APPOINTMENT OF NEW EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR AT MEFMI

MEFMI welcomed Dr. Caleb Fundanga as the new Executive Director on 1 July 2014.  Acknowledged as one of Africa’s seasoned central bankers, Dr. Fundanga who served as the Governor of the Bank of Zambia from March 2002 to September 2011 takes over from Dr. Ellias Ngalande whose tour of duty came to an end on 30 June 2014 after ably heading the Institute for the constitutional period of eight years.

MEFMI is a regionally owned capacity building institute currently with 13 member countries: Angola, Botswana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The Institute’s mandate is to build sustainable human and institutional capacity and foster best practice for prudent macroeconomic and financial management in central banks, ministries of finance and of planning and other relevant institutions. The MEFMI Secretariat is the principal vehicle for the design, delivery and administration of its activities. The Secretariat is based in Harare, Zimbabwe, where Dr. Fundanga will lead the 32 staff member team.

A highly regarded economist in the MEFMI region and beyond he started career as a lecturer in economics immediately after obtaining his first degree at the University of Zambia.  He further obtained a master’s degree from the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom and a PhD from Konstanz University in the Federal Republic of Germany.

A MEFMI Board Chairman during the period 2006 to 2008, Dr. Fundanga brings to MEFMI a wealth of experience and exposure which he garnered over 19 years that he worked as head of various institutions in the financial sector.  His first appointment as head of an institution was Permanent Secretary in the Zambia Ministry of Finance in 1987 and later at Cabinet Office and the office of the President-Planning Division. In 1995 he worked at the African Development Bank (AfDB) where he served initially as Executive Director of the Bank in Abidjan, Cote D’Ivoire and later as Senior Advisor to the President of the Bank.  In 2002 Dr. Fundanga was appointed Governor of the Bank of Zambia, a position he held until 2011. This wide exposure and deep in-sight into the capacity needs of the Ministries of Finance and Planning as well as central banks, MEFMI’s principal clients, has given Dr. Fundanga the professional experience that is required to head a capacity building institution such as MEFMI. 

Among the many accolades bestowed upon Dr. Fundanga to-date is the Central Bank Governor of the Year for Africa and the Global Award by the Banker Magazine, a sister publication of the Financial Times of London, which he received in January 2007. He also received the Emerging Markets Magazine Award of “Central Banker of the Year 2007”, in September 2007 in Washington DC.  He was also awarded the “Central Banker of the Year 2008” by the Annual Meetings Daily Magazine of Nigeria.

Dr. Fundanga was the Alternate Governor on the IMF Board for the period that he served as Governor of the Bank of Zambia. He also served as Vice Chairman of the Zambia Revenue Authority during the same period. From 2003 to 2013 he was a member of the Board of Directors of the African Export and Import Bank as well as a member of its Executive Committee. He also served as Chairman of Zambia Junior Achievers as well as the Duke of Edinburgh’s Awards for Young People. In 2002 he joined the Programme Committee of the Africa Economic Research Consortium and became chairman in 2006.He has been nominated to rejoin the same committee this year.

Dr. Fundanga is currently the Chancellor of the University of Lusaka, Advisor to the Board of Zambia Red Cross Society and was recently elected Chairman of the Advisory Council of the Partnership for Making Finance Work for Africa.

In his spare time he occasionally plays tennis. He is also a wild life enthusiast and farmer. Dr. Fundanga is married to Rosario and they are blessed with three children.