Dangote Foundation gets new CEO

By Aminu Imam

The Board of Dangote Foundation has announced the appointment of Ms. Zouera Youssoufou as its Managing Director/Chief Operating Officer (MD/CEO), Dangote Foundation.

The Foundation was set up by Africa’s leading industrialist, Aliko Dangote, as a vehicle of giving back to the society, especially the less-privileged.

A statement from the Board said, “We are pleased to announce the appointment of our new MD/CEO Dangote Foundation, in this role, she would be reporting to the Board of Dangote Foundation.

Zouera Youssoufou will provide overall management over-sight for tahe Foundation, crafting the short, medium and long-term strategic plans and executing same with guidance from the Board”.

According to the statement, “Zouera joins us with a wealth of experience after working as the World Bank Country Manager for Gabon, Equatorial Guinea and Sao Tomé and Principe, where she worked as the front-line person in the relationship with all three Governments and conducted day-to-day dialogue with all levels of Government, donors and civil society”.

Zouera was responsible for developing the World Bank’s engagement strategies and overseeing the implementation of World Bank projects in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea. She had earlier spent 6 years at the International Finance Corporation, where she led the Global Women in Business Program (WIN).

She successfully created multiple opportunities for women entrepreneurs in the developing world, specifically in Access to Finance. In addition to the World Bank, Zouera worked with Citigroup’s Smith Barney unit in New York and Atlanta, the European Union on private sector development issues, and within the management consulting function in Deloitte & Touche Ghana.

Zouera holds an MBA in Finance from New York University’s Stern School of Business and a BBA in Marketing from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst’s Isenberg School of Business. She is multi-lingual in English, French, Spanish and Hausa.