Mthuli Ncube

Chief Economist, African Development Bank

Date of Birth: 30/11/1964
Place of Birth: Bulawayo

At the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos from 25-29 January, Mthuli Ncube welcomed Chinese investment but cautioned that Chinese and African governments should ensure local partners share in the economic boom, for example through joint ventures. China plays a key role in the optimistic outlook for Africa, which Ncube predicted would achieve 6% growth in 2011. However, Ncube argues that Chinese resource demand will drop off within ten years.

At the WEF meeting, the Ncube-chaired Global Agenda Council on poverty and economic development called for remedies to Africa’s infrastructure gap and innovations in development finance. Ncube advised developing countries to court partners other than China, especially Brazil, Russia and India, as well as Turkey, South Korea and South Africa.

Born in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, in 1964, Ncube holds a doctorate in finance from Cambridge University and has taught at the London School of Economics. He was a portfolio manager at Investec Asset Management and has been a visiting research fellow at the International Monetary Fund.

Life in Zimbabwe soured after Ncube, as the chairman of the National Investment Trust, attempted to buy a 15% black economic empowerment stake in Zimbabwe Platinum Mines in 2001. Ncube returned to the deal in 2003, this time at the head of his own investment company, Barbican Holdings. His hostile bid for up to 40% of Zimplats also foundered.

Ncube soon moved on to South Africa, where he became a professor at Wits Business School in 2005. He became its Director in 2007, and he was appointed Dean of the University of Witwatersrand Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management in 2009. The following year, he succeeded Louis Kasekende as Chief Economist at the AfDB.