The Biography of the Director-General

Director-General Dr. Kandeh K. Yumkella of Sierra Leone was nominated as the candidate for Director-General of UNIDO by the 30th Session of the Industrial Development Board (IDB) on 21 June 2005. The 11th Session of UNIDO's General Conference approved the IDB nomination on 2 December 2005. Dr. Yumkella formally assumed the position of Director-General on 8 December.

After his landslide victory at the 30th Session of the IDB in June, Ambassador Stelzer of Austria, as President of the Session, invited Dr. Yumkella to address the IDB. Speaking without notes, Dr. Yumkella, referred to his vision statement (view or download vision statement) and said:

"Of particular importance to me is my management philosophy ...  that a good leader listens to his people. A good leader leads with humility. A good leader must believe in his people. ... UNIDO cannot be great without its staff. I want to inspire my staff, I want to challenge them. I warn my staff in this very first speech, I am from a country that is listed as one of the poorest in the world. I will challenge you to prove, that yes, you can deal with poverty alleviation, not in theory, but in practice."

Partnerships, whether in developing countries between the public and private sectors, whether between the UNIDO Secretariat and its Member States, between Member States, or between the Director-General and his staff, is a theme running through the Yumkella vision. Dr. Yumkella asked the Board to see his vision statement as "a document for dialogue".

"It is not set in stone, because development itself evolves over time." He asked member states to be open to new ideas, "because I believe today in the development world we must be willing to look at other paradigms of development. I say it here, because I am going to do it".

He said he would also be putting a lot of emphasis on South-South cooperation and drew attention of Member States of the importance of funding for UNIDO activities in general.

At the end of his statement to the Board, Dr. Yumkella drew the attention of Member States to the banner he has at the beginning of his vision statement:

"Together we can all make a difference" and said "When we discuss poverty alleviation, or industrial development, we must always remember it is about people. It is not an abstract concept. It is about people in my village. So let us be real, let us be practical. Theory must come to practice; practice must be financed well".

Dr. Yumkella joined UNIDO in 1996 as Special Advisor to the then Director-General, Mauricio de Maria y Campos. In the same year he became Director of the Africa and Least Developed Countries Regional Bureau, until 2000 when he went to Nigeria as UNIDO Representative and Director of the Regional Industrial Development Centre, a position he held until 2003. From then until his election as Director-General he was a Senior Advisor to the previous Director-General, Carlos Magariños.

Prior to joining UNIDO, between 1994 and 1995 he was Minister for Trade, Industry and State Enterprises of Sierra Leone. During his earlier career he occupied several academic and research positions in the United States. Dr. Yumkella has also co-authored numerous articles, books and staff papers on international trade and development issues. He holds a Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics from the University of Illinois.