Khawaja Aftab Ahmed is a development banker and has been in the industry for 24 years. He is credited with putting IFC on the map in the MENA financial sector, with IFC Financial Markets commitment volumes in MENA increasing from USD 50-60 million per annum in FY04, to USD 1.0 billion in FY10. Similarly, IFC’s financial market portfolio in MENA has increased from about USD 150 million to over USD 1.5 billion during this period.

In his capacity as Director for MENA, Mr Ahmed manages a large Financial Markets and Private Equity team throughout a number of country offices. He manages annual new business of about USD 3.5 billion and a portfolio of over USD 6.0 billion, spread over 45 countries. He was also instrumental in promoting Islamic Finance transactions in IFC, and has developed a significant portfolio and pipeline of Sharia-compliant projects in Housing Finance, Sukuk, Modarabah, and more.

Prior to joining IFC, Mr Ahmed spent 10 years in the development banking sector. He has a degree in Mechanical Engineering, an MBA and an LLB.