Mr Vincent Akue is a Business and Investment Consultant with more than 20 years of experience in value chain and private sector development providing professional services in business linkages, public private partnership, local supplier development, SME access to finance and capacity building of financial institution in SME lending with focus on agriculture, including livestock and poultry, mining, oil and gas sectors. He has been working with donors and international development institutions such as the IFC/World Bank, FAO, European Commission, USAID, GIZ in more than 30 countries in Africa. The most recent is with CARANA CORPORATION, subcontractor for USAID on the Regional Agribusiness and Trade Promotion project in West Africa. Before joining CARANA, he led a team of experts to assess the market for SME lending in Senegal and provided technical input leading to reforms for the acceleration of SME’s access to finance in Senegal. He has also had leadership roles in drafting the implementation plan for the Assess to Finance component of the USAID Accelerated Growth and Increased Competitiveness for Trade (SAGIC) Project and the assessment of the DCA guarantee arrangement with three commercial banks in conjunction with the USAID PCE project in Senegal.