ARC Group Governing Board
Chairperson
Dr. Mothae Anthony Maruping
Dr Maruping, a Lesotho national, is the current Chairperson of the ARC Group Board since October 2021. He is an Economist and a strong Pan-Africanist who is passionate about driving the African agenda.
From 2013 – 2017, he served as the African Union’s Commissioner for Economic Affairs where he was responsible for promoting economic integration and private sector development and engagement, and this gave him an opportunity to contribute to the continent’s journey to sustainable development. Prior to that, Dr Maruping was the Ambassador Plenipotentiary/Permanent Representative of the Kingdom of Lesotho to the United Nations Office in Geneva (UNOG), the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and Other International Organisations in Switzerland and Ambassador to the Swiss Confederation, a position he held from 2006 – 2012. While at UNOG, he chaired G-77 plus China, UNCTAD Board, Council for Trade in Goods (WTO), Committee for Trade and Development (WTO), Coordinator of Least Development Countries in WTO and Coordinator of the African Group (WTO). Earlier in his career, Dr Maruping served as Governor of Central Bank of Lesotho (1988 – 1998). He was also the Founding Executive Director of the Macro-Economic and Financial Management Institute of Eastern and Southern Africa (MEFMI).
The 10 years that Dr Maruping spent in academia from 1977 – 1988, and the experience acquired in different positions over the years built his awareness of social and political issues, and ignited his passion to serve. He has and continues to use his expertise in Economics, Finance, Statistics and Management to influence and drive for sustainable development in Africa. As Chairperson of the ARC Group Board, he is well-positioned to support the continent’s climate action journey towards protecting the most vulnerable populations.
Vice-Chairperson
Dr. Abdoulie Janneh
Dr Abdoulie Janneh is currently Executive Director at the Mo Ibrahim Foundation based in Dakar, Senegal, a role he has held since 2012. He is the former UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) (2005 – 2012). Prior to this, he served as Assistant Secretary-General and UNDP Regional Director for Africa, in charge of managing UNDP’s largest Regional Bureau, covering 45 countries in sub-Saharan Africa with a complement of over 1,500 (2000 to 2005). Earlier in his UNDP career, he was Resident Coordinator and Resident Representative in Ghana (1996-1999) and Niger (1993-1996) and Deputy Executive Secretary of the United Nations Capital Development Fund (1990-1993).
Mr Janneh is an active player in promoting African development and responding to the continent’s national and regional priorities. Throughout his career, he has been an active player in enhancing partnership-building for Africa, aiming to mobilise support and build inclusiveness for shared development objectives. He has established and maintained high level partnership with programme and donor governments, the private sector, civil society and national, regional and international organisations. He has also written articles on African development and delivered policy statements and keynote speeches. He was member of several advisory panels of organisations on Africa’s development.
Mr Janneh remains engaged in supporting the African Union Agenda 2063 vision, NEPAD, the African Peer Review Mechanism and the climate change agenda. He is chair of the African Governance Institute and serves on the Boards of the Coalition for Dialogue on Africa (CoDA), AO Alliance Foundation, Global Integrity, International Lawyers for Africa (ILFA) and is a member of the Africa Forum of Former African Heads of State , amongst others.
Mr Janneh, a Gambian national, has extensive international and Africa experience and is fluent in English and French.
Board Members
Barbara Schnel
Barbara Schnell has been with KfW since 2001. She has worked in various positions in international project and export finance, corporate strategy as well as development finance.
Prior to her current position as head of the Sector Policy Department, which she has been holding since 2018 she headed among others a division responsible for Financial and Private Sector Development in Asia for a number of years.
Prior to her career with KfW Ms. Schnell worked as analyst and loan officer for J.P.Morgan and Dresdner Bank in New York and Frankfurt respectively.
Ms. Schnell holds a Master degree in Business Administration from the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University, the Netherlands.
Dr Grace Muradzikwa 
Dr. Muradzikwa holds a Bachelor of Administration Degree and a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Zimbabwe, an Honorary Masters in Business Administration and Honorary PhD in Leadership from the Women’s University in Africa. She is an Associate and Fellow of the Insurance Institute of South Africa and of the Toronto Centre – Global Leadership in Financial Supervision.
Dr Muradzikwa is a decorated insurance executive with 37 years practicing experience in the insurance sector. She was a member of the co-founding team that established the Zimbabwe Reinsurance Corporation in 1984, with the support of UNCTAD. She became the first black woman to list and head a publicly traded company (NicozDiamond), a position she held till her departure in February 2019.
Dr Muradzikwa was appointed Commissioner of Insurance, Pension and Provident Funds, with the responsibility of regulating and supervising the insurance and pensions industry in Zimbabwe in June 2019, a position she currently holds.
She has received many awards, including CEO Global Regional Titans Award (2017) and Megafast Outstanding Top 20 Woman in Business of the Year 2020. Dr Muradzikwa was also named the Business Connect Iconic Woman of the Decade in 2021.
