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Wealth Fund

IFSWF said its associate membership is specifically for institutions in the early stages of becoming sovereign wealth funds.Ethiopia’s Sovereign Wealth Fund, a holding company under local law, was founded in January 2022.

Its primary mandate is to unlock the value of the government’s assets through commercial management and optimisation and ready them for privatization.

The Fund, which also acts as a reliable local partner for foreign direct investment, joined the IFSWF as associate members along with the Fonds Souverain de Djibouti (FSD) on Tuesday.

By becoming associate members, it said both EIH and FSD voluntarily agreed to work to implement the Santiago Principles, as they put their investment and risk management processes in place.

Bilen Mammo, Deputy CEO of Ethiopian Investment Holdings, said the company was “thrilled to have been accepted as an associate member of IFSWF.”

“We hope to be able to use this opportunity to learn best practices from our peers and experts and work towards becoming a fully-fledged sovereign wealth fund that will attract more international private capital into Ethiopia,” the Deputy CEO added

Associate membership is granted for up to three years.

Obaid Amrane, Acting Chair of the IFSWF, welcomed the two associate members from Ethiopia and Djibouti.

“These new memberships represent the spread of the sovereign wealth fund model across Africa, and the appetite of these institutions to conform to international best governance practices to ensure the best outcomes for their citizens,” said Amrane.

IFSWF is a voluntary organization of global sovereign wealth funds committed to working together and strengthening the community through dialogue, research and self-assessment.