New ECLOF Directors

At the beginning of the year, Magnus Amoa-Bosompem was promoted from Account Officer to Programme Manager at ECLOF Ghana. Magnus’ professional career began with a local housing and construction bank back in1979. During his banking career Magnus completed a university course and took a number of specialised courses in bank management, foreign exchange and data management programmes.

He established and, for some three years, was in charge of the bank’s warehouse that served the northern regions of Ghana. During that period, the facility not only stored and managed billions of cedis worth of goods, but also distinguished itself as having one of the best performing and best organised loan portfolios of all the bank’s branches. Magnus also won the bank’s Best Worker Award while managing another of the bank’s branch offices.

Magnus is an active member of his local Methodist Church and serves on the church’s management committee and men’s fellowship group.

Michel Angui Feby is the new Executive Director at ECLOF Côte d’Ivoire. Michel has a master’s degree in economics with a major in business management. He has also completed advanced courses in management and financial analysis and plans to embark on an executive training programme in banking. He is already ranked as a master banker in Côte d’Ivoire.

Michel began his career in accounting and finance, and held senior positions with a number of auditing firms in Côte d’Ivoire. He subsequently worked for the state bank where, among other posts, he was a microprojects analyst. He later became Head of the Microcredit Litigation Department at the Public Treasury.

Michel is active in local government and is an assistant to the mayor of the area in which he lives. He is also an active member of the Assemblies of God Church of Côte d’Ivoire.

Keith Kancheya is the new Programme Manager for ECLOF Zambia. Keith holds a degree in Economics and Business Administration from the University of Zambia. He has also studied industrial development in rural areas, project management, and training for business management skills for small and medium size enterprises.

Keith began his working career with the Zambian Small Industries Development Organisation where he quickly became a regional manager. He has also worked for a joint project to promote and develop small and medium scale businesses in Zambia, involving three groups: the Zambia Association of Chambers of Commerce and Industry, a German based non-government organization, and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

Priscilla M`dala took up her responsibilities as Programme Manager for ECLOF Malawi last April. Priscilla is a social worker by profession and has also earned a certificate in NGO management from the University of London.

Priscilla’s first contact with ECLOF Malawi came as a board member when she represented FINCA, a leading microfinance institution in Malawi. At FINCA, Priscilla began as a credit officer and within eight years had become a regional manager. By the time she left FINCA, Priscilla’s region had gained 5,000 more clients than had been forecast. Earlier in her career, Priscilla worked for the Ministry of Gender, Youth, Community Services and Social Welfare. She is a member of the Church of Central Africa Presbytery.

Priscilla says, “In our fight against poverty, I would like to see the ECLOF Malawi programme registering a strength in savings mobilisation and management in our client groups, in an attempt to create sustainable grassroots institutions.”

ECLOF Argentina has a new Director. Esteban de Nevares comes from a publishing and television journalism background. He was once the editor-in-chief of a major daily newspaper in Buenos Aires and later worked as the director of a large magazine publishing firm. He currently heads a local developmental foundation and his appointment to ECLOF Argentina is on a part-time basis.

Esteban is deeply involved in community affairs and has forged solid links with both church-related and secular developmental non-governmental organizations, where he has served or is still serving at board, management or project level. He is often called on to speak on subjects relating to rural development, human development and microcredit.

Antonio Carlos Pereira dos Santos began work in August as the new Executive Manager at ECLOF Brazil. Antonio is an economist with a 30-year background in banking and finance. For much of that time, he served as a project analyst for a large, joint banking and governmental microcredit programme in northeast Brazil.

After taking early retirement, Antonio helped found a cooperative of professionals to provide plans and consultancy services for public projects. His career has also taken him into teaching and consultancy for social project drafting and financing for various municipalities in the Brazilian state of Bahia. At grassroots level, he is a council member of the Parents’ and Teachers’ Association at his children’s school.