100 Influential Africans how is Ibrahima Cheikh Diong trying to shape Africa?
\u201cDevelopment is all about leadership. You can get all the resources in the world, you can get all the best human capital\u2026 but if the leadership is not there you can\u2019t make the best of the resources you have and eventually move your country forward.\u201d
Ibrahima Cheikh Diong is UN-Assistant Secretary General and Director General of the African Union specialized agency \u201cthe African Risk Capacity Group\u201d or ARC, which works with governments to help them deal with climate related disasters.
But in a varied career, he\u2019s also been a member of the Senegalese government and worked for the World Bank, as a senior banker and in management consultancy. And he even speaks Mandarin as well as French and English thanks to his student days in China.
But he says if he had to best describe himself he\u2019d say he was \u2018an African who cares about Africa and wants to make a difference in Africa\u2019.
This is Alan\u2019s second conversation with people included \u2013 like himself \u2013 in New African Magazine\u2019s 100 Influential Africans list for this year.