Michael Sudarkasa has joined CBi as the Regional Private Sector Consultant for Africa. Michael is the CEO of Africa Business Group (ABG), a South Africa based continentally active, African economic development company. The Group specializes in the areas of private sector development, trade and investment within Africa and between Africa and the global business community. A U.S. commercial attorney by training, Michael has lived, travelled, and worked in 50 countries around the world (including 35 in Africa), and is the author of several publications, including: The African Union Commission’s Africa Business Directory: Toward the Facilitation of Growth, Partnership and Global Inclusion(African Union, 2014), A Field Guide to Inclusive Business Finance (UNDP 2012) and Investing in Africa: An Insider’s Guide to the Ultimate Emerging Market (John Wiley & Sons, August 2000). Michael currently serves as the Chair of Impact@Africa, a continentally focused impact investment ecosystem development platform, as the sole sub-Saharan Africa representative on the global board of the UNDRR’s Private Sector Alliance for Disaster Resilient Societies (ARISE), as an Advisory Committee Member of the ASPEN Network SA Gender Equality Initiative Action Lab, as a member of the University of Michigan Provost’s Advisory Committee, and as Chair of the Advisory Board of the African Studies Center of the University of Michigan. He holds a B.A. degree from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor (High Honors in History), a J.D. degree from Harvard Law School.