Sameh Shenouda

Executive Director & Chief Investment Officer Africa Finance

Mr. Shenouda brings over 27 years’ experience in fundraising and investments in international capital markets, with a focus on the development of infrastructure projects, setting up new platforms and has backed strong management teams. He has deep knowledge of African markets and has worked across all of AFC’s priority sectors. He is the former CEO of Zarou, a developer, owner, builder and operator of infrastructure projects in Africa, the Middle East and South Asia. During his time at Zarou, Mr. Shenouda raised US$1 billion of funding for Zarou from Blackstone Group, one of the world’s leading private equity investor. Prior to Zarou, he served as Head of Infrastructure (Equity Investments) at CDC Group Plc, the UK’s development finance institution, where he built CDC’s direct infrastructure equity business which, under his leadership, invested in excess of US$2 billion in Africa and South Asia. He has also acted as Natural Gas Industries Director at Orascom Construction Industries and Investment Principal in Actis, a leading US$4.8bn emerging markets private equity fund management business.

Mr. Shenouda, who is a graduate of INSEAD, holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree in Financial Management from the University of Exeter, UK, an Master of Arts degree in Development Studies and a BA honours degree in Economics, the last two qualifications from the American University in Cairo, Egypt.