(EBID) - In a landmark achievement, the President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID), Dr George Agyekum Donkor, has been nominated for yet another international honour- the Development Champion Award by the Rebranding Africa Forum. The award will be presented during a special ceremony in Brussels, Belgium, as part of the 9^th Edition of the forum in October 2023.

It will be recalled that in 2022, Dr Donkor received the prestigious Crans Montana Forum Prix de la Fondation award in Geneva, Switzerland, and was also named by Financial Afrik Magazine as one of the Top 100 Personalities Transforming Africa. The Development Champion Award similarly recognizes Dr Donkor’s contributions to fast-tracking development in the ECOWAS subregion, by championing the implementation of various measures to support private-sector expansion and public-sector promotion while addressing infrastructural challenges.

A lawyer by profession and development banker by training with almost three decades of experience, Dr Donkor’s career has been devoted to strategic governance with an insistence on continuous improvement to deliver tangible results.  Under his capable leadership, EBID has chalked numerous successes since 2020, notably in the areas of governance, mobilisation of resources, and financial and operational performance, among others.

In 2022, International rating agencies Fitch Ratings and Moody’s, noting EBID’s recent advancements, upgraded its rating to B with Stable Outlook and B2 with Stable Outlook respectively, which was a first in the history of the Bank.  Additionally in 2023, the Bank received an A+ rating in the 12^th Peer Review of African DFIs from the Association of African Development Finance Institutions (AADFI) for its commitment to excellence while promoting sustainable development.

The Rebranding Africa Forum is an annual event that brings political personalities, business leaders and young impact makers together to generate partnerships, discuss strategies and coordinate their efforts while shining a spotlight on relevant socio-economic trends. Dr Donkor will also serve as a keynote speaker for the 2023 program on the theme: Evolving African financial systems- Reconciling authenticity and modernity: Pathways towards financial inclusion. Previous speakers for the event include Tony Blair, Former UK Prime Minister and Hadja Lahbib, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Belgium.

About EBID

ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID) is the Development Finance Institution of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) comprising fifteen (15) Member States namely, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Côte d’Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo. Based in Lomé, Togolese Republic, the Bank is committed to financing developmental projects and programmes covering diverse initiatives from infrastructure and basic amenities, rural development and environment, industry, and social services sectors, through its private and public sector windows. EBID intervenes through long, medium, and short-term loans, equity participation, lines of credit, refinancing, financial engineering operations, and related services. www.bidc-ebid.org