OUAGADOUGOU, February 1, 2016 — The new World Bank Country Manager for Burkina Faso, Mr. Cheick Fantamady Kanté, officially took office on Monday, February 1. Before coming to Burkina Faso, Mr. Kanté was the Bank’s Country Manager in Guinea-Conakry.
In this new position, Mr. Kanté’s priorities will be (i) to continue strengthening relations between the World Bank and the country’s authorities; (ii) to oversee the preparation and implementation of the Country Partnership Framework (CPF), in accordance with the development priorities identified by the country; and (iii) to supervise the participation of the Ouagadougou office teams in the implementation of the World Bank’s development strategy for the Africa region.
Mr. Kanté, a Malian national, has a long history of development experience throughout the world, including 15 years at the World Bank Group. From June 2012 to January 2016, he was the World Bank Country Manager in Guinea-Conakry. Under his leadership, a new strategic partnership framework was put in place, and the World Bank’s portfolio was reconstituted after a long period of suspension. In his previous positions, Mr. Kanté directed a regional program of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a branch of the World Bank Group that funds and provides advisory assistance to African financial institutions with the aim of increasing access by small and medium-sized African enterprises to financial services. Mr. Kanté holds a Master’s Degree in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Arizona in the United States, as well as a Diploma from the Bamako Ecole Normale Supérieure in Mali.
