AfDB Chief to Address High-Level Expanded Cabinet -Launches Liberia Youth Entrepreneurship Investment Bank Today

MONROVIA – Back in May of 2024, the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the Government of Liberia finally conceived the concept for the Liberian Youth Entrepreneurship and Investment Bank’s project with the overall goal to strengthen financial and non-financial business service to young women and men entrepreneurs in ways that ensure inclusion, decrease vulnerabilities, and prepare for resilience and long-term sustainability of service provision. Apparently all the details being finalized, the AfDB’s president, Dr. Akinwumi A. Adesina, also popularly fondly called “Africa’s Optimist-in-Chief”, has been in country to cap the formalities with the launch and an oration for which Government cabinet has been expanded to be in audience. THE ANALYST reports.

The president of the African Development Bank, Dr. Akinwumi A. Adesina, is on a three-day official visit to Liberia climaxed today with the launch of one of his decade-old term’s flagship project, the Liberian Youth Entrepreneurship and Investment Bank.

Given the importance of the project, the government of Liberia has arranged a special ocassion to be attended by an expanded cabinet at which Dr. Adesina will deliver a special statement.  

The high-level expanded cabinet, according to a press release,  is to include not only senior cabinet and deputy  ministers, but also assistant  ministers,  advisors to the president,  managing directors  of sate-owned enterprises as well  as heads  and dupties of public  commission  and  agencies.

He is also expected to receive a national recognition for his impactful leadership in development.

Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, has led the AfDB since his election on May 28, 2015, in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, and is widely known for his expertise in development economics and agriculture.

His tenure as the bank’s eighth president concludes in September, adding significance to this visit.

According to the release, the visit highlights the strategic partnership between Liberia and the AfDB, reinforcing their shared goals of sustainable development and economic transformation through youth innovation.

Upon his arrival at Roberts International Airport on Monday, Dr. Adesina was welcomed by the Liberian senior officials of government.

On Today, July 22, 2025, he will engage in a courtesy meeting and breakfast with President Joseph Nyuma Boakai, Sr., where they will discuss ongoing development initiatives and Liberia’s economic future.

It will after this that Dr. Adesina will deliver  an address to a High-Level Expanded Cabinet, to include senior cabinet  deputy  ministers,  assistant  ministers,  advisors to the president,  managing directors  of sate owned enterprise as well  as heads  and dupties of public  commission  and  agencies.

The high-level expanded  cabinet meeting  will convene at 10 am at the Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Ministerial Complex.

The Liberian government plans to honour Dr. Adesina for a decade of leadership at the AfDB and his contributions to Liberia’s development agenda.

A key highlight of the day will be the formal launch at the Ministerial Complex hall of the Youth Entrepreneurship Investment Bank (YEIB) and the Innovation Bureau, with Dr. Adesina is the chief launcher.

This initiative, supported by the AfDB, aims to empower young Liberians by improving access to sustainable financing and entrepreneurial training.

The day’s activities will conclude with a presidential  dinner hosted by President Boakai, celebrating Dr. Adesina’s legacy and the strong partnership between Liberia and the AfDB.

Dr. Adesina is expected to leave Liberia on Wednesday morning, marking a pivotal moment in the country’s collaboration with the AfDB and reflecting national appreciation for his vision and influence on development across the continent.

Formerly the Nigerian Agriculture Minister, Dr Adesina was first elected President of the African Development Bank Group on 28 May 2015. He was unanimously re-elected for a second five-year term on 27 August 2020.

Dr Adesina graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Economics (First Class Honours) from the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University), Nigeria, in 1981.  He holds a master’s degree (1985) and a PhD in Agricultural Economics (1988) from Purdue University, United States of America, where he won the Outstanding Ph.D. thesis award for that year.

Dr Adesina won the prestigious Rockefeller Foundation Social Science Fellowship in 1988, which launched him into his international career.

With Dr Adesina at the helm, the African Development Bank Group achieved the highest capital increase since its establishment in 1964 when on 31 October 2019, shareholders from 80 member countries raised the general capital from $93 billion to a historic $208 billion.

The African Development Bank Group responded boldly and swiftly to the Covid-19 pandemic.

On 3 April 2020, the premier development finance institution launched a landmark $3 billion Covid-19 Social Bond followed by a Crisis Response Facility of $10 billion.

Dr Adesina has been recognized with numerous awards.

On 19 October 2017, the President was conferred with the World Food Prize, also known as the “Nobel Prize for Agriculture”.

On 29 February 2020, he was named African of the Year 2019 by one million readers of the African Leadership Magazine. On 14 December 2020, the Academy of Public Health, the flagship body of the West African Institute of Public Health, announced Dr Adesina as one of the winners of its 2020 Distinguished Fellowship Award for his successful efforts in helping Africa to curb the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.