(Business in Cameroon) - The African Import-Export Bank, headquartered in Cairo, Egypt, announced on 14 December 2016 the appointment of Cameroonian René Awambeng as Director, Client Relations (Headquarters and Branches). Until his appointment, we learned, Mr Awambeng was Group Head, Global Corporates, Corporate and Investment Bank at Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI) in Paris, France.

He had been in this position since July 2014, after previously being in the same position between 2012 and 2014. Holding a Bachelor’s of Arts from the University of Yaoundé, the oldest established university in his country; and a MBA from the University of Nottingham Business School in the United Kingdom, René Awambeng thus leaves the Ecobank group where he worked for 14 years.

With a rich experience of fourteen years, during which René Awambeng was successively Group Head, Commodity Finance then Corporate and Investment Bank in London; Executive Director and Managing Director of Ecobank Rwanda Ltd; Project Director at Ecobank Zimbabwe; Executive Director and Managing Director of Ecobank DRC.

He was also the Group Head, Multinational and Regional Corporates, Corporate Banking Services and Wholesale Banking Services of Ecobank Transnational Inc. in Accra, Ghana. According to Afreximbank, his new employer, “Mr Awambeng’s experience covers the commercial and corporate banking sectors, including the capacity of creating companies and developing relations in the commercial, social and political milieus”.

This pedigree, the Cameroonian banker will now use it for the development and promotion of intra-African trade, which is the motto of Afreximbank. In practical terms, within this Pan Africa, which claims investments of over FCfa 175 billion in Cameroon, Mr Awambeng will be in charge of “implementing Afreximbank business strategies, particularly the management of the delivery of all Bank products to clientele and the management of Afreximbank branch operations. He will also oversee the management of government relations at branch office level”.

Brice R. Mbodiam