment, and fintech
• Education, vocational exchange, and trade facilitation

What Maina has demonstrated is that Africa’s private sector can lead. Her initiative did not wait for state approval or donor grants. It was financed and implemented with African capital, African professionals, and African agendas.

In an increasingly multipolar world, that kind of leadership may become essential.