Sérgio Pimenta is IFC’s Regional Vice President for Africa. Previously, Mr. Pimenta was Director and Global Head of Industry—Manufacturing, Agribusiness, and Services at IFC, managing all operations in these sectors worldwide. Mr. Pimenta also served for three years as IFC’s Regional Director responsible for East Asia and the Pacific, based in Hong Kong. Earlier in his career at IFC, Mr. Pimenta held senior managerial positions in the manufacturing, agribusiness, and services sectors in the Asia Pacific region, the Middle East and North Africa, and Washington, DC. Prior to joining the World Bank Group through its Young Professionals Program in 1996, Mr. Pimenta worked for the Treasury Department of the French Ministry of Finance, as well as for Banque Nationale de Paris (BNP). A Portuguese and French national, Mr. Pimenta holds an engineering degree from the École Polytechnique, Paris, and a post-graduate degree from the École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées, Paris.