Olivier Pognon is the chief executive officer of the African Legal Support Facility ALSF. Established in 2008 under a treaty signed by African countries, the ALSF was set up to help African countries escape the trap of exploitative vulture funds - hedge or private-equity funds that invests in debt considered to be very weak or in default, known as distressed debt.
Since 2008, the ALSF, an independent organisation hosted by the African Development Bank AfDB at inception, has helped African governments recover over 18bn in sovereign debt negotiations and unlock 72bn in private investment - all through expert legal support on complex contracts in areas including infrastructure, energy, natural resources, and public-private partnerships.
Pognon, who joined in 2021 and now leads the ALSF, has over 20 years of experience in top global law firms and in companies such as MTN and Airtel. He spoke to Toni Kan on the sidelines of the IMF/World Bank Spring Meetings 2025 in Washington DC.
What exactly does the ALSF do?
The ALSF is an international organisation that was established in 2008 under a treaty signed by African countries to track vulture fund activities on the continent. You know those funds that used to buy creditors' debts at a discount and then recover them at three or five times the value. Those vulture funds were very active in the 2000s. African governments, through their ministers of finance, thought that they needed an instrument that would shield them from the activities of these vulture funds and basically assist them with the litigations or arbitrations. That's the idea on the back of which the ALSF was established under the umbrella of the African Development Bank.