The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) announced on May 13 the appointment of Congolese Marlène Ngoyi as CEO of the Export Development Fund for Africa (FEDA), the Bank’s development-oriented subsidiary, while Emmanuel Assiak has been appointed Chief Investment Officer.
FEDA is a subsidiary of Afreximbank focused on development impact investment. FEDA pursues a multi-sectoral investment strategy aimed at developing intra-African trade, value-added exports and the manufacturing value chain which includes financial services, technology, consumer and retail goods, manufacturing, transport and logistics, agribusiness, as well as ancillary trade-facilitating infrastructure such as industrial parks, in Afreximbank’s member states.
Banker and Private Equity Specialist
Originally from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Marlene Ngoyi, says Afreximbank, has more than 17 years of experience. She has worked with social enterprises, private companies, public-private partnerships and governments across Africa to raise billions of dollars of debt, bonds, equity, quasi-equity and foreign direct investment through bank syndications, capital markets or equity transactions to finance strategic investments.
Marlene Ngoyi holds a Master of Business Administration degree from Harvard Business School, where she graduated at the top of her class in 2009. She also graduated magna cum laude from Bentley University, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics and Finance.
She joined BGFIBank Group in 2013 as the Managing Director of BGFI Investment Banking, the investment bank of BGFBank Group, where she led the company in raising more than $4 billion in capital and foreign direct investment for private and sovereign clients. In this position, she notably structured the USD 500mm+ capital financing required for the the new general cargo and mineral ports in Gabon. She was then appointed Deputy Managing Director of BGFIBank Europe, before being appointed CEO of BGFI Bank DRC, a position she held for two years. As CEO of BGFIBank DRC, Marlene Ngoyi led the bank’s financial turnaround and restored its financial profitability. Under her leadership, the bank also became one of the few banks in sub-Saharan Africa to obtain the 30000 anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing certification.
Prior to joining BGFI, Marlene Ngoyi was the Investment Director at Catalyst Principal Partners, a $125 million East Africa-focused private equity fund that invests in emerging and mid-sized companies with strong growth and profitability prospects. Marlene Ngoyi’s experience includes managing transactions in the consumer, healthcare and banking sectors in Tanzania and Ethiopia. Prior to that, she worked at Grassroots Business Fund as the portfolio manager for Africa. Prior to that, Marlene Ngoyi was a private equity investor at Emerging Capital Partners, a pan-African private equity firm that has raised over US$2 billion through funds and co-investment vehicles to invest in growth capital in Africa. In addition, Marlene Ngoyi was a partner at Reliant Equity Investors where she executed and managed growth and acquisition investments across a wide range of sectors.
In addition, Marlene Ngoyi was also an analyst at BNP Paribas. She began her career in investment banking at Merrill Lynch, USA, where she executed capital raising and M&A transactions for Fortune 500 companies in the energy sector. In addition, she was a private client representative at the Bank of New York and a volunteer for ACT Fundea.
FEDA pioneer
For his part, Emmanuel Assiak, the new Chief Investment Officer, a native of Nigeria, had been FEDA’s acting CEO since March 11, 2021. He was appointed to the position after the death in January 2021 of the former CEO, Dr. Philip Kamau, who had led the organization since 2018.
Emmanuel Assiak has over 28 years of experience in financial services, especially private equity, banking and manufacturing. He joined Afreximbank in 2019 as Director of Investments for FEDA and has played a key role in setting up and operationalizing the organization.
Emmanuel Assiak’s responsibilities included setting up the required service infrastructure (people, processes and systems) and leading the execution of FEDA’s first four private equity deals and commitments in other strategic investments and partnerships for approximately US$300 million. In his 15 years of private equity experience, Emmanuel Assiak has played an active role in the mobilization and deployment of over US$1.5 billion in funds and equity transactions.
Prior to joining Afreximbank, Emmanuel Assiak was a Senior Partner at African Capital Alliance, an Africa-focused private equity firm with a presence and networks across the continent. Prior to that, he worked at leading Nigerian banks, including Zenith Bank Plc and Continental Trust Bank, now part of United Bank for Africa (UBA Plc), where he was responsible for banking operations, business services, process management and product development.
Emmanuel Assiak holds an MBA with honors from Manchester Business School, UK. He also holds a first class B.A. and an M.A. in Economics from Cross River State University and the University of Lagos, Nigeria respectively. He is a Chartered Accountant and an alumnus of the Coller Institute of Private Equity, London Business School.
