Samuel Akyianu

Managing Director, Mastercard Foundation African Growth Fund

Samuel brings more than 25 years’ experience designing, implementing, and leading delivery of financial advisory solutions across Africa and Asia. His work has covered a variety of sectors, including agribusiness for export; small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs); private education, health insurance and services, and private equity funds. Samuel has also led private equity and venture capital regulatory environment reviews, including assessments of ecosystems for startups, entrepreneurs and SMEs.

Samuel has worked with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) since 2006, holding various roles including Global Lead, Regional Lead, and Sector Lead. In his most recent role as Global Lead, Samuel managed the investment advisory for the IFC’s global portfolio of SME ventures funds. Working with an investment team, Samuel is experienced in conducting limited partner due diligence of private equity funds, and analysis, design, and implementation of technical assistance and grant programs for portfolio performance and compliance.

Prior to the IFC, Samuel was a Director of Investment for TechnoServe, where he managed a $10 million investment fund to sustain TechnoServe’s operations and financing guarantees for SMEs. In this role he also managed a team to deliver business developmentsServices and investment readiness/business plans for agribusiness SMEs.