The World Bank Group has named Dr. James Mwangi, Managing Director and CEO of Equity Group Holdings, to its newly established High-Level Advisory Council on Jobs.

The council, launched during the 2024 World Bank Group-IMF Annual Meetings in Washington, D.C., brings together global leaders to tackle the growing employment crisis in developing and emerging economies.

The council will provide strategic guidance and actionable recommendations to help nations create jobs, focusing on youth and women in the Global South, where over 1.2 billion people are projected to reach working age within the next decade.

However, only an estimated 420 million jobs will be available, leaving nearly 800 million without opportunities for prosperity.

The panel is co-chaired by Tharman Shanmugaratnam, President of Singapore, and Michelle Bachelet, former President of Chile. It includes 14 distinguished members from academia, business, civil society, and government.

“Creating jobs is essential to combating poverty and fostering prosperity,” said Ajay Banga, President of the World Bank Group. “The council draws on the expertise of leaders who have driven employment initiatives in their countries.”

“We would be immensely grateful to benefit from your deep expertise, experience and unique perspectives as a member of the Council,” said Therman, Michelle and Ajay in Dr. Mwangi’s appointment letter.

Dr. James Mwangi is among the fourteen global leaders that have joined the World Bank Group High-Level Advisory Council on Jobs, recognizing his dedication and contributions to society that extend beyond the banking sector.

“Over the next decade the world is expected to experience significant demographic shift with one in four people on the planet being African, and more than a third of the world’s young people residing in Africa”, said Dr. Mwangi.

“These global demographic shifts are the result of progress on the African continent including life expectancy, per capita income, health, education and improving nutritional levels. An outcome of these developments has been rapid population growth. Effectively leveraging the demographic dividend in Africa could account for up to 15% of GDP growth and a 17% reduction in poverty by 2030”.