Hugh Scott

Hugh Scott is currently the Director of the AECF. Previously, Hugh was on secondment from the UK’s Department for International Development working as Senior Investment Climate Adviser to the Investment Climate Facility for Africa (ICF), a facility which Hugh was the creator and originator. From 2000-2006 Hugh was Senior Private Sector Development Adviser for Sub-Saharan Africa for DFID, based at DFID’s offices in Pretoria, South Africa and prior to that with DFID in Nairobi. The focus of his work with DFID was improving the investment climate in Africa, making markets work for the poor, financial sector development (with a particular focus on making financial markets work for the poor), land and labour markets,. While working for DFID in Sub-Saharan Africa, Hugh has initiated many innovative programmes such as the ICF, FinMark Trust, the ComMark Trust, MicroSave Africa which work on land markets, microfinance, and agri-business. Hugh has over 30 years of experience (over 20 years living in Kenya) of living and working in Africa both for the private sector and for development organizations. Hugh’s particular geographical knowledge is Eastern and Southern Africa. He holds a first degree in Agriculture from Reading University in the UK and a Masters in Agricultural Economics (with distinction) from Wye College, London University. He is a visiting fellow at the African Centre for Investment Analysis at the University of Stellenbosch.