By Favour Nnabugwu
The African Development Bank Group has appointed Ousmane Fall, a Senegalese national, as Director of Non-Sovereign Operations and Private Sector, effective from the 1st of August 2023.
Fall takes on this new role with 17 years of experience. He spent the last four years at the International Finance Corporation (IFC), where he provided strategic leadership on country planning and ministerial dialogue in the African infrastructure space.
At the IFC, Fall covered various sectors, namely water, waste and sanitation; transport and energy; logistics; and telecommunications. He also oversaw the establishment of the Municipal Financing Platform for Sub-Saharan Africa.
Fall developed and executed the first asset-backed securities investment for access to energy in Africa, as well as the first private sector investments in hydro and solar in Gabon and Benin. Other firsts were a gas-to-power strategy for the Senegalese government, and the first municipal financing strategy for the cities of Dakar, Cotonou, Abidjan, and Douala.
He also led business development efforts across Africa, building strong relationships with private sector clients, central and local governments, cities, and selected sovereign-owned entities on the ground.
Fall earlier worked at the African Development Bank Group for 10 years. He held several positions, including those of acting manager for the Strategy and Transactions Support Division, and officer in charge for the Non-Sovereign Infrastructure Division, providing key advisory services and transaction support to Non-Sovereign Operations origination departments. He oversaw project officers in such areas as debt and guarantee transactions design, project bankability assessment, capital structuring, project credit enhancement, financial leveraging, and financial modelling.
He also spearheaded knowledge management and training on non-sovereign operations. He established non-sovereign operations modules on project finance, corporate loans, financial modelling, technical assistance, client relationship management, and equity investments. Fall was a successful investment officer, delivering landmark private sector transactions at the Bank.
He has extensive knowledge of African debt and equity markets, guarantee products, derivatives, and credit enhancement instruments. Fall led the execution of the first African Development Bank Group non-sovereign operations transactions in agriculture, health and education, and the first port dredging and gas-to-power projects. He also served in the Bank’s Public Sector Department, where he worked on solar projects in Morocco, hydro projects in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sierra Leone, Cameroon, Guinea, and other transmission projects in Nigeria and Zambia. He also worked in the Risk Department, where he contributed to the definition and implementation of the Bank’s Capital Adequacy Framework and Exposure Management Policy.
Before joining the African Development Bank, Fall was an investment banker in the Structured Finance Division of Société Générale in Paris.
Fall holds a Master of Science in Finance from INSEEC Business and Management School in France (2005).
Commenting on his appointment, Fall said: “I am honoured and grateful that President Adesina appointed me to this position. I look forward to working under his leadership to serve the premier financial institution of the continent in its ambitious vision to transform the African continent through the private sector.”
African Development Bank president, Dr Akinwumi A. Adesina, said: “Ousmane has a proven track record of delivering results in private sector transactions. He will ensure the overall effectiveness of the Bank’s Private Sector operations through non-sovereign operations project and corporate portfolio management as well as transaction support to non-sovereign operations origination departments.”
