Gbadebo-Smith has had distinct professional careers across multiple sectors.
In health sciences, he specialised in and practised Maxillofacial Surgery, Prosthodontics, and dental oncology in both Nigeria and the United States between 1978 and 2002.
In government, he served as an elected Local Government Chairman (Mayor of a small municipality in Lagos State, Nigeria) for four years (2003 to 2007). During this period, he partnered with multilateral development agencies on several budget and local development pilot projects. Following his time in office, he earned a Master’s degree in Public Policy as a Mason Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government between 2007 and 2008. Gbadebo-Smith was also awarded a research fellowship at the Ash Institute for Innovations in Government at Harvard University from 2008 to 2009.
His involvement in the non-profit sector began earlier. Between 1996 and 2003, Gbadebo-Smith served as President and CEO of the Nigerian Asean Chamber of Commerce, an NGO promoting trade relations between Nigeria and the ASEAN region of the Far East. During this time, he led several public and private trade promotion delegations to Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia. In 2002, Gbadebo-Smith was appointed honorary Consul for Thailand in Nigeria, a role he continues to hold.
In 2010, Gbadebo-Smith founded The Centre for Public Policy, a public policy think tank and research organisation based in Lagos, Nigeria. From 2017 to 2022, he served as Director-General of the Nigerian Institute for Social and Economic Research, Nigeria’s premier think tank. He held this position for five years.
A disruptor in the field of social and economic research, Gbadebo-Smith pioneered the use of computational sociology methods in Nigeria. His notable projects have explored topics such as economic diversification, restructuring the federation, and the fate of the middle class in Nigeria.
Currently, Gbadebo-Smith is engaged in complexity research and manages the Centre for Public Policy Alternatives.
