Makhtar Diop, Managing Director of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), will visit Kenya from January 31 to February 4 to highlight IFC’s commitment to supporting Kenya’s development agenda.
During his visit, Mr. Diop will hold talks with President Uhuru Kenyatta, as well as with key private sector representatives and prominent business leaders. Mr. Diop will discuss IFC’s commitment to promote social inclusion, with support from the private sector, across health, agriculture, housing, and public-private partnerships in Kenya and the broader region.
While the COVID-19 pandemic hit Kenya’s smaller businesses particularly hard, disrupted supply chains and reduced economic activity, the country is staging a positive economic recovery and is expected to post one of the stronger growth rebounds in Sub-Saharan Africa in 2022. The private sector has an instrumental role to play in supporting Kenya’s continued recovery from the pandemic and in creating more productive jobs in the longer term.
IFC’s investment and advisory portfolio in Kenya currently stands at $964 million. IFC works across a number of key sectors including manufacturing, agribusiness, financial services, infrastructure, and technology. IFC has supported Kenya throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, deploying $115 million of its COVID-19 fast-track global financing facility to several financial institutions in Kenya to support them to increase lending to small businesses vital to the country’s economy.
Makhtar Diop is IFC’s Managing Director. He assumed this position on March 1, 2021. Prior to this appointment, he was the World Bank’s Vice President for Infrastructure, where he led the Bank’s global efforts to build sustainable infrastructure in developing and emerging economies. In this role, he oversaw the Bank’s critical work in energy, transport, digital infrastructure, and public-private partnerships.
READ; IFC Appoints Makhtar Diop as Managing Director and Executive Vice President
