IFC Appoints Sanaa Abouzaid as New Country Manager for Mexico

Mexico City, July 7th 2025. The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, has announced the appointment of Sanaa Abouzaid as its new Country Manager for Mexico.

Abouzaid succeeds Juan Gonzalo Flores, who is taking on new responsibilities within the World Bank Group.

With extensive experience in private sector development, Abouzaid comes to Mexico after serving as IFC’s Regional Manager for Central America, based in Panama City. In that role, she led IFC’s operations in Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala, with a focus on strengthening financial systems, expanding access to finance for small and medium-sized enterprises (SME’s) —particularly those led by women—and promoting sustainable infrastructure investments through public-private partnerships.

In her new role, Abouzaid’s top priority will be to promote job creation, a key objective of the World Bank Group, aligned with IFC’s three strategic pillars for Mexico and the region: inclusion, sustainability, and productivity. She will also work to strengthen the leadership of the private sector as a driver of development, expand collaboration opportunities with the public sector, and attract new investments to the country.

“I am excited to join the IFC team in Mexico and contribute to creating opportunities that drive job creation and inclusive, sustainable economic growth,” said Abouzaid. “I firmly believe in the strategic role of the private sector in generating jobs and in IFC’s ability to catalyze impactful investments.”

Abouzaid began her career at IFC 22 years ago and has worked with private sector companies across Latin America, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), Asia, and Africa. She previously served as IFC’s Regional Corporate Governance Lead for the MENA region and is the author of the “IFC Family Business Governance Handbook,” which has been translated into more than twenty languages. She is a founding member of the Corporate Governance Development Framework for Development Finance Institutions and played a key role in developing governance methodologies for the sector.

A Moroccan national, Abouzaid holds an MBA in Finance and Investments from George Washington University and a bachelor’s degree in Finance and Accounting from ISCAE. She speaks English, French, Arabic, Spanish, and Italian.