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ADF Announces New Leadership to Guide Expanded Investment in Africa
Board Appoints
Rodney MacAlister President
Nathaniel Fields Will Serve as ADF's CEO for Africa Operations
Jendayi Frazier Sworn in as Member of ADF Board
ADF Is Expanding Capacity to Deliver $50 Million Per Year in Investment Capital With Target of Generating $1 Billion in Revenues for African Small and Medium Enterprises
WASHINGTON - January 31, 2006
African Development Foundation (ADF) Board Chairman Ward Brehm today announced the appointment of new leadership to guide the United States Government agency as it expands American direct investment in the growth of African-owned small businesses. Rodney MacAlister has been appointed President of the Foundation, and Nathaniel Fields will serve as ADF's CEO for Africa Operations, based in Accra, Ghana.
Mr. Brehm also announced that Ambassador Jendayi Frazer, United States Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, has joined ADF's Board of Directors as the Foundation works to increase its annual budget for African small business development to $50 million per year.
"ADF knows how to grow strong and profitable African-owned small businesses that provide good jobs and create growth within their communities. ADF has also proven that it can develop non-traditional exports and link African products to global markets," Mr. Brehm said. "President Bush and the leaders of the G-8 have recognized that private sector development is essential to growing economies and eliminating poverty in Africa, and the Foundation's talented new leadership will help strengthen America's support for creating jobs and expanding growth in Africa."
Rodney MacAlister most recently served as President of Business & Conflict, Ltd., a London-based organization that he established in 2003 to support conflict resolution in regions where violence threatens local communities and the companies investing in them. Prior to founding Business & Conflict, Mr. MacAlister was a senior manager for the international energy company ConocoPhillips. He worked in the company's business development division for 13 years, including five years as business development manager for Central Africa. Mr. MacAlister also led the ConocoPhillips Washington Office for eight years. He has worked closely with the Corporate Council on Africa and the Business Council for International Understanding and was a founding member of the Human Rights and Business Roundtable of the Fund for Peace.
"I am excited by the opportunity to join ADF at a time when so many positive forces for change in Africa are converging and leaders in business and government have recognized the power and potential of ADF's innovative business investment model," Mr. MacAlister said. "Under Nate Fields' leadership, ADF has become a model program for identifying African small and medium-sized businesses that are poised for growth and providing them with the resources they need to expand production and achieve profitability. I look forward to working with Nate as he embraces the new challenge of taking ADF's Africa field operations to the next level."
ADF President Nathaniel Fields has been tapped by ADF's Board to scale up ADF's programming operations in Africa and deliver timely, high quality technical assistance to African-owned enterprises that helps them create market linkages and access additional long-term private financing. Mr. Fields will direct this effort from an ADF regional office in Ghana, where the Foundation has signed a strategic partnership with the Government of Ghana that will provide up to $10 million annually to invest in growing 40-50 dynamic, Ghanaian-owned enterprises.
"I am looking forward to this new opportunity to help ADF achieve the full potential of the business model that we have created by working directly in the field with ADF's expert African staff and a very talented group of African entrepreneurs," said Fields. "ADF has made great strides in proving that direct investment in African enterprise is a highly efficient formula for stimulating profitability, generating new jobs and providing essential income to communities and families. The next step for ADF is to demonstrate that we can reproduce our success at a larger scale. I'm ready for that challenge and confident we'll succeed."
In 2005, ADF's programs were rated 'fully effective" by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) when the agency participated in its first OMB performance assessment. This is the highest rating that an agency can achieve, and only 11 percent of government-funded programs have received the rating. Based on its high-impact model of growing businesses, the United States Congress has increased the Foundation's appropriated funding by 22 percent in FY 2006, and ADF's Board of Directors looks forward to continued growth to meet Africa's needs. Accordingly, the Foundation has signed strategic partnership agreements with twelve African governments and two international corporations that will leverage significant additional cash donations toward the financing of ADF's Business Investment and Social Enterprise programs
The Foundation's Board is committed to growing ADF's resource base to $50 million annually, which will allow it to achieve optimal efficiency and direct financing to African-owned businesses and community-based social enterprises with the potential to generate $1 billion in new revenues over the next 10 years. Currently, ADF's programs assist more than 90,000 African-owned enterprises, and ADF financing supports businesses that provide employment to more than 110,000 people.
ADF's Business Investment and Social Enterprise Programs
ADF adopted a new five-year strategic plan in 2005 that focuses on providing direct assistance to Africa's poor through two key programs. ADF's Enterprise Investment Program provides expansion capital and management, marketing and technical assistance to mature small businesses to help them develop new products, expand their production, and sell their products to regional and international trading partners. The Enterprise Investment program also provides financing to local networks of African agricultural producers and agro-processors to help them cultivate new, high-value products, achieve international quality standards and connect with new buyers.
ADF's Social Enterprise Program responds to the critical needs of marginalized African communities and peoples by providing funding to enterprises and community-based organizations that deliver essential products and services to the poor. ADF's social enterprise programming currently focuses on helping communities affected by HIV/AIDS and civil conflict develop profitable income-generating activities that provide essential support to families.
The African Development Foundation (ADF) is a United States Government agency dedicated to expanding access to economic opportunity in Africa. Over the past 20 years, ADF has funded 1,600 projects in support of African entrepreneurs and local African communities. For more information on ADF, its programs and its application guidelines, go to: www.adf.gov/funding.html.