Songwe holds a PhD in Mathematical Economics from the Center for Operations Research and Econometrics and a Master of Arts in Law and Economics and a Diplôme d’études approfondies in Economic Science and Politics from the Université Catholique de Louvain in Belgium. She has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics and Political Science from the University of Michigan. Songwe worked for the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, and simultaneously had a visiting professor's appointment at the University of Southern California. In 1998 she joined the World Bank, where she worked in the Poverty Reduction and Economic Management unit, covering Morocco and Tunisia. Over the subsequent years, she filled several roles in the PREM unit for East Asia and the Pacific region. From 2011 to 2015 she was Regional Director Africa covering West and Central Africa for the International Finance Corporation, and Country Director for Senegal, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Guinea Bissau, and Mauritania. Her main areas of interest are fiscal policy, innovative financing mechanisms for development, agriculture, energy and economic governance. In 2011, Songwe was involved in Africa 2.0, an initiative to bring young Africans together to aid in the continent's economic development. She is a scholar at the Brookings Institution, at its Africa Growth Initiative. Forbes listed her in 2013 as one of the "20 Young Power Women in Africa", and the following year the Institut Choiseul for International Politics and Geoeconomics chose her as one of their "African leaders of tomorrow". In 2015 she collaborated with the newly-founded Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Programme, which pledged $100 million for African start-up companies. In July 2015 she was appointed Regional Director of the International Finance Corporation for West and Central Africa. In June 2020, she and others – Nobel laureates in Economics, architects, chefs and leaders of international organizations – signed the appeal in favour of the purple economy, published in El País, the Corriere della Sera and Le Monde.
Currently
Songwe took up her role as the Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa on 3 August 2017 at the level of Under Secretary-General. She serves as a non-resident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution’s . She is also a member of the African Union Institutional reform team under the direction of the President of Rwanda, Paul Kagame, and a board member of the African Leadership Network and the Mo Ibrahim Foundation. She is a member of the World Bank Group team that recently raised a historic US$49.3 billion dollars in concessional financing for the low incomecountries of the World as part of the 16th replenishment.
Speeches
Statement by the Executive Secretary at the Fourth Conference of Ministers Responsible for Civil Registration - Lusaka, Zambia, 07 December 2017
Statement by the Executive Secretary at the opening of the African Economic Conference, Addis Ababa Ethiopia, 04 December 2017
Statement by the Executive Secretary at the opening of the Conference on Land Policy in Africa Addis Ababa Ethiopia, 14 November 2017
