Equity CEO James Mwangi Joins World Bank Advisory Council on Jobs


World Bank Group has appointed Equity Group Holdings CEO and MD James Mwangi to its 14 global leaders team of the High-Level Advisory Council on Jobs. 

This is in recognition of Mwangi’s dedication and contributions to society that extend beyond the banking sector. 

The World Bank Group under its work on poverty, has established a High-Level Advisory Council on Jobs that seeks to gather a global cross-section of eminent individuals to offer thought leadership and actionable, scalable policy and program recommendations for the Bank to explore, test and scale.

 The High-Level Advisory Council on Jobs was launched during the 2024 World Bank Group-IMF Annual Meeting, in October 2024 in Washington, DC, with the ethic that creating jobs is central to combating poverty, growing prosperity, and enhancing dignity. 

In a statement, Equity Bank noted that having a job is one of the most meaningful yardsticks of success for individuals everywhere since with a job comes self-sufficiency, sustainability, and the ability to provide for yourself and family, offering a sense of belonging in society. 

“Despite this fact, job creation remains an elusive goal in many countries around the globe, most especially for younger generations and women,” the bank said.

The World Bank targets to sharpen its focus on job creation through the High-Level Advisory Council as it is estimated that over the next 10 years, an unprecedented 1.2 billion people in the Global South will become working age adults. 

Yet there will only be approximately 420 million jobs available for these same young people – leaving nearly 800 million without a clear path to prosperity. 

The Council aims to focus on youth and female employment opportunities in emerging and developing economies to help nations turn the challenge into an opportunity that powers the future.

World Bank Group President Ajay Banga said because this issue is so fundamental to a collective future, the established High-Level Advisory Council on Jobs will be co-chaired by an international panel of experienced practitioners who have demonstrated job creation in their own countries. 

“Tharman Shanmugaratnam, President of Singapore and Former Deputy Prime Minister and Coordinating Minister for Economic and Social Policies, and Michelle Bachelet, Former President of Chile, and Head of Government for two terms will co-chair the council,” he said. 

“The panel brings together the experience and knowledge of fourteen leading policymakers, business leaders, academics, and civil society pioneers.”

“We would be immensely grateful to benefit from your deep expertise, experience and unique perspectives as a member of the Council,” Therman, Michelle and Ajay said in Dr. Mwangi’s appointment letter.

On his part, Mwangi further noted that over the next decade, the world is expected to experience a significant demographic shift with 1 in 4 people on the planet being African and more than a third of the world’s young people residing in Africa. 

 “These global demographic shifts are the result of progress on the African continent including life expectancy, per capita income, health, education and improving nutritional levels,” he said. 

“An outcome of these developments has been rapid population growth. Effectively leveraging the demographic dividend in Africa could account for up to 15% of GDP growth and a 17% reduction in poverty by 2030.”

The Council is expected to meet every two months for an initial period of up to two years and will interact directly with senior management of the World Bank Group, ensuring that the Council’s ideas are taken forward.

“I’m honored to have been asked to serve on the World Bank Global Jobs Council, in order to support the creation of jobs for the young people of Africa,” Mwangi said. 

“Young people are our future and the key to sustainable development for the continent. Equity’s Africa Recovery and Resilience Plan seeks to create 50 million jobs in the region by 2030 and my intention is to utilise the learnings of the council to maximize this initiative.”

Other members of the council include Under Secretary General for Policy at the United Nations Guy Ryder, the former Prime Minister of Côte d’Ivoire Patrick Achi, Group Chairman and CEO of Accor Group Sebastien Bazin, Chairman of Standard Bank Group Nonkululeko Nyembezi, and Executive Vice President of Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Limited Preetha Reddy. 

Others are Chairman and CEO of OCP Group Mostafa Terrab, Distinguished Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business Marianne Bertrand, co-founder and President of Pratham Madhav Chavan, the largest and most successful education organizations in India, Professor of Economics at Universidad de Los Andes, Bogota, Colombia Marcela Eslava, Chief Expert at the National Think Tank at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Fang Cai, and Head of Yellowoods Group Nicola Galombik.

Others include researcher and professor at the University of Buenos Aires Institute of Economics Roxana Maurizio, Angel investor in Amazon projects Denis Minev, and Rohini Pande, the Henry j. Heinz II Professor of Economics and Director of the Economic Growth Center at Yale University.

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By Melinda Kirwa

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