Business Desk :
Junaid Kamal Ahmad has been appointed as the vice president for operations of the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), one of the five organisations under the World Bank Group, with effect from April 16 this year.
Ahmad brings to this post deep experience and understanding of international development and an exemplary track record of thought leadership and service to World Bank Group client countries, the World Bank Group said in a statement on Sunday.
In this role, Ahmad will work to advance and enhance MIGA’s brand partnering across the World Bank Group and with financial institutions, private investors and development actors, originate and pursue meaningful, impact-driven projects and lead the operations team to deliver on MIGA’s mandate of mobilising private finance for development projects in Emerging Market Developing Economies.
Junaid Ahmad, a Bangladeshi national, has been the country director for the World Bank in India since September 2016.
He joined the World Bank in 1991 as a young professional and worked on infrastructure development in Africa and Eastern Europe.
He has since held several management positions, leading the bank’s programme in diverse regions including Africa, the Middle East and North Africa, as well as in India and South Asia, and the chief of staff to World Bank Group president.
During a part of this period, Ahmad was based in Johannesburg and New Delhi and in 2004 was a core member of the World Development Report Making Services Work for Poor People.
Through his career, Ahmad has focused on the role of service delivery in building and leveraging state capability and markets towards the goals of eliminating poverty, enhancing shared prosperity, and tackling climate change.
A particular emphasis has been on the development of private-public partnerships in infrastructure sectors and with municipal governments and through them the mobilisation of private equity and long-term debt from capital markets.
These projects were located across Africa, Middle East and North Africa, and South Asia covering the full spectrum of WBG’s IBRD and IDA clients.
As the first senior director of the World Bank’s Water Global Practice and the country director for India, Ahmad has initiated and overseen multi-billion-dollar sector and country programs covering finance, infrastructure, and human development.
He is recognised for his strategic leadership of teams to impact at scale.
He holds a PhD in applied economics from Stanford University, a two-year MPA from Harvard University, and a BA in economics from Brown University.
Ahmad was selected to this position through an international, competitive recruitment process.
He will report to Hiroshi Matano, executive vice president for MIGA.
