AfDB appoints Marie Laure Olugbade Vice President for Regional Development, Integration and Business Delivery
Marie-Laure Akin-Olugbade, a Cameroonian national, has been named Vice President of the African Development Bank’s Regional Development, Integration, and Business Delivery complex.
The appointment takes effect on April 1, 2023.
Akin-Olugbade is a seasoned senior executive with nearly 31 years of experience at the African Development Bank, delivering technical, managerial, and strategic knowledge and leadership in capital markets, treasury, asset management, and product development.
She was previously the complex’s Acting Vice President and Director General of the Bank’s Business Development and Delivery Office for the West Africa Region.
Akin-Olugbade oversaw the creation and execution of transformative strategies, programs, and transactions, setting up the African Development Bank as the “Solutions Bank.” She was involved in the full complexity of the institution’s lending and non-lending operations in middle-income and low-income countries, working with the institution’s largest team of country managers. Transition states, as well as innovative and complex cross-border operations, have been among them.
She oversaw the $9 billion West Africa portfolio’s accelerated delivery of results, working with governments, the private sector, regional economic communities, and non-state actors to achieve significant, life-changing development impact.
In 1991, the new Vice President began her career at the African Development Bank as a finance assistant in the Treasury Department’s trading room, where she remained until 1993, when she was promoted to investment officer. She was in charge of the Bank’s assets in international capital markets from 1993 to 1997. She later advanced to the position of principal financial analyst in the Financial Technical Services Division, where she was in charge of clients’ financial solutions across the continent.
In 2008, Akin-Olugbade was appointed Manager of the Bank’s Financial Technical Services Division, a position she held until 2010.
She was in charge of new product development, client financial solutions, and risk management services in that capacity. She was also a team member that wrote the African Fixed Income and Derivatives Guidebook, published in 2010.
Akin-Olugbade earned a master’s degree in applied economics from the Université Paris-Dauphine in France. She also has a postgraduate diploma in management from Panthéon-Sorbonne University.
After nearly two decades at the African Development Bank, Akin-Olugbade was appointed Country Manager for the Ghana Country Office, a position she held from 2010 to 2016. She oversaw a $1 billion portfolio of complex lending and non-lending operations, producing impactful long-term results. She led the team that conceptualized and funded the historic Accra Pokuase Interchange, West Africa’s first four-tier interchange.
Commenting on her appointment, Akin-Olugbade said:
“I am very grateful to the African Development Bank President, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, for the confidence and trust bestowed on me by this appointment. I look forward to working under Dr Adesina’s leadership, with the dedicated and talented team of directors general, directors, deputy directors, country managers, the Bank’s operational complexes, the senior leadership team and our Board of Directors, to enhance the effectiveness, efficiency, and delivery of quality operations for all beneficiaries in our regional member countries.”
Dr Akinwumi A. Adesina said: “I am pleased to appoint Mrs Marie-Laure Akin-Olugbade Vice-President for the Regional Development, Integration and Business Delivery complex of the Bank. She will provide strong and effective leadership to the complex. Marie-Laure is a seasoned and respected professional and business leader. She has extensive hands-on experience in banking and development. She will ensure that the Bank operates successfully across its regional member countries and will oversee the full implementation of all aspects of our regional directorates in furtherance of the Bank’s development mandate.”
