Ibrahima Cheikh Diong
United Nations Assistant Secretary General and Director General of the African Risk Capacity (ARC) Group
Ibrahima Cheikh Diong has over 30 years of professional leadership and management experience in Africa, USA, Europe and Asia. As Director-General of the African Risk Capacity Group (ARC Agency and ARC Ltd), Ibrahima is responsible for defining and executing the strategic vision of the institution. As an ex-officio member of each of the affiliate managing organs including the Board of Directors, he is responsible for ensuring that the overall ARC Group Strategy is aligned with each affiliate. This includes coordination of the ARC Group management team and ensuring the financial sustainability of each affiliate. Leveraging on his versatile expertise, knowledge, experience and vast networks, the Group Director-General will chart a new path towards strategies and partnerships that will continue to place ARC as a leader in Disaster Risk Management and a true partner to Africa’s populations and governments in alleviating the impact of natural disasters on the continent. Ibrahima’s areas of expertise include: corporate and investment banking, structured and blended finance, transaction advisory, financial engineering, resource mobilization, business re-engineering, change management, human capital development, public-private partnership design, merger and acquisition management, project management, environmental policy and impact assessment management, monitoring and evaluation design, strategic communication and planning, private sector development, water resources management, among others.
Prior to joining ARC, Ibrahima founded and served as the Chairman of the Dakar-based pan-African management, communication and investment advisory firm, Africa Consulting and Trading (ACT Afrique Group). Prior to ACT Afrique Group, Ibrahima held several senior positions; Senior Africa Banker at BNP Paribas out of London; Minister, Special Adviser and Ambassador- at-Large to the President of the Republic of Senegal; Ambassador and Director General of International Cooperation of Senegal; Permanent Secretary of Energy of Senegal; Chairman of the Board of Senegal Airlines; Manager at Africa Department of International Finance Corporation; Regional Coordinator for Africa for Public Private Infrastructure Advisory Facility at the World Bank. He has also served as the Africa Director at the US-based international management consulting firm, Booz- Allen and Hamilton, where he led its public utility privatization work in in Africa, senior independent adviser to African and US governments, UN agencies, international foundations and NGOs, international private companies and think tanks; Manager of the Environment Unit of the Dakar-based Pan-African Agency for Research and Consulting. He was also the Director of the Water Resources and Environment Department of the African Network for Integrated Development. While living in Taiwan, he founded an intermediary firm, Africa Consulting in Taiwan (ACT), to support investment flows from Taiwan to Africa. Ibrahima graduated from the School of Int’l and Public Affairs (SIPA) at Columbia University in New York City with a Master’s degree in Int’l Affairs (MIA) specialized in international finance and environmental policy. He also holds a BSc. of Civil Engineering specialized in water resources mgmt. from Hohai Int’l University, Nanjing, People’s Republic of China. He also holds a diploma in BOOT design. Ibrahima is perfectly fluent in English, French, Mandarin Chinese and Wolof, and has a working knowledge of Portuguese.