Sidi Ould Tah was elected president of the African Development Bank Group for a five-year term. The Mauritanian citizen is set to become the ninth president of the bank, and will take over from Nigeria's Akinwumi Adesina and take over as office on September 1st.
The election results were announced by the Minister of Planning and Development of Côte Dyboir, Niare Kaba, and the chairman of the Bank's Governor's Committee at the annual general meeting of the facility held in Abidjan.
Winners must win at least 50.01% of both regional and non-regional votes. Tah secured 76.18% of total votes and 72.37% of regional votes in the third round of votes. This is a historic majority that emphasizes the strength of the missions that bank shareholders have given him. He defeated Zambia's Samuel Maimbo, Senegal's Amadu Hot, Chad's Mahamato Abbas Trili and South Africa's Swaji Tshabalala.
Tar, who spoke to African businesses last month about his banking ambitions, brought over 35 years of experience in Africa and international finance. For 10 years, until April, he was chairman of the $20 billion Arab Bank for African Development (Badea), leading a capital expansion of 376% and launched the institution's first decade-old strategy. Under his surveillance, annual approvals rose 12x, with eight times Badea becoming a consequent actor in infrastructure, SME finance, digital platforms and vulnerable national development.
In May, just a few weeks before the AFDB election, S&P Global upgraded Badea's long-term credit rating to AA+. Tah previously served as Minister of Economics and Finance for Mauritania before his time at Badea.
Working with a campaign team led by Frannie Léautier, former vice president of both AFDB and the World Bank, Tah campaigned on a platform of transformation. He has pledged to reform Africa's financial architecture. It transforms the continent's demographic boom into economic strength. Industrialization while utilizing natural resources. Mobilizes large capital.
In his brief acceptance speech in Abidjan, he thanked the bank shareholders for giving him a strong mission and expressed his enthusiasm for hitting the run. “It's time to get to work, I'm ready,” he said.
Transformative agenda
Tah, who spoke to African businesses during his campaign, laid out his vision for AFDB. He redesigned internal processes at the bank to allow him to move with greater speed and agility.
“Assistence is a real issue. Banks' project cycles can be slower, and by the time the project is approved, ground conditions may have changed, and the government may have even changed, for example,” he said.
“You need to shorten the timeline without compromising integrity. Departments need to work in parallel rather than sequentially. Today's IT solutions will be fully viable,” he suggested, adding, “Banks need to be more sensitive, more agile and expand their operations.”
Tah also highlighted what he considers as “undeveloped possibilities” when mobilizing domestic resources, pension funds, sovereign funds, insurance capital, and other things that he has led them to transformative development.
“The AFDB should be a leader – that's exactly what it is. But it must also serve as a catalyst by being crowded with regional development banks, sovereignty and pension funds, and international institutional investors. We don't think that the banks have exploited all the possibilities there are.
The African Development Bank Group consists of three entities: the African Development Bank, the African Development Fund, and the Nigerian Trust Fund. Its shareholders include 54 African or regional member states and 27 non-African or non-regional member states.
