ECOWAS bank board chair to receive Prix de la Foundation award
The President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID), Dr George Agyekum Donkor, has been nominated to receive this year’s Prix de la Foundation award at the prestigious Crans Montana Forum (CMF) scheduled to take place in Geneva, Switzerland, from November 16 to 19, 2022.
The award will be presented by the Prince of Luxembourg, Prince Guillaume Jean Joseph Marie, at a special ceremony that will recognise individuals who have contributed to democracy and socio-economic progress for a better world.
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A statement signed by Angelo Dadzie of the Communications and External Relations Department of the EBID said the award would be an acknowledgement of Dr Donkor’s numerous contributions to the socio-economic development of the sub-region by spearheading strategic economic initiatives for creating jobs and providing dynamic leadership to champion wealth creation for the vulnerable.
Career achievements
A lawyer and development banker by training, Dr Donkor’s illustrious career, spanning about three decades, has been a testament to people-centred leadership in a corporate setting.
“Dr Donkor focuses on the implementation of change not only to drive progress in the West African sub-region but also stimulate a wider international impact through regional integration and engagement.
“Under his leadership, EBID had achieved several remarkable successes, including a balance sheet growth of 22 per cent and 158 per cent oversubscription of its 2021 West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) bond issuance concluded within 24 hours, an indication of increased investor confidence,” the statement said.
Additionally, it said, Dr Donkor, within two years of assumption of office as President of the bank, had recorded an impressive operational and financial performance, to the admiration of all stakeholders, including the ministers of Finance of the 15 ECOWAS Member States, who are also the governors of the bank.
Furthermore, it indicated that Dr Donkor’s leadership had seen the mobilisation of about $404 million and recovery of over $20 million of fully impaired and written-off loans, thereby reducing the bank’s non-performing loans (NPL) rate from over eight to 5.86 per cent.
In addition, the bank had recovered over 6$6.6 million in capital arrears, it said.
Credit rating
All those efforts, the statement said, had culminated in the upgrade of EBID’s credit rating from B2 (negative outlook) to B2 with a stable outlook by both Moody’s and Fitch Ratings in 2021 and 2022, despite the global economic downturn triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia–Ukraine war.
“Other remarkable achievements recorded include improvement in governance, human resource development, the bank’s visibility, processes and procedures and information technology,” it added.
Background
The CMF is a high-profile event that brings together world leaders from various domains, such as international development, diplomacy, economic policy and social welfare in an informal setting to exchange ideas while networking.
The forum’s prominent partners over the years had been high-profile personalities, including a former Prime Minister of France, Dominique de Villepin; the American political activist and Baptist minister, Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, and a former Secretary General of the United Nations, Dr Boutros Boutros Ghali.
Dr Donkor will, on the day, share his vision for the ECOWAS region and its regional financial institution, EBID.
He was the recipient of the Innovation Leadership Award organised by the Ghana Innovation/NIBS Award in 2019.