Nemat Shafik, A high flyer in the banking sector

From the cities of Egypt to the glittering corridors of power in Washington, Nemat Shafik has led and is still leading a very eventful life.

Born to a scientist father, she learned at a young age to stand on her own and always stand for what is right. This helped her in her later years during the worst crisis in her career.

Shafik, fondly called Minouche, was born in Egypt. When she was four years old, her parents relocated to the United States. Her early formative years were lived in the States, after which she went back to advance her studies in Egypt.

Her background, family, early life and academic pursuits all helped her in dealing with a lot in her career at quite a young age.

At 36, Shafik found herself the youngest ever Vice President at the World Bank. How did her journey lead her to that reality at such a young age?

Having worked with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a number of years, in 2011, Shafik was suddenly thrust into the position of leadership. Early one morning, she woke up to news of her boss, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, being accused of sexual harassment. His arrest catapulted Ms Shafik’s career to heights she never imagined.

Thrust into a leadership role she hadn’t known could be hers, she took her new role as the IMF deputy managing director seriously, wowing colleagues and critics alike in her effortless management of the crisis. She was born for the job with an innate ability to remain cool and unflappable in crisis.

Those qualities served her well when she joined the Bank of England in 2014, serving in the newly approved post of deputy governor for markets and banking. At that time, the institution was in the midst of its own period of upheaval. Ms Shafik was put in charge of dealing with a foreign exchange issue which had triggered an internal probe of all parties concerned. With her usual directness in tackling crisis, she took all these in stride.

Due to her proactivity, Shafik was given a seat on the committee which handled monetary policies, as well as the committee in charge of financial policies, which one of its duties was to avoid new crisis before they happen.

In addition to that, one of her various duties was the Bank’s electronic money printing exercise, and quantitative easing (QE); duties she took on as soon as she was appointed. Ms Shafik worked really hard to uphold bank policies, and also represented the bank on lots of committees, even internationally.

In 2016, Shafik was appointed as the first ever female to run the London school of economics. She resigned her position as deputy governor in the Bank of England to assume this position which became effective from September, 2017.

Those who know Ms Shafik say she combines charm with hard-granite ambition. These attributes had served her in her many roles and is still serving her, making her a woman to be reckoned with, and a woman every young woman can look up to and learn from.