Attracting Private Investment in Sub-Saharan Africa

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IMF SEMINAR EVENT

DATE: April 20, 2018

DAY: Friday

12:30 PM - 1:45 PM

LOCATION: IMF HQ1, Meeting Halls A&B

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Overview

With debt levels rising, attracting more private investment to sub-Saharan Africa has become more important than ever. By bringing together representatives from various parts of the private sector, the seminar will highlight the variety of available capital and point the way to policies that would facilitate its increased flow to Africa. This seminar ties in with the sub-Saharan Africa REO planned for spring 2018, which focuses on private investment, and with the Group of Twenty Compact with Africa.

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Attracting Private Investment in Sub-Saharan Africa

Panelists

Panelist: Mame Khary Diène

Ms. Diène is the founder and CEO of the Bioessence Laboratories, Senegal. Together with her mother she founded the company in 2005. The company has specialized in the extraction of oil and natural plant extracts with a high concentration of active properties for the human body and health. It has currently 21 employees, and more than 4000 women collaborate with the supply chains for Bioessence’s organic products, which are distributed to Senegalese and international markets. Mame Diene holds a business school degree from Dakar, Senegal.

Panelist: Mitsuhiro Furusawa

Mr. Mitsuhiro Furusawa assumed office as Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund on March 2, 2015.

Mr. Furusawa joined the IMF after a distinguished career in the Japanese government, including several senior positions in the Ministry of Finance in recent years. Immediately before coming to the Fund, he served as Special Advisor to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Special Advisor to the Minister of Finance. Among his recent ministry postings, Mr. Furusawa served as Vice Minister of Finance for International Affairs (2013-2014), Director-General of the Financial Bureau (2012-2013), and Senior Deputy Director-General of the International Bureau (2009-2010).

Mr. Furusawa’s overseas postings for the Japanese government have included IMF Executive Director (2010-2012), Minister (Finance) at the Embassy of Japan in the United States (2007-2009), and Counselor (Finance) at the Embassy of Japan in France (1997-1999).

A 1979 graduate of the University of Tokyo with an LL.B. degree, Mr. Furusawa also graduated in 1983 from the École Nationale d’Administration in Paris.

Panelist: Zhi Yong Heng

Mr. Heng is the Head of TLG’s Special Situations Group, sharing responsibilities for all of TLG’s revenue-generating and investing businesses. TLG’s Special Situations Group is a multi-asset class business, specialising in principal investing and lending across the capital structure on a risk-adjusted return basis. Zhi Yong is also a member of the firm’s Credit Investment Committee and is responsible for spearheading the special situations effort with a focus on Financial Institutions across Sub-Saharan Africa. Prior to joining TLG Capital, Zhi Yong worked for Davide Leone & Partners, focusing on special situations and event-driven strategies. Zhi Yong has had past experience working in the Investment Banking and Investment Management divisions of various global financial institutions including Goldman Sachs. He holds a Bsc (Honours) in Economics and Statistics from the University College London. He also served with Distinction in the Singapore Military Force.

Panelist: Jingdong Hua

Mr. Hua is Vice President and Treasurer of IFC. He is responsible for managing IFC’s financial position, safeguarding its international triple-A rating and maintaining its standing as a premier issuer in the global capital markets. He oversees liquid assets, market borrowings, and risk-management instruments totaling over $100 billion. Mr. Hua is also responsible for IFC’s loan syndications and co-investment program, which has mobilized over $50 billion for private sector development. He oversaw the creation of the IFC Managed Co-Lending Portfolio Program. Prior to joining IFC, Mr. Hua served as Deputy Treasurer at the Asian Development Bank in Manila. He previously held a number of positions in the treasury departments of ADB, the United Nations Development Program in New York, and the African Development Bank in Abidjan. Mr. Hua, a Chinese national, started his career in 1983 with China National Chemical.

Panelist: Nancy Kacungira

Ms. Kacungira is a multi-award-winning journalist from Uganda. As a speaker and moderator, she has presented on some of the world’s biggest platforms including the World Economic Forum, TEDx, and a Presidential Debate. Also an entrepreneur, Nancy co-founded the Blu Flamingo digital agency, which now operates in four African countries. She has worked as a presenter and news correspondent in East Africa for more than ten years and currently presents weekly editions of the TV programmes “Focus on Africa” and “World Business Report” on BBC World News.

Panelist: Ken Ofori-Atta

Ken Ofori-Atta assumed office as Ghana’s Finance Minister on January 27, 2017. He brings to the Ministry over 30 years’ experience in Ghanaian and international financial sector. He was a Co-Founder and former Chairman of the Databank Group (an investment banking firm) in Ghana. He was the Executive Chairman from 1990 until his retirement on February 14, 2012. Prior to co-founding Databank in 1990, the Hon Minister was an investment banker at Morgan Stanley and Salomon Brothers. He went to Achimota School in Accra, Ghana; received a BA in Economics from Columbia University in New York and an MBA from the Yale School of Management.

Panelist: Thomas Schaefer

Mr. Schaefer has been Managing Director of Volkswagen of South Africa at Volkswagen AG since January 1, 2015. Prior to this, Mr. Schaefer served as the Head of Group Overseas Manufacturing at Volkswagen AG until January 1, 2015. Mr. Schaefer began his career in 1991 at Daimler AG. He held various positions in production and quality assurance since 1998 initially in South Africa, served as Vice President of Production Plants in Malaysia in 2002, and assuming responsibility for overseas production and planning operations in 2005, before moving to the Volkswagen Group to take charge of Group Overseas Manufacturing. Mr. Schaefer joined the Volkswagen Group in 2012. He serves as the Chairman of Volkswagen South Africa (Pty.) Ltd. Mr. Schaefer holds a Degree in Engineering. 

Panelist: Ludger Schuknecht

Ludger Schuknecht is Chief Economist and Head of the Directorate General Fiscal Policy and International Financial and Monetary Policy at the German Ministry of Finance. In this role he advises the Minister on economic policy issues in the domestic and international sphere. In his previous position of Senior Advisor in the Directorate General Economics of the European Central Bank he contributed to the preparation of monetary policy decision making and the ECB positions in European policy coordination. Before that he headed the ECB’s fiscal surveillance section which followed assignments at the World Trade Organisation and at the International Monetary Fund. His recent research focuses on public expenditure policies and reform and the analysis of economic boom-bust episodes. He wrote "Public Spending in the 20th Century: A Global Perspective" together with Vito Tanzi.