The African Development Bank is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Mohamed El Azizi as the Director General for the North Africa Regional Development and Business Delivery Office, with effect from December 1, 2016. The North 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.
Mr. Mohamed El Azizi, Moroccan, has 26 years of experience, including extensive senior level managerial experience in leading high performing teams in national, regional and international organizations. He is a well-respected development expert and has broad experience in successfully developing infrastructure projects in Africa. He is a Member of the Board of Governors of the World Water Council.
Mr. El Azizi is currently the Director, Water and Sanitation Department and African Water Facility at the Bank, managing a portfolio of 105 operations in 38 African countries worth about US $3.4 billion. He has accumulated extensive knowledge of infrastructure sector strategies in different African countries and has solid knowledge of the operation's procedures of the Bank. He has an impressive record of donor coordination and partnership development. He successfully led teams to mobilize 6 billion Euros for rural water supply and sanitation initiative in Africa.
He joined the Bank in 2000 as a Water and Sanitation expert. From 2005 to 2007 he worked as Country Program Officer in the Rwanda Field Office. From 2007 to 2011 he was Manager, Operations and Maintenance Division. Between 2011 and 2013, he was Director for Corporate, General Services and Procurement Department.
He is multilingual and speaks English, French, and Arabic fluently. He has a multidisciplinary academic background with two Master's degrees in Civil, Water and Forestry Engineering and Rural Engineering, and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Quebec at Montreal, Canada.
The President of the African Development Bank, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, said of the appointment: "Mr. Mohamed El Azizi is a proven leader with extensive experience in Bank operations. He has led and effectively managed very large and complex Bank projects. He brings years of experience in working with public and private sectors across Africa. Mohamed's leadership, ability to build effective partnerships and deep knowledge of North Africa region will be great assets to the Bank's as he leads our work in the region".
