On Monday 27th April, the Entrepreneur and Professionals society, along with the Economics Society, were proud to present the Deputy Governor of the Bank of England, Minouche Shafik, to speak at their latest event. Mrs Shafik spoke about how growing up near poverty in Egypt inspired her to take advantage of her upbringing to become successful. She then went on to talk about her work in various financial organisations, as well as her current work with the Bank of England.

Born in Alexandria, Egypt, her family moved to the United States in the 1960s where she grew up, later returning to Egypt where she graduated from high school. After a year at the American University in Cairo, she went to the University of Massachusetts-Amherst where she completed a B.A. in economics and politics. After two years of working on development issues in Egypt for the U.S. Agency for International Development office in Cairo, she completed an MSc in Economics from the London School of Economics followed by a DPhil in Economics from St Antony’s College, University of Oxford. Mrs Shafik then joined the World Bank working on global economic modelling and forecasting and then later on environmental issues. She then became the youngest ever Vice President at the World Bank at the age of 36. She led a re-vitalisation of the Bank’s work on private sector and infrastructure. She also served on the senior management team of the International Finance Corporation.

After her work with the World Bank, she served as Permanent Secretary of the United Kingdom Department for International Development and was later appointed the Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, a position she held from 2011 to 2014. Since August 2014, Mrs Shafik has been the Deputy Governor of the Bank of England.

The Entrepreneur and Professionals society would like to extend their sincere gratitude to Mrs Shafik for taking time out of her busy schedule to give a truly interesting and memorable speech.