International Finance Corporation (IFC) Vice President for Global Industries/Chief Operating Officer, Mr. Rashad Kaldany, is expected in Monrovia today (March 4) to commence a three-day official visit to Liberia.

While in Liberia, Kaldany will meet and hold discussions with senior Liberian Government officials, the private sector and development partners on IFC support to private sector development in Liberia.

Together with officials of the Liberian Government, the IFC Chief Operating Officer will commission the IFC New Office in Congo Town, and launch the Liberia Women Entrepreneurs Network, a platform to empower women entrepreneurs to undertake business initiative.

IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is the largest global development institution focused exclusively on the private sector. It helps developing countries achieve sustainable growth by financing investment, mobilizing capital in international financial markets, and providing advisory services to businesses and governments.

In 2012, the IFC's investments reached an all-time high of more than $20 billion, leveraging the power of the private sector to create jobs, spark innovation, and tackle the world's most pressing development challenges.

Kaldany is responsible for coordinating all IFC's investment and advisory services activities aiming to achieve sustainable private sector development in emerging markets, creating opportunity and improving people's lives.

He joined IFC in 1988 as an Investment Officer in the Africa Department. He has played a critical role in strengthening the institution's effectiveness and expanding its development impact, working in every region of the world. He has served on IFC's Management Team since 2008--in positions that represent the breadth and depth of IFC's global and local expertise.

Previously, he was Vice President, Asia, Eastern Europe, Middle East and North Africa, based in Istanbul. Before that he was Vice President, Middle East and North Africa, East and South Asia, and Global Infrastructure Cluster.

Prior to becoming a Vice President, Kaldany led IFC's infrastructure department between March 2007 and June 2008. During this period, IFC's activities in infrastructure development more than doubled. As Director of the Oil, Gas, and Chemicals Department before that, he oversaw the multi-stakeholder extractive industries consultation process, which reinvigorated the mandate for World Bank Group activities in these sectors, with a focus on community development. He also led the Bank Group's participation in launching the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative and the Global Gas Flaring Reduction Partnership.

Born in Egypt to a Syrian family, Mr. Kaldany is currently a US/Syrian national. He holds a Ph.D. in biochemistry from Columbia University and an MBA from Stanford University.