The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has appointed Dr. George Elombi as its new President and Chairman of the Board of Directors.
The appointment was ratified during the 32nd Afreximbank Annual Meetings, which concluded on Saturday, June 28, 2025, in Abuja, Nigeria.
Dr. Elombi, a Cameroonian national, will succeed Professor Benedict Oramah, who has led the Bank since 2015 and is scheduled to step down in September 2025. Elombi becomes the fourth President to head Afreximbank since its establishment in 1993.
Okay.ng reports that the Cameroonian-born legal expert and career banker has been a central figure at Afreximbank since 1996, rising through the ranks from Legal Officer to Executive Vice President, Governance, Legal and Corporate Services. Over nearly three decades, he has played a pivotal role in shaping the Bank’s structure and expanding its operational scope.
Dr. Elombi’s leadership was especially critical during the COVID-19 pandemic, when he chaired the Bank’s Emergency Response Committee and helped mobilize over $2 billion for vaccine acquisition and distribution across Africa and the Caribbean. He also led the Equity Mobilisation and Investor Relations department, under which the Bank secured $3.6 billion in equity funding by April 2025.
In his acceptance speech, Dr. Elombi pledged his dedication to advancing Afreximbank’s mission, saying:
“I have worked alongside remarkable colleagues and extraordinary leaders to help shape this institution’s vision, its mandate as well as its growth. As we look to the future, I see Afreximbank as a force for industrialising Africa and for re-gaining the dignity of Africans wherever they are. I will work to preserve this important asset.”
He also committed to fulfilling a vision laid out by his predecessor — transforming Afreximbank into a $250 billion institution within the next decade.
Dr. Elombi holds a Ph.D. in commercial arbitration and a Master of Laws (LL.M.) from the London School of Economics, University of London. He obtained his ‘Maitrise-en-Droit’ from the University of Yaoundé in 1989 and previously taught law at the University of Hull in the United Kingdom.
His appointment followed a rigorous global selection process that began in January 2025, including interviews with an international HR executive search firm and final recommendations by the Board of Directors to the General Meeting of Shareholders.
Under the Afreximbank Charter, the President is appointed for a five-year renewable term.
