Stanley Straughter

Specialist in International Business Development and Financial Management

Mr. Straughter is a specialist in international business development in the financial management area. With nearly thirty years experience in international development he has lived and worked in several countries on the continents of Africa, Central Asia, the Caribbean and Russia. As a finance specialist, Mr. Straughter has provided services to foreign governments in governance and transparency, worked with finance ministers and provided advice and counsel to governments on trade policy and foreign direct investment.

Mr. Straughter speaks French and has considerable experience working with bilateral and multilateral financial development entities such as USAID, African Development Bank, African Development Foundation, Eastern Caribbean Investment Promotion service and U.S. Trade and Development Administration and Mr. Straughter has experience in the following countries: Cameroon, Egypt, India, Cote d ‘Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Haiti, Jamaica, Kenya, Israel, Niger, St. Lucia, St. Kitts, Senegal, Togo, Virgin Islands, South Africa, Russia, Uzbekistan, Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa.

Mr. Straughter advises public and private sector entities on issues related to international trade, exporting and importing, marketing analysis, and preparing market penetration strategies to emerging markets for small and medium sized businesses. The firm organizes trade and investment missions to emerging market countries and organizes investment promotion seminars in the United States on behalf of developing countries, particularly African and Caribbean countries. Successful trade missions have been organized to Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea, Senegal, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Mr. Straughter is also a specialist on issues affecting small and medium enterprises in developing countries and the United States.

Mr. Straughter has provided consulting services to OIC International, Inc. a NGO serving, Poland, Philippines, Haiti, and eighteen (18) countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. As a senior advisor to the president of OIC International, he has assisted the organization in the design, implementation and funding of projects in the countries of Guinea, Ghana, Togo, Ivory Coast, Senegal, Angola, Uganda, Nigeria.

Mr. Straughter has served as a senior advisor to the International Foundation for Education and Self-Help (IFESH). For IFESH, he has participated in the organization of the African African-American Summits. He has organized workshops and seminars for the organization’s bankers for African programs and has provided counsel on its government relations activities for African countries.

Mr. Straughter serves as advisor to the World Conference of Mayors (WCM). This organization is composed of mayors from around the world. Founded by Mayor Johnny Ford, Tuskegee, Alabama, the organization convenes seminars and conferences for its membership to network and exchange views on democracy and governance, civil society advocacy, government ethics, legislative oversight and local government transparency. Mr. Straughter advises the director general of the World Conference of Mayors and organizes delegations to sub-Saharan African countries.

In the area of finance some of Mr. Straughter’s engagements have included serving a senior finance advisor to the government of Togo on the design and implementation of a production farm to provide training and income to small farmers. For the Republic of Niger, Mr. Straughter served as a senior