Serge Marie Z. N’Guessan
Deputy Director-General, for West Africa, of the African Development Bank
Serge is a citizen of Côte d’Ivoire and was until this appointment the Country Manager, Senegal Development and Business Delivery Office, for the African Development Bank since 2017. He brings into this role over 30 years of diversified experience in international development in Canada, the United States of America and several countries in Africa. His areas of expertise cut across several domains including project design, management and engineering, governance, donor coordination as well as strategic country operations, engagement and dialogue.
He joined the African Development Bank in 2005 as Senior Architect/Implementation Specialist. Since then, he has held several positions including Principal Procurement Specialist, Chief Governance Specialist as well as Resident Representative Togo National Office.
In his most recent role as the Country Manager in Senegal, Serge has swiftly mobilized the Senegal Country Office Staff and reinforced the country work program and dialogue with the Senegalese authorities on key strategic and operational issues. In a short space of time, he has considerably improved the performance of the African Development Bank’s portfolio in Senegal, and improved portfolio qualities against several key performance indicators. The percentage of flagged projects dropped below the institutional threshold while the portfolio disbursement rates increased significantly.
As the Resident Representative for the Togo National Office between 2011 and 2017, he pioneered the successful opening of the National office in 2012 and ensured high-quality country dialogue and technical advice to the Togolese and Beninese authorities in partnership with other implementing agencies. He helped improve the Bank’s key performance indicators and visibility and increased portfolio size and disbursement ratios significantly. In support of the African Development Bank’s High 5 agenda, Serge spearheaded and led business development and investments efforts and produced a robust pipeline of bankable projects to accelerate the delivery priorities in Togo and Benin Republic.
Prior to joining the African Development Bank, Serge worked as Partner/Division Manager in the firm of Omira Incorporated in Canada from 1996 to 2000; Chief Project Manager at Drigo Land and Livestock, Denver, Colorado; and Head of Field Engineering Unit at Societe Ivoirienne de Conception et de Realization Architecture, between 1987 and 1989.
Serge holds a Ph.D. in Regional and Urban Planning, Universite de Montreal, Canada, a Master’s degree in Architecture from the University of Colorado, Denver, USA, and a Diplome d’Ingenieur de Genie Civil, Ecole National Superieure des Travaux Publics, Yamoussoukro, Côte d’Ivoire.