The African Development Bank is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Tonia Kandiero as Director General for the Southern Africa Regional Development and Business Delivery Office with effect from 1 December 2016. The Southern Africa Regional Development and Business Delivery Office is part of the new business approach of the Bank to accelerate its business and development impacts across Africa.
Dr. Tonia Kandiero, Malawian, has worked across Southern Africa and brings experience in government, academia and international financial institutions. She is currently the African Development Bank's Resident Representative for Tanzania, responsible for managing one of the largest African Development Fund beneficiaries with a portfolio of US $2 billion. As Resident Representative, Dr. Kandiero has enhanced dialogue with partners, donor coordination, and the Bank's profile in Tanzania.
During her tenure, the Tanzania portfolio has strengthened, making it increasingly relevant to the country. She has focused on strengthening portfolio management across sectors, including transport, energy, water, agriculture, education and health and she has deepened engagement with the private sector under her leadership.
An academic and researcher by training, Dr. Kandiero joined the African Development Bank in 2007 as a Senior Research Economist, and later served as Principal Research Economist from 2007 to 2009, in the office of the Chief Economist of the Bank. She subsequently worked as Lead Macroeconomist from 2009-2011, with focus on supporting the development and implementation of the first Regional Integration Strategy Paper of the Bank, as well as macroeconomic and sector work in trade and regional integration.
Before joining the Bank, Dr. Kandiero worked at the South Africa's National Treasury, first as Director, Trade and Macroeconomic Policy and later as the Director for Global Development Policy and International Economics. At South Africa's Treasury Department, she analysed trade issues at national, regional and multilateral levels and managed South Africa's relationships with International Financial Institutions.
Dr. Kandiero holds Bachelors degree in business administration from Morehead State University, USA (1993) and a Master's degree (1997) and PhD (2001) in economics, respectively, from Howard University, USA.
The President of the African Development Bank, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, said of the appointment: "Dr. Tonia Kandiero has successfully grown and managed the Bank's operations in Tanzania, where she is overseeing the Bank's largest operations under the African Development Fund. Tonia's experience in regional trade, macroeconomics, policy and operations of the Bank, and deep knowledge of the region, will be very helpful as the Bank rolls out its New Development and Business Delivery Model for accelerating its operations in the Southern Africa region".
