Mr. Bonaventure Mbida-Essama, a retired World Bank official, is the Chief Executive Officer of the Nelson Mandela Institution. He also serves as Board Chair of NOIPolls, Chair of the Emmanuel E. Mbi Foundation, and sits on the boards of three other institutions.
With a distinguished career spanning decades, Mr. Mbida-Essama has held leadership roles across both the private and public sectors. Between 1972 and 1979, he served as Deputy Managing Director and Managing Director of three private companies in Cameroon, his home country. He later joined the World Bank in Washington, D.C., first as a Financial Analyst and subsequently as Senior Advisor to an Executive Director at the Board.
He went on to the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the World Bank’s private sector affiliate, as Senior Investment Officer. In 1988, he voluntarily left the World Bank to establish his own consulting firm in Douala, Cameroon, while also launching a fertilizer business. He returned to the World Bank in 1999 as Country Manager in Cambodia, and in 2003 moved back to Washington, D.C., where he served as Manager of Corporate Affairs and Administration until his retirement in 2009.
Following retirement, Mr. Mbida-Essama founded MADIMBA LLC, a consulting firm through which he has undertaken high-level assignments with the private sector, the World Bank, and the African Development Bank.
He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Princeton University and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Harvard Business School.