Kofi Adjepong-Boateng
Distinguished Fellow, Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy
Biography
Kofi Adjepong-Boateng is at King’s College, University of Cambridge and is a Research Associate at the Centre for Financial History at the University. His research work covers the evolution of a monetary system in West Africa from the early nineteenth century as well as aspects of British monetary and colonial history.
Kofi is a founding partner of Pembani Remgro Infrastructure Managers and Senior Operating Partner of Sanlam Africa Real Estate Advisor Proprietary Limited (SAREA). Both these companies are based in South Africa. Kofi is also chair of the Investment Committee of Soros Economic Development Fund and is a non-executive senior adviser to the Global Markets division at Credit Suisse A.G.
Kofi began his working life in 1987 while still at St John’s College, Oxford; he served as research assistant to the late Dr. Jonathan Frimpong-Ansah, former Governor of the Bank of Ghana. In 1995, in a joint venture with S.G. Warburg & Co., Kofi co-founded First Africa as a corporate advisory firm with offices in London, Johannesburg, Nairobi and elsewhere. In July 2009, Standard Chartered Bank bought First Africa, whereupon Kofi became a Vice Chairman at Standard Chartered. In 2012, Kofi stepped down from Standard Chartered.
In addition to his involvement in banking and investment management, Kofi has been involved in several pursuits including as a past chair of the Policy Committee of the Centre for the Study of African Economies at the Department of Economics, University of Oxford; as a Senior Associate Member, St. Antony’s College, Oxford; and as a Trustee of the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London. He also served on the Steering Committee of a research project established by the late Judge James Crawford at the University of Cambridge’s Lauterpacht Centre for International Law, which investigated questions of international law and regulation relating to accusations of corporate complicity in human rights abuses.
In October 2020, Kofi was recognized in the Queen’s birthday honours and awarded a CBE for his contribution to philanthropy.