Donald Kaberuka
Donald P. Kaberuka | |
|---|---|
| Born | October 5, 1951 Byumba, Rwanda |
| Occupation(s) | Economist, banker, advisor |
| Years active | 1980s–present |
| Known for | President of the African Development Bank (2005–2015) |
Donald P. Kaberuka (born 5 October 1951) is a Rwandan economist who held the position of president at the African Development Bank from September 2005 until September 2015.
Early life and education
Originating from Byumba, Rwanda, Kaberuka completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Dar es Salaam. He then pursued an MPhil in Development Studies at the University of East Anglia, graduating in 1979. Subsequently, he earned a PhD in economics from the University of Glasgow.
Career
Before his appointment as Rwanda's minister of finance and economic planning in October 1997, Kaberuka accumulated more than ten years of experience in banking and international trade. Throughout his eight-year ministerial role, he was instrumental in restoring Rwanda's economy following the 1994 genocide.
African Development Bank, 2005–2015
Kaberuka was elected president of the African Development Bank in July 2005 and assumed office that September. During his leadership, he steered the bank through a financial recovery phase after its near-collapse in 1995, focusing on improving its operational integrity. Concurrently, he participated as a member of the Commission on Effective Development Cooperation with Africa, established by Denmark’s prime minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen in 2008.
In September 2006, a working group from the Center for Global Development presented six strategic recommendations aimed at guiding Kaberuka and the bank’s board toward revitalizing the AfDB, with a particular emphasis on prioritizing infrastructure development.
Global Fund, 2019–2023
Since May 2019, Kaberuka has chaired the board of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria. In this capacity, he has played a key role in securing over US$14 billion for the funding period spanning 2020 to 2022. The objectives during this cycle include saving 16 million lives, reducing mortality rates from HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria by half, and reinforcing health systems by 2023. His term was extended into early 2023 to maintain momentum on these strategic initiatives.
Other activities
Corporate boards
In December 2015, Kaberuka was named senior advisor to the consortium "TPG/Satya," a partnership between US-based TPG and London-based Satya Capital associated with Sudanese billionaire Mo Ibrahim.
Additional appointments include:
- Senior advisor to public sector, social impact, and financial institutions practices at Boston Consulting Group (since 2017)
- Chairman and non-executive board member at Centum Investments (since 2016)
- Managing Director at SouthBridge Group, a Pan-African advisory and investment firm
Non-profit organizations In 2017, Kaberuka became co-chair of the LSE-Oxford Commission on State Fragility, Growth and Development under the International Growth Centre, working alongside former UK Prime Minister David Cameron. In 2019, he was appointed by United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres as co-chair of the High Level Panel on Internal Displacement with Federica Mogherini. Later in 2022, Guterres also selected him for the High-Level Advisory Board on Effective Multilateralism, which is co-chaired by Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Stefan Löfven.
Other affiliations include:
- Member of the Africa Europe Foundation’s High-Level Group on Africa-Europe Relations (from 2020)
- Senior Advisory Board member at Exemplars in Global Health (since 2020)
- Member of the Global Leadership Foundation (since 2017)
- Trustee at the Rockefeller Foundation (since 2015)
- Chairperson of African Leadership University’s global advisory council (since 2015)
- Board member at the Center for Global Development (CGD)
- Board member at the Mo Ibrahim Foundation
- Advisory Board member at the Brenthurst Foundation
- Senior Advisor to the International Growth Centre
Recognition
- On 16 March 2015, Kaberuka was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award in Geneva.
- On 27 May 2015, the World Wide Fund for Nature bestowed upon him the Leaders for a Living Planet award.