Vera Songwe is currently Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa. She is also, since 2011, a non-resident Senior Fellow at The Brookings Institute: Global Development and Africa Growth Initiative.

From 2015 to 2017, she worked at the International Finance Corporation as Regional Director for Africa covering West and Central Africa. Ms. Vera Songwe was previously Country Director for Senegal, Cabo Verde, The Gambia, Guinea Bissau and Mauritania at the World Bank (2012-2015), Adviser to the Managing Director of the World Bank for Africa, Europe and Central Asia and South Asia Regions (2008-2011) and Lead Country Sector Coordinator (2005-2008).