IFC Day to Highlight Strategies for Boosting Benin’s Private Sector

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Cotonou, May 11, 2022 – IFC will host a workshop on May 13 in Cotonou with representatives from the Government of Benin and the private sector to discuss IFC's strategy in Benin and more generally how IFC delivers investments and advisory services to support growth, job creation, and opportunity in emerging markets across Africa and around the world. 

Media are invited to participate in the opening and closing sessions of the one-day event. Discussions will focus on IFC's strategy and value proposition in Benin, Benin's development agenda (PAG II, 2021-2026), and Benin's key sectors for economic development, including agribusiness, housing, and digital financial services.

Participating from IFC will be Sérgio Pimenta, IFC's Regional Vice President for Africa, and several senior members of IFC Africa's leadership team representing the infrastructure, manufacturing agribusiness & services, and financial industries sectors. Romuald Wadagni, Minister of State in charge of Economy and Finance, will lead Benin's government delegation.

Since COVID-19 disrupted the global economy in 2020, IFC's intervention in Benin contributed to keep trade flowing, ensure the availability of energy supply, and support small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs). New risks, such as the conflict in Ukraine, have emerged, putting more strain on the global economy and making it more urgent for Benin to build resilience to external shocks.

To step up its activities in Benin, IFC opened its country office in Cotonou in October 2019. A country officer, Cyndo Obre, was appointed in November 2020 to work closely with the government and other partners to further support Benin's private sector across transformative sectors such as agribusiness, energy, financial markets, and tourism, leveraging digitization and public private partnerships.

WHO: Romuald Wadagni, Minister of State in charge of Economy and Finance, Benin
Sérgio Pimenta, Regional Vice President for Africa, IFC - @SPimentaIFC

WHEN:             Friday, May 13, 2022, 08:30 (opening) to 16:30 (closing)

WHERE:           Novotel Cotonou Orisha, Cotonou, Benin

For media requests, please contact:
For IFC: Abdoul Maiga | amaiga7@ifc.org | + 1 202 967 8969
For Government of Benin: William Tchekpe | wtchekpe@finances.bj | + 229 69747575

About IFC

IFC—a member of the World Bank Group—is the largest global development institution focused on the private sector in emerging markets. We work in more than 100 countries, using our capital, expertise, and influence to create markets and opportunities in developing countries. In fiscal year 2021, IFC committed a record $31.5 billion to private companies and financial institutions in developing countries, leveraging the power of the private sector to end extreme poverty and boost shared prosperity as economies grapple with the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. For more information, visit www.ifc.org.

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Sérgio Pimenta

IFC's Regional Vice President for Africa

Sérgio Pimenta is IFC's Regional Vice President for Africa. In this capacity, he is in charge of all advisory and investment operations in a region with a committed portfolio of $13.3 billion and approximately 700 staff working to expand the private sector's role in addressing urgent development challenges in the financial, manufacturing, agribusiness and services, and infrastructure industries.

Previously, Mr. Pimenta was IFC's Vice President for the Middle East and Africa. Mr. Pimenta also served as Director and Global Head of Industry—Manufacturing, Agribusiness, and Services at IFC, managing all operations in these sectors worldwide. Mr. Pimenta also served for three years as IFC's Regional Director responsible for East Asia and the Pacific, based in Hong Kong.

Earlier in his career at IFC, Mr. Pimenta held senior managerial positions in the manufacturing, agribusiness, and services sectors in the Asia Pacific region, the Middle East and North Africa, and Washington, DC.

Prior to joining the World Bank Group through its Young Professionals Program in 1996, Mr. Pimenta worked for the Treasury Department of the French Ministry of Finance, as well as for Banque Nationale de Paris (BNP).

A Portuguese and French national, Mr. Pimenta holds an engineering degree from the École Polytechnique, Paris, and a post-graduate degree from the École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées, Paris.