{"id":54962,"date":"2025-07-21T12:55:39","date_gmt":"2025-07-21T12:55:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/rwandan-economist-philibert-afrika-joins-aims-international-governing-board\/"},"modified":"2025-07-22T12:38:07","modified_gmt":"2025-07-22T12:38:07","slug":"rwandan-economist-philibert-afrika-joins-aims-international-governing-board","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/rwandan-economist-philibert-afrika-joins-aims-international-governing-board\/","title":{"rendered":"Rwandan economist Philibert Afrika joins AIMS International Governing Board"},"content":{"rendered":"

Confirming the appointment, AIMS founder and IGB Chair, Professor Neil Turok, hailed Afrika\u2019s leadership and expertise, calling it \u201cinvaluable\u201d to the institute\u2019s strategic direction.<\/p>\n

Established in 2003 in South Africa and now operating centres in Senegal, Ghana, Cameroon, and Rwanda, AIMS is a pan-African network of Centres of Excellence offering postgraduate training, research, and public engagement in STEM. <\/p>\n

The institute continues to play a key role in shaping Africa\u2019s future through its intensive master\u2019s programmes, including the African Master\u2019s in Machine Intelligence (AMMI), its academic-industry partnerships, and initiatives like Quantum Leap Africa and the Next Einstein Forum.<\/p>\n

Afrika, a former senior executive at the African Development Bank (AfDB), brings more than 30 years of experience in development economics and regional integration. <\/p>\n

At the AfDB, he served in several top positions including Secretary General, Director of Policy and Resource Mobilisation, and Director of NEPAD and Regional Integration.<\/p>\n

Since retiring from the bank in 2009, Afrika has continued to be a key figure in Rwanda\u2019s economic and academic development. He is currently the chairman and co-founder of the University of Kigali, where he also heads the Centre for Economic Governance and Leadership. <\/p>\n

His extensive boardroom experience includes previous tenures with Cogebanque Rwanda, Access Bank Rwanda, and the West African Development Bank (BOAD).<\/p>\n

Afrika joins a high-profile roster on the AIMS board, including Charles Boamah, former Senior Vice President of the AfDB; Prof. Thuli Madonsela, Chair of Law and Social Justice at Stellenbosch University; and Serena Lefort, former Chair of Canada\u2019s Quantum Valley Ideas Lab.<\/p>\n

Speaking on his appointment, Afrika said, \u201cIt is an honour to contribute to AIMS\u2019 inspiring mission of empowering Africa\u2019s brightest minds through science and education.\u201d<\/p>\n

The next AIMS International Governing Board meeting will be held virtually, ahead of an in-person Annual General Meeting scheduled for early 2026 in Kigali. <\/p>\n

The event is expected to highlight Rwanda\u2019s growing role in shaping Africa\u2019s scientific and innovation agenda.<\/p>\n

\"Philibert<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) has appointed Rwandan economist and development expert Philibert Afrika to its International Governing Board (IGB), placing him among a select group of leaders guiding one of Africa\u2019s most influential science and innovation institutions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":2000091265,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[75],"byline":[192],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-54962","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-homenews","byline-wycliffe-nyamasege"],"bylines":[{"id":192,"name":"Wycliffe Nyamasege","slug":"wycliffe-nyamasege","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":131}],"contributors":[{"id":192,"name":"Wycliffe Nyamasege","slug":"wycliffe-nyamasege","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":131}],"featured_image":{"id":2000091265,"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/mixcollage-21-jul-2025-12-43-pm-6185.jpg","alt":"","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":0,"height":0,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/mixcollage-21-jul-2025-12-43-pm-6185.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/mixcollage-21-jul-2025-12-43-pm-6185.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/mixcollage-21-jul-2025-12-43-pm-6185.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/mixcollage-21-jul-2025-12-43-pm-6185.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/mixcollage-21-jul-2025-12-43-pm-6185.jpg","width":0,"height":0}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54962","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54962"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54962\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000091265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54962"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=54962"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=54962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}