Born in Brussels to Congolese parents and raised in Gabon, Marlene Ngoyi (MBA 2009) has lived and worked in countries including Guatemala, the United States, France, Kenya, and Tanzania. Now based in Kigali, Rwanda, Ngoyi finds her global experience is a good fit with her current role. In May 2022, she was named CEO of the Fund for Export Development in Africa (FEDA). A $670 million investment fund and subsidiary of Afreximbank, FEDA provides capital to companies developing infrastructure projects and intra-Africa trade as well as those in value-added exports from Africa to international markets. “I’m happiest about a project when I feel we’ve established a real basis for sustainable development at scale,” she says.

In high school, Ngoyi recalls she “had a taste for new, for big, and that’s what the United States embodied to me.” As a college student majoring in economics and finance at Bentley University, outside Boston, she interned and later worked full-time at Merrill Lynch. “They said, ‘Sometimes we don’t understand your accent, but the work you do on paper is good.’ I loved that; it was the definition of true meritocracy, because I was the most oddball one there.”

Before arriving at FEDA, Ngoyi worked in a number of finance roles. She turned around a failing bank in Kinshasa, the Democratic Republic of the Congo. (“You know how the case protagonist is looking out the window, wondering what to do? I had 10,000 of those moments.”) She led one of the first private equity deals in Ethiopia. And as CEO of BGFI Investment banking, she oversaw the financing and the development of two ports in Gabon. “I’m proud of that because ports are such a key aspect of the logistics chain,” she explains. “If your port is inefficient, you’re losing a lot of value.”

As she completes her first year at FEDA, Ngoyi acknowledges the work yet to be done in building confidence in African markets, as FEDA invests across sectors including FMCG, financial services, infrastructure, technology, and agribusiness. “There’s a lot of common sense, hard work, and relationship-building that needs to happen,” she notes. “But I refuse the ‘doomed’ narrative for Africa. It’s easier for me to tell someone to invest here because of my background: I’ve worked in Europe and the United States, and I attended Harvard. I want to be the vector connecting all of these different worlds.”

Parlez-vous? “French is my first language and it’s still one of my favorites because it’s so beautiful. I also speak Spanish in addition to English.”

Home away from home: “I wanted to study in the United States so badly. And my parents said, ‘Okay, but it has to be New England.’ They trusted the region because of its universities and proximity to Europe; it was almost as if I was in London.”

Brass tacks: “The pragmatic approach to education in the United States attracted me: You didn’t recite whatever the professor was saying, and you could think on your own. I was told, ‘Your sentences are too long, you’re too poetic; just go straight to the point.’ That was refreshing, coming from a Francophone environment.”

Why HBS? “I was attracted to the case study method and being able to argue your points in front of very smart people. I knew that I was going back to Africa and, as a young woman, I needed a name that would resonate.”

Win, win: “My Negotiation class at HBS helped me in my personal and my professional lives. I want my entire team at FEDA to benefit from understanding the Zone of Potential Agreement; that negotiation isn’t about intimidation and leaving the other party behind.”

02138: “When I was in the MBA program I lived on Mass. Ave., right across the street from Harvard Yard. I loved the vibrancy and the very progressive way of thinking. You know they call it the People’s Republic of Cambridge.”

Full circle: “As a manager, I’m quite a tough boss. I will not treat you in a condescending way. You’re an intelligent being—let me show you certain things and then you’ll teach me too.”

And/both, not either/or: “I like to do good deals, but certain things—like access to health care and medicines—need to be done with or without return. Sometimes a certain amount of irrationality is needed. You cannot always be all dollars and cents.”

Land of a thousand hills: “Kigali, Rwanda’s capital, is one of the prettiest African cities I’ve ever seen. Extremely green, extremely clean. It’s lovely here. It’s healing.”

Second home: Lille, France. “The church where Charles de Gaulle was baptized is right across the street from my apartment. It’s beautiful there.”

Congolese cuisine: “My favorite dish is maboké, fresh fish steamed in banana leaves with sauce and vegetables. It’s absolutely gorgeous, best to be eaten by the Congo River.”

Silver screen: “For me, movies are everything. A movie is a time machine that allows you to be in the past, present, and future. I hope at some point in my life, I’ll have the opportunity to write or produce one.”

Film faves: Les Enfants du Paradis (1945). “The dialogue, the acting, the cinematography are all sublime. I also love The Last King of Scotland with Forest Whitaker as Idi Amin and Blood Diamond with Leonardo DiCaprio. I’ve met similar mercenary-type characters to the one DiCaprio plays. Some people seem to lose their values when they come to Africa searching for a quick profit.”

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