Ralph Olayé

Ralph Olayé is the Managing Director of Eranove’s project development and management, the leading pan-African industrial group in public services management and electricity and drinking water production. He directs different projects that are introduced by Eranove. In order to do this, he draws on the expertise that the Group has acquired through several decades of work on the continent in structuring, financing, implementation and operation in the essential specialisations, which are water, electricity, and digital access.

In the African Development Bank, Ralph held several posts, particularly as manager of programme performance and execution and, before that, as coordinator of large-scale regional infrastructure programmes, leading to the endorsement of 54 African Heads of State from the African Union Programme for the development of infrastructure in Africa (PIDA), and he also lead the infrastructure project preparation facility NEPAD. He directed the mobilisation efforts of the African development fund’s resources, marshalling a new contribution record for a total amount raised of 10 billion dollars, helping to support the economic development of fragile, low-income African countries.

Before participating in infrastructure development in Africa, Ralph Olayé demonstrated his entrepreneurial skills by supporting the international development of the Egis Projects (Caisse des dépôts Group) and by launching a startup linked to process automisation, in which he remains a shareholder.

He is an Engineering-Economics graduate from Ecole Centrale Paris, with an MSc in Civil Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an MBA from HEC Paris.

Ralph Olayé also has the honour of being a Fellow of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, member of the African Leadership Network, of Africa 2.0 and he has been ranked by the Choiseul Institute on two separate occasions among the African continent’s Emerging economic leaders.