President Nana Akufo-Addo on Tuesday announced that Ken Ofori-Atta would be his finance minister.Â
Here is the profile of the Databank co-founder:
Ken Ofori-Atta is 57 years old. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from Columbia University in New York, and an MBA from the Yale School of Management.
He was the first African to be honoured as a Donaldson Fellow at Yale University in 2010, a John Jay Fellow at Columbia University in 2011 and also a Henry Crown Fellow of the Aspen Institute.
Ken was also the first African to testify at the US Congress Ways and Means Committee to support the AGOA law. He was twice honoured by Price Water House Ghana as one of the Top 5 Most Respected CEOs in Ghana.
Ken was an investment banker at Morgan Stanley and Salomon Brothers on Wall Street in New York, before co-founding the Databank Group (an investment banking firm) in Ghana.
He was the Executive Chairman from 1990 until his retirement on February 14, 2012.
Ken has been Chairman and Board member of the following corporates: Family Ventures and Offices in Ghana; Chairman of Trust Bank Ltd in The Gambia; International Bank of Liberia, Bank of Kigali in Rwanda, Enterprise Life in Ghana, and pan-African Databank AgriFund for SME Agribusiness with investments in Madagascar, Cameroun, Zimbabwe, Zambia, South Africa, Burkina Faso, Nigeria and Ethiopia.
Ken has other business interests in Insurance, Retail Banking, Private Equity, Micro finance, Pharmaceuticals and Real Estate.
He is married to Prof. Angela Ofori-Atta of the University of Ghana Medical School, and they have four children.