Dr Muradzikwa has served on various boards of local, regional and international institutions such as the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA), Africa University, the Federation for Afro Asian Insurers and Reinsurers and the Association for Insurers and Reinsurers in Developing Countries. She is currently the patron of Women in Insurance Zimbabwe and the immediate past president of Professional Women in Business (PROWEB) in Zimbabwe.
Dr Laila Lokosang
Dr. Laila B. Lokosang is a national of South Sudan. Until recently he served as Senior Advisor for Food and Nutrition Security in the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP); a flagship of the African Union.
Before moving to the AU Commission in 2012, Laila served as Director for Monitoring and Evaluation in the National Bureau of Statistics, South Sudan.
Prior to this, he served in Sudan and Malawi as Management Information Systems Specialist, specializing in health information and surveillance, livelihoods analysis and disaster preparedness and mitigation. His professional career spans 34 years. An alumni of the University of KwaZulu-Natal (South Africa), University of Reading (UK) and the University of Juba (South Sudan), Laila holds a PhD in Statistics, Master of Science in Biometry and Food Security and Bachelor of Science in Statistics. He has published a number of peer reviewed articles in food security and livelihoods resilience and nutrition. His main research interests include food security and nutrition measurement and applications of statistical methods in food security, nutrition and public health.
Dr Beth Dunford 
Dr. Dunford, a national of the United States of America, has held senior level leadership positions in the US government where she managed large and complex programs, working with the private sector, civil society, and multilateral and bilateral institutions, as well as with African governments, to deliver agricultural, social and human development impact at scale.
Dr Dunford also worked as the Assistant to the Administrator in the U.S. Agency for International Development’s (USAID’s) Bureau for Resilience and Food Security, as well as the Deputy Coordinator for Development for Feed the Future, the U.S. government’s global hunger and food security initiative. In this dual role, she coordinated Feed the Future across multiple U.S. government agencies, oversaw $1 billion annual budget and leveraged millions of direct private sector investment annually. In this capacity, she also coordinated $2.3 billion Feed the Future presidential initiative across 11 U.S. government agencies and forged partnerships within the private sector and civil society targeted at reducing hunger and poverty. She also led USAID’s technical and regional expertise focused on improving agriculture-led growth, resilience, nutrition and water security, sanitation and hygiene.
She is currently the Vice President, Agriculture, Human and Social Development for the African Development Bank.
Sara Mbago-Bhunu
Sara Mbago-Bhunu is the Director of lFAD’s East and Southern Arica Division. Mbago-Bhunu brings to IFAD rich work experience spanning more than 20 years in the agriculture sector across Central, East and Southern Africa. She has worked on agriculture policy and sector reviews, value chain development, access to agricultural finance, social enterprise models and the promotion of small and medium-sized enterprises in peri-urban and rural areas. She has also led and managed teams in other development organizations in the design of development projects and capacity-building programmes. Prior to joining IFAD, Mbago- Bhunu worked at the World Bank as a Senior Agricultural Economist for the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of Congo, based in Kinshasa.
From 2013 to 2016, she served as Country Director for SNV-Netherlands Development Organisation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Mbago-Bhunu holds a Masters in Business Administration from Maastricht School of Management, Netherlands, and a BSc in Agricultural Economics from the University or Reading, United Kingdom.
Mr. Phil Stevens
Phil Stevens is the Director for International Finance within the UK Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office. The Directorate leads on the UK’s efforts to reform the International Financial System, through our shareholding in the World Bank and Regional Development Banks, along with initiatives to support developing countries to mobilise more private investment, strengthen their tax systems, and better prepare for crises through disaster risk finance and insurance. Phil has previously worked at the World Bank Board in Washington DC, as part of the DFID team in DRC, within the Malawi Government and for other UK Government Departments.
Hon. Mohamed Lemine Ould Dhehby
Mr George T. Guvamatanga
Honourable Kabaghe Chance
Honourable (Hon) Kabaghe is an Agricultural Economist with more than 25 years of experience in the agricultural policy and agribusiness management and analysis arena. He has served on the ARC Group Board since June 2021. He is one of Zambia’s leading agribusiness practitioners and professionals, and he uses his expertise to influence policy, improve food security and shape the African narrative.
Hon Kabaghe’s career has spanned different environments in the agricultural development space where he has held strategic positions, including in the agri-business, government, public policy and academia spaces. He is actively involvement in several of Zambia’s and Regional major agri-businesses, serving as Director and Chairman on multiple agribusiness corporate boards, including for SeedCo International, a leading seed company in Zambia and the sub-Saharan African Region. He has also worked as Member of Parliament and at the same time Zambia’s Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Livestock. He was the first Executive Director of the Zambia’s Food Reserve Agency (FRA), where he was instrumental in establishing Zambia’s market-friendly system of managing strategic food reserves.
Drawing from his early career in academia as a university lecturer at the University of Zambia in the School of Agricultural Sciences, Hon Kabaghe has emerged as a key leader in national, continental and international agricultural policy debates. He has had extensive experience in the development of many agricultural policies in Zambia, Africa and Internationally. He has co-published several research papers that have contributed to knowledge, policy and decision-making in Zambia.