19 June

Dr. Iraj Abedian – Founder and CE of Pan-African Capital Holdings (Pty) Ltd.

Dr. Iraj Abedian was professor of economics at the University of Cape Town, before entering the business sector in 2000. He obtained his BA (Honours) and MA in Economics from University of Cape Town (UCT), and his PhD in Economics from Simon Fraser University in Canada in 1993. He has served as a consultant on economic policy issues to public and private sector organisations in South Africa and internationally. His involvement in policy development in South Africa includes the transformation of the Development Bank of Southern Africa (1995), the RDP White Paper (1995), Growth, Employment and Redistribution (GEAR 1996), Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF 1997/98), the Presidential Review Commission (PRC 1997/98) and membership of the President’s Economic Advisory Panel 2006-2009.

He is a prolific researcher and has written numerous articles and co-authored books. During September to December 1999, Dr Abedian was based at the IMF, Washington D.C., working on issues related to fiscal vulnerability assessment. In January 2000 he joined The Standard Bank Group and was appointed Director and Group Economist in April 2000. As of March 2010, he is an Extraordinary Professor of Economics at Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS), University of Pretoria, and serves the following organisations and companies: Chairman of the Board: Bigen Africa (Pty) Ltd (April 2009 to date), Member of the Board of Directors of Munich Re of Africa. (2005 to date), Member of Board of SA Tourism (June 2009 to date), Member of Board of Capital Fund Ltd (May 2011 to date), Economic Advisor to Minister of Mineral Resources, SA Government (Feb. 2010 to date) and a Member of the Advisory Board of the Auditor General of the SA Government.(2006 to date)