Dr. Donald P. Kaberuka, a Rwandan economist and the current President of the African Development Bank (AfDB) was this week named on the list of the prestigious Forbes Africa’s nominees for their 2014 Person of the Year award.

Dr. Kaberuka has been credited for ushering in significant change for Africa during his 10 years tenure as the president of the AfDB, a multilateral development finance institution established to contribute to the economic development and social progress of African countries. Fluent in English, French and Swahili, Dr. Kaberuka is the 7th elected President of the Bank.

As President of the Bank Group, Kaberuka chairs the Boards of the African Development Bank and the African Development Fund, the soft loan arm of the Group.

Among his many continental achievements, he served as Rwanda’s Minister of Finance and Economic Planning since 1997, and has been widely acknowledged as Rwanda’s principal architect of the successful post-war and Genocide reconstruction and economic reform program.

Prof. Nshuti Manasseh, a Rwandan economist and financial expert who has worked with Kaberuka in the past, recognizes the latter for his strong dedication to work as, together with the rest of the Rwandan government team, he "got our economy up and moving, from scratch.”

"He was not working alone but he really contributed to setting the foundation. He set the groundwork for a stable macroeconomic path. At a time when government was grappling with issues of financial discipline, he worked with others to set us on the right direction as regards financial discipline and accountability,” Prof. Manasseh said.

"The Office of the Auditor General was conceived and took shape well. He, and others on the government team, also mobilized development partners to fund our development agenda.”