NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Dr. Namanga Ngongi (pictured right) is president ofAlliance for a Green Revolution in Africa. Hehas extensive experience in agricultural development, peace and security issues.

He began his career alongside farmers in his native Cameroon, where he worked as anagricultural extension officer for the Ministry of Agriculture, helping farmers to improve yieldsand to diversify and market their crops. In 1980, Dr Ngongi was attached to the CameroonEmbassy in Rome. He joined the World Food Programme in 1984, becoming DeputyExecutive Director in 1994. Dr Ngongi held that position until his appointment asUndersecretary-General and Special Representative and Head of the UN PeacekeepingMission in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2001. Since his retirement from the UN in2003, Dr Ngongi has undertaken several high-level missions, including a study on foodreserve systems in Africa and coordination of an international conference on disarmament,demobilization and reintegration in Sierra Leone. Born in 1945 in Buea, Cameroon, Dr Ngongiobtained his PhD in Agronomy from Cornell in 1976.

Hugh Scott is currently the director of the AECF. Previously, Scott was on secondment fromthe UK’s Department for International Development working as Senior Investment ClimateAdviser to the Investment Climate Facility for Africa (ICF), a facility which Hugh was thecreator and originator. From 2000-2006 Scott was Senior Private Sector Development

Adviser for Sub-Saharan Africa for DFID, based at DFID’s offices in Pretoria, South Africa andprior to that with DFID in Nairobi. While working for DFID in Sub-Saharan Africa, Scott hasinitiated many innovative programmes such as the ICF, FinMark Trust, the ComMark Trust,MicroSave Africa which work on land markets, microfinance, and agri-business.