Joshua Alabi

Professor Joshua Alabi is a Ghanaian academic and politician of the National Democratic Congress (NDC). He spent three decades at the University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA), becoming its first Vice-Chancellor, and headed John Dramani Mahama's national campaign team for the 2024 election. Since January 2025 he has chaired the board of GCB Bank.

Early life and education

He was born on 1 March 1958 in Accra and is a Ga from Nungua. He attended St. John's Preparatory School at Achimota (1965 to 1971) and Tamale Secondary School (1971 to 1976), then studied accountancy and marketing at the Institute of Professional Studies from 1976 to 1980. He earned an MSc in industrial economics at the Plekhanov Russian University of Economics in Moscow in 1986 and an MSc in international marketing at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow in 1992, where he won the Moshood Abiola Prize for Excellence in Marketing.

UPSA

He joined the Institute of Professional Studies as a lecturer in 1987 and became head of the marketing department in 1989. He was Dean of the Faculty of Management from 2003 to 2005, Pro-Rector from 2005 to 2008 and Rector from 2008 to 2012. When the institute became the University of Professional Studies in 2012 he was its first Vice-Chancellor, serving until 2016.

Politics

He was NDC Member of Parliament for Krowor from 1997 to 2001. Under President Jerry John Rawlings he was Greater Accra Regional Minister from January 1997 to January 1998, Northern Regional Minister until January 2000, and Greater Accra Regional Minister again until January 2001. He chaired the NDC in Greater Accra from 2001 to 2005 and coordinated John Evans Atta Mills's 2004 campaign.

In the NDC's February 2019 presidential primary he polled 3,404 votes, 1.52 per cent, as Mahama won the nomination. In June 2024 the party named him head of Mahama's national campaign team for the December election, which the NDC won.

Football

From 1994 to 1997 he was General Secretary of the Ghana League Clubs Association and coordinator of the Black Stars management committee, and he sat on the management board of the Ghana Football Association.

GCB Bank and honours

In January 2025 GCB Bank appointed him an independent non-executive director and chairman of its board. He was made an Officer of the Order of the Volta on 29 October 2016. He was named Africa Vice-Chancellor of the Year in 2013 and Ghana's Marketing Man of the Year in 2012.

Personal life

He is a Christian and is married to Professor Goski Alabi, a specialist in quality management. They have two children.