Calculations and geo-political permutations are currently in top gear to elect a new President of the African Development Bank, (AfDB) on Thursday.
As Dr Akinwumi Adesina’s tenure winds down, campaigns by the various aspirants have reached the peak, with five top contenders, jostling to succeed the incumbent.
The election which has been scheduled to hold on Thursday, May 29, 2025, during the lender’s annual meeting in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, is expected to come with its surprises, shocks, nuances and dynamics.
Factors such as tectonic shifts in global development finance with shrinking concessional funding, cuts to wealthy countries’ aid spending and “whipsawing” borrowing costs have been identified as instruments that attained the bank’s $318 billion capital and positioned it as being crucial to Africa’s development. So who are those jostling to occupy the leadership position at the AfDB?
Meet Top Contenders
Abbas Mahamat Tolli (Chad)
Tolli has held top financial positions across Central Africa, including serving as Chad’s Finance Minister, regional Central Bank Governor and President of the Development Bank of Central African States.
According to him, if he succeeds, he would refocus the bank on self-sufficiency, from agriculture to finance, and strengthen governance in order to cut inefficient, non-transparent spending that have mired countries in debt without development.
To make it work, Tolli plans to operationalize a “major overhaul” of the AfDB’s operational model by pooling risk, strengthening public-private partnerships and digitizing financing mechanisms.
Samuel Munzele Maimbo (Zambia)
He is World Bank Vice President on a leave of absence. Under his watch, the Zambia has witnessed three decades of development experience.
If elected as President, he wants to launch behind-the-scenes work to aggregate data, fix the financial plumbing and streamline regulations to enable Africa’s 54 nations to trade with – and finance – each other. This aligns with Africa free continental trade agreement protocol signed by many African countries.
Maimbo, who has the backing of the Southern African Development Community and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa – wants a continent-wide approach to development ranging from debt sustainability to revenue collection and infrastructure.
Swazi Tshabalala Bajabulile (South Africa)
A banker with 30 years of experience, Tshabalala was, until October, AfDB’s Senior Vice President.
The South African, and sole female candidate, plans to transform the bank if she takes the helm.
“The internal structure of the institution … doesn’t facilitate the right sort of sustained focus to be able to really deliver effectively on things like infrastructure,” she said. “We really should consolidate that” she said.
Tshabalala said if delivered properly, infrastructure would allow Africa to tap its resources – from minerals to finance to trade. She wants to create innovative financial instruments, building on the AfDB’s foray into hybrid capital.
Sidi Ould Tah (Mauritania)
Mauritania’s ex-Finance Minister and Presidential Adviser has run the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa for the past decade.
“The AfDB must break free from legacy constraints and position itself as the driver of Africa’s economic sovereignty,” Tah said.
He is primarily focused on four pillars: mobilising a broader scope of capital, reforming financial systems, harnessing demographics by formalising the “informal sector” that employs 83% of Africans and building climate-resilient infrastructure.
By partnering with the private sector, other multilateral institutions and regional development banks, the AfDB can turn every $1 raised into $10 of productive capital, he said.
Amadou Hott (Senegal)
Senegal’s former Economy Minister has decades of banking experience from Lagos to London.
He says he would focus the AfDB on African financial self-reliance by mobilising resources and designing projects to keep private money on the continent if elected as president.
“Revenue mobilization is number one,” he said.
Hott highlights the point that revenue collection must rise – the average tax to GDP ratio in Africa is 16%, versus the OECD average of 34% – which could boost credit ratings, lower borrowing costs and marshal money for pressing needs, including power and infrastructufinancere.
“The money is out there,” he said, adding that a lack of ready-made well-structured projects that mitigated risks and delivered returns had hamstrung private sector mobilization.
AfDB’s Future
There is no doubt that Adesina’s tenure has recorded key milestones.
So, the Africa and the entire global business circle look forward to a more prospective and rejuvenated continental Bank, with a new helmsman building on the gains already laid.
Africa and the world await the outcome of Thursday’s election.
