Alice Usanase is a leading expert in sustainable finance, concessional capital, and energy transitions, with over 17 years of experience mobilizing capital, designing innovative financial instruments, and advancing infrastructure development across frontier and emerging markets. She currently leads the Specialized Finance Initiative at the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), where she oversees the creation of blended and concessional finance structures that unlock investment for high-impact projects in climate resilience, connectivity, and industrial value chains—particularly in underserved and fragile economies. Her role includes managing partnerships with global donors, multilateral institutions, climate funds, and philanthropic investors, aligning development finance with Africa’s long-term investment priorities.

Previously, as Head of Country Relations and Equity Mobilization, Alice was instrumental in doubling AFC’s membership to 44 countries and raising over $1.5 billion in new capital, expanding AFC’s investor base to include sovereign wealth funds, pension funds, and multilaterals from Africa, Europe, and the Middle East. She also led AFC’s corporate strategy and planning process that helped grow the institution’s balance sheet from $4 billion to $10 billion within five years. Her efforts were critical in onboarding key countries such as Egypt, Morocco, Kenya, and Angola, and in bringing Türkiye on board as AFC’s first non-regional member, cementing AFC’s status as a globally credible, pan-African platform.

Alice’s career spans leadership roles at the World Bank Group and IFC, where she designed and implemented regional industrialization, local beneficiation, and trade policy reforms. Her contributions include advancing the East African Single Visa, cross-border trade frameworks, and energy sector policy strategies to boost regional integration and competitiveness.

She is the co-author of Infrastructure Financing in Sub-Saharan Africa: Best Practices from Ten Years in the Field and serves on the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on the Equitable Transition. Recognized as a 2024 WEF Young Global Leader, Alice is widely regarded for her ability to bridge global capital with inclusive, climate-aligned solutions, shaping Africa’s role in the global sustainability agenda while delivering systemic, scalable development impact.