Mbekeani appointed African Development Bank deputy director for Southern Africa

The African Development Bank (AFDB) has  appointed a Malawian economist Kennedy Mbekeani as Deputy Director General for the bank’s Southern Africa region.

Mbekeani is among five deputy directors general AFDB has appointed for its east, central, northern, southern and west Africa regions.

The deputy directors general have been appointed along with three directors for east, central and southern Africa.

Profiles for the appointees have been included in a statement published on AFDB’s website, www.afdb.org.

According to the statement, Mbekeani is a seasoned development economist with over 20 years of senior level country and regional experience in development finance, project management, policy advisory services, and knowledge generation.

It says Mbekeani joined the Bank in 2009 as a Chief Trade and Regional Integration Officer.

“He provided leadership in formulating the Bank’s trade assistance strategy to regional economic communities and on policy research on international trade, economic integration and development,” the statement praises Mbekeani.

The statement also says Mbekeani was Lead Regional Economist (2012-2014) at the South African Resource Centre.

“He later served as Officer in Charge and Acting Regional Director of AFDB’s South African Resource Centre in South Africa (2014-2016) where he led the largest syndicated A/B Loan arranged in Africa to-date,” it says

The statement adds that Mbekeani was then appointed Officer in Charge of the African Development Bank’s Ghana Country Office in February 2017.

It further says in September 2017, AFDB President Dr. Akinwumi A. Adesina, appointed Mbekeani as Country Manager for Uganda Country Office where he grew the portfolio to over US$2 billion.

According to the statement, before joining the Bank–Mbekeani worked for the UNDP as a Trade, Debt and Globalisation Advisor for East and Southern Africa.

“Prior to that he worked as a Senior Research Fellow at the Botswana Institute for Development Policy Analysis, and as Senior Economist at the National Institute for Economic Policy in South Africa,” says the statement.

This is what Mbekeani said about his appointment in comments also included in the AFDB statement, “I am pleased to work with President Adesina to support execution of his vision for the bank and the continent and accelerate delivery on the High 5s”.

The statement describes Mbekeani as having, among other qualifications–a Bachelor of Social Science degree from the University of Malawi, MPhil (Monetary Economics) from the University of Glasgow, MA and a PhD in International Economics from the University of California.

The statement says Mbekeani has published alot on trade, regional integration and infrastructure development in Africa.

Commenting on the appointment, Dr. Adesina said: “Kennedy is a rounded professional, with broad experience in international development. His capacity to deliver in various areas will help to build strong partnerships in the region and to promote both private and public sectors operations.”

Mbekeani’s boss is a Tunisian national, Leïla Farah Mokadem as AFDB Director General for Southern Africa region.

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