ETI, Ecobank’s parent company, appoints former World Bank, AfDB official to board

B y Charles Abuede

Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI), the parent company of pan African Ecobank Group, says it has appointed HervéAssah, a former African Development Bank’s (AfDB) country manager and resident representative for Nigeria and ECOWAS, to its board as an independent non-executive director from the central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC) region.

The banking group in a disclosure to the Nigerian Stock Exchange on Wednesday signed by AdenikeLaoye, group head, corporate communications, stated that the appointment will see Assah bring his wide and varied experience to enrich the board of ETI.

According to the disclosure,Assah has almost four decades of experience as a senior executive in several fields, including investment and financial advisory, global trade development, public-private partnerships in emerging markets, regional development and business strategy amongst others.

He has also worked with the African Development Bank as country manager and resident representative for Nigeria and ECOWAS. He has also served as vice president, corporate finance, Global Emerging Markets Group, head of sub-Saharan Africa at BNP-Paribas; and senior associate, Corporate Finance Global Emerging Markets Group at Deutsche Bank.

Prior to his appointment into the board of ETI, Assah had held senior roles at the World Bank, including lead private sector development specialist in the Finance Competitiveness & Innovation Global Practice; country manager and resident representative for Togo; senior private sector development and public-private partnership specialist; and investment officer for worldwide oil, gas and mining sectors at the World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation for over 20 years.

Also, Assah is the managing partner of Aequaria Capital, a fund management company focused on growth companies in sub-Saharan Africa.