Issa Faye
Director General, Global Practices and Partnerships, IsDB
Issa Faye currently holds the position of Director-General, for Global Practices and Partnerships at the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB). His role consists in strategically steering the development of the GPP Directorate’s work program to contribute to the effective implementation of the IsDB’s strategy. In this leadership role, he provides guidance and oversight to teams of experts providing technical thematic/sectoral expertise to inform the development of Member Country Partnership Strategy (MCPS), to support programs and projects during preparation, implementation and completion stages. In addition to economic and social infrastructure sectors, thematic issues under the GPP’s purview includes climate finance, E&S, fragility and resilience, women and youth empowerment, food security, digitization, capacity development and south-south cooperation.
His role also consists in providing thought leadership by stimulating knowledge generation and dissemination, as well as incubating and implementing innovative solutions/programs/initiatives for the benefit of IsDB member countries. As part of his role, Issa leads the Bank’s partnership and global advocacy agenda geared towards positioning IsDB as a credible development partner worldwide. He also provides leadership for the development and implementation of the Bank’s resource mobilization and co-financing strategy.
Before joining IsDB, Issa was the Senior Economic Advisor to the Vice President of Global Industries and serves as the Head of the Global Industries Economics Unit at IFC. In this capacity, he worked with various Global Industry departments to design and create innovative analytical tools and knowledge products to inform sector investment strategies, enhance business development, optimize portfolio management and substantiate policy and sector reforms for prioritization within the World Bank Group. Previously, Issa served as the Director of the Sector Economics and Development Impact Department at IFC. During his tenure, he spearheaded the development and implementation of IFC's Anticipated Impact Measurement and Monitoring system (AIMM) and delivered rigorous sector economic and data analytics to inform IFC’s operations. Issa also played a key role in establishing IFC at the core of development finance, through its leadership role in impact measurement and management within DFIs and Impact Investing communities.
Prior to joining IFC, Issa worked for the African Development Bank for almost a decade, where he held several positions including Manager of the Research Division. Before that, Issa worked as an Economist at the World Bank. Issa holds a Ph.D. in Economics and has a strong academic background, having served as a lecturer in Economics at the University of Auvergne/CERDI and as a Researcher for the National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) in France. Additionally, he has authored numerous books, reports and articles on private sector development, impact investing, financial inclusion, regional integration and trade, sovereign wealth funds, housing market dynamics, SME finance and job creation, power markets, agribusiness investments, land and rural development, finance, competitiveness, illicit financial flows, etc.
