Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, 2016 Running Mate of the NPP, left Ghana last Thursday to London where he will be speaking at the 7th Private Equity in Africa Summit.

The Summit is being organized under the auspices of the Financial Times and the Emerging Markets Private Equity Association (EMPEA), the global industry association for private capital in emerging markets.

The 7th Private Equity in Africa Summit, which is slated for the 28th of October, will consider the role that the private equity industry – which has been amongst the most active in responding to Africa's commercial opportunity – can play in harnessing Africa's growth for economic transformation in the coming years.

According to information from the organizers of the Summit, the former Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana will be one of the main speakers along other speakers including David Cowan, Head Africa Economist and Managing Director of Citigroup and Nick Blazquez, President, Africa and Asia of Diageo.

Specifically, Dr. Bawumia is expected to participate in a panel discussion on perceptions and risks in Africa. Other panellists for this particular discussion , during the Summit, will include Grant Harris, who until recently served as Special Assistant to President Obama and Senior Director for African Affairs at the National Security Council (NSC).

Other panellists will include Aubrey Hruby, a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Africa Center at the Atlantic Council. She is the former Managing Director of the Whitaker Group, an Africa-focused corporate strategy and investment advisory firm that has helped facilitate more than $2 billion in investment and capital flows to Africa and someone who has worked with Fortune 500 companies to design and implement successful investment and market entry strategies and advised the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Africa Division.

Bruce Zimmerman is the last panellist for the discussion. He is the CEO and Chief Investment Officer of The University of Texas Investment Management Company (UTIMCO). UTIMCO, investing approximately $28B, is one of America's largest endowments. Prior to joining UTIMCO, Zimmerman was CIO and Global Head of Pension Investments at Citigroup. Previously at Citigroup, Bruce had been CFO and Chief Administrative Officer for Citigroup Alternative Investments, which invested over $90B in proprietary and client capital across a range of hedge fund, private equity, private real estate equity and structured credit vehicles.

The Emerging Markets Private Equity Association (EMPEA) has over 300 member firms comprising institutional investors, fund managers, and industry advisors who together manage more than US$ 1 trillion of assets and have offices in more than a 100 countries across the globe.

An Oxford-educated economist, Dr. Bawumia worked as lecturer in London and the United States before returning to Ghana in 2000 to head the Monetary Policy and Financial Stability Department for the Bank of Ghana. He was appointed as Deputy-Governor of the Bank of Ghana in 2006.

He is a widely respected economist, having worked for the African Development Bank as Zimbabwe's Resident Representative and served as a Consultant to the Economic Commission of Africa and the World Bank among other roles.