Daouda Sembene is the founder and CEO of AfriCatalyst, a global development advisory based in Dakar, Senegal. He is affiliated with the Washington-based Center for Global Development (CGD) as Distinguished Nonresident Fellow.
Daouda was an Executive Director of the International Monetary Fund where he represented 23 African countries on the Executive Board. During his IMF board tenure, he chaired the statutory Board Committee that was tasked with strengthening collaboration at the board level between the IMF and other international institutions, notably the World Bank Group, the United Nations, and WTO. In addition, he chaired the IMF Executive Directors’ Working Group on Diversity and Inclusion and the IMF Executive Directors’ Small States Working Group. He served as a member of the IMF Executive Board’s Gender Diversity Working Group and the IMF Executive Directors’ Fragile States Working Group. He was also appointed as member of the IMF Executive Board Evaluation Committee and IMF Board Working Group on the FY18 Evaluation of the Performance of the IMF Managing Director and the Executive Board.
After his board tenure, Daouda served in his home country as senior economic advisor to the President of Senegal with ministerial rank. More recently, he was appointed by the Chairperson of the African Union as Special Advisor on food security. He has been invited to provide expert testimony on IMF and global economic and geopolitical issues at US Congressional hearings. He has provided consulting services to the IMF, the World Bank, the United Nations, and the G20 Saudi Secretariat during the Saudi presidency of the G20. His work and views on African and global economic issues have been featured in prominent print and broadcast media including BBC, CNBC Africa, Reuters, Bloomberg, Le Monde, Voice of America, Project Syndicate, Jeune Afrique, TRT World, CGTN, World Politics Review, and Le Point Afrique.
Prior to serving as Executive Director of the IMF, Daouda spent most of his professional career in that institution, assuming various positions at the Research Department, the Independent Evaluation Office, and the Executive Board. He also served as senior advisor to the Minister of Economy, Finance, and Planning in Senegal and, in that capacity, he was appointed as IMF and World Bank Alternate Governor for Senegal. He also served briefly as Head of the Financial Sector and Competitiveness General Directorate in the same ministry. He began his career at the World Bank in Washington as part of a team of lecturers in macroeconomic management.
Daouda holds a PhD in development economics from American University in Washington and master’s degrees from George Washington University, the University of Montreal, and the University of Dakar. He has authored, and contributed to several publications, including a book on macroeconomic policy in fragile countries and another one focused on low-income countries’ race to the next income frontier.
