Nigerian Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala takes the reins of the WTO, the World Trade Organization in Geneva, Switzerland. While the Senegalese Makhtar Diop takes over as the managing director of the IFC, the international financial corporation, the branch of the World Bank. Crossed portraits of two brilliant figures.
If their continental origin brings them together, many things on the other hand separate the Nigerian Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and the Senegalese Makhtar Diop. Born into a family of traditional chiefs and teacher parents, the former was educated in the United States, including prestigious universities such as Harvard and MIT. The latter, the son of a lawyer, learned commerce in France, in Normandy, before continuing his studies in the United Kingdom.
Makhtar Diop has long been influenced by the English Labour movement and American Keynesianism, while Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is more of a liberal “public finance” type. Both have held the position of Minister of Finance in their countries and are experts in development policies. It is true that together they have 45 years of experience at the World Bank. The institution that, in a way, forged them and brought them to light.
At 66 years old, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala probably has more government experience than his younger Senegalese counterpart, aged 60, who has spent years travelling across Africa, Asia and Latin America. Both have faced a challenge that they know well from having devoted much of their lives to it: fighting poverty. It has increased again in the world because of the Covid-19 pandemic.