E38: VAL OKARU-BISANT: Advising African SMEs to Enable Formalization and Productivity in Global Trade and Investment

Val Okaru-Bisant is a social entrepreneur with over 15 years of high-level advisory & work experience in economic development, business, trade, water and gender sectors. She is the CEO, Founder and General Counsel at Afrocosmo Development Impact, LLC, Maryland, USA. She has over 15 business and scholarly publications & has private sector & World Bank experience. She was one of the pioneering members of Jean-Roger Mercier’s initial World Bank project environmental review team that categorized and reviewed project compliance with Bank procedures. She & her team started the process of formulating World Bank operational policies, including OP 7.50 (international waters), OP 4.01 (environmental assessment and OP 4.12 (involuntary resettlement). She & her World Bank team (Pauline and Mike) also monitored & supervised the $300 multi-donor financed RUSAFIYA water supply project & within the framework of the project, they introduced the concept of community based participation to World Bank management (as referenced in Maggi Black, Learning What Works, A Twenty Year View on International Water & Sanitation Cooperation). Her 2011 published law review article also spearheaded the concept of corruption risk insurance coverage which some prominent Banks adopted in their portfolios.