Eme Essien Lore has served as Country Manager for IFC’s Nigeria office since late 2014. IFC is the private sector arm of the World Bank Group.
As Country Manager, Eme oversees all of IFC’s investment and advisory activities in Nigeria.  Eme first joined IFC in Washington in 1999 where she worked in the Oil, Gas & Chemicals Department.  She then moved to the Nairobi office where she developed and processed business leads for a range of sectors and served on the advisory and executive boards of IFC investee private equity funds and microfinance institutions in the East Africa region.

She transitioned to advisory where while based in Dakar she took on oversight of an Africa-wide portfolio of SME investment and capacity building projects.  Eme left IFC in 2011 to join the Rockefeller Foundation’s Africa Regional Office in Nairobi where she supported the development and execution of several initiatives, including youth employment and impact investing.  She rejoins IFC at a time of significant growth of IFC’s investments in Nigeria.  IFC has grown its portfolio in Nigeria to over $1.5 billion in the past few years in a range of sectors including energy, manufacturing, healthcare and financial institutions.

Eme is a graduate of Columbia College at Columbia University; she also earned an MBA from the Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania; and an MA from the School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University.