The African Development Bank Group has appointed Solomane Koné as director of the African Natural Resources Management and Investment Centre, effective from 01 May 2025.
Koné is a seasoned expert with over 30 years' professional and consulting experience in regional and multilateral development institutions, regional and national operations, portfolio management, quality control and economic policy, as well as applied research and reforms.
A citizen of Côte D'Ivoire, Koné had been head of the Bank Group's regional office for Central Africa since February 2025. Since 2021, he had also managed the Country Office sfor the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Equatorial Guinea.
Previously, he was head of the Country Office for Cameroon (October 2017 to January 2021), a post he combined with that of Deputy Director General for the Bank's Regional Office for Central Africa until his appointment. In this role, he worked not only to develop a high-level national and regional strategic dialogue with governments and stakeholders, but also coordinated actions with other development partners, notably in the context of the Regional Economic Programme (PER) for the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC).
Koné also played a decisive role in establishing the Bank's Regional Office for Central Africa in Yaoundé, in Cameroon. He contributed to the institution's strategic positioning by leading the design and development of second-generation Country Strategy Papers (CSP) for countries in Central Africa. The stated objective was the diversification and inclusive structural transformation of economies as part of the Bank Group's Ten-Year Strategy (TYS) and the Integrated Multisectoral Ten-Year Programme for Agricultural Transformation in the DRC.
Koné joined the African Development Bank in January 2003 as a country economist, first in Central Africa and later in West Africa and served in the Governance Department. He subsequently filled various management and senior management roles, notably as a specialist economist.
From November 2013 to September 2017, he was an adviser to the Vice-President for National and Regional Programmes (later, Vice-President for Regional Development, Integration and Business Delivery). In these various positions, he managed all aspects of the Bank's strategic, institutional and operational work at the national and regional level in several situations and at various levels of complexity, particularly in states in transition, low- and middle-income countries and the regional economic communities of Central, East and West Africa.
In addition to his specific work on countries such as Angola, Burundi, Cameroon, Cabo Verde, Congo, the DRC, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Nigeria and Sao Tomé-et-Principe, Mr Koné has played a leading role in strengthening the Bank's strategic commitment in transitional situations in the Comoros, Djibouti, Eritrea, Sudan, South Sudan, Somalia and the Horn of Africa.
Before joining the Bank, Koné spent over 10 years in research, strategic and policy analysis as a lead consultant, researcher and policy analyst in various national and international academic institutions, including the Cornell University Food and Nutrition Policy Program, the Côte d'Ivoire Centre for Economic and Social Research, the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the Development Centre of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). He spent seven years as a researcher and policy analyst at the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO), where he developed forecasting, simulation and econometric models to guide macroeconomic and monetary policy, as well as regional programmes within the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU).
Koné holds a PhD and a Master's in development planning and economics from Cornell University in the United States, and is an author and co-author of numerous publications and reports on regional development, industrial policy, the impact of budgetary and monetary policies, the appropriate level of foreign exchange reserves and analysing policy using a social accounting matrix. He has also taught macroeconomic policy, econometrics and high-level quantitative methods at the BCEAO's West African Centre for Banking Studies and Training (COFEB) and at Cornell University in the United States.
"I am honoured by this appointment and further mark of trust by President [of the African Development Bank Group, Akinwumi] Adesina, particularly in the area of natural resources management, which is essential for African countries. I am committed to providing the necessary help and support for the management of natural resources in Africa as part of a fine programme of inclusive structural transformation of African economies," declared Koné following his appointment.
"I am delighted to appoint Solomane Koné as director of the African Natural Resources Management and Investment Centre," said Adesina. "Solomane is a seasoned economist and a highly respected professional. He brings a detailed understanding and vast experience in applied research, strategic management, and regional and national operations to the role. As a result, the Bank Group will create the necessary momentum to ensure that natural resources play a key role in the structural transformation of African economies, in line with our new ten-year strategy," he emphasized.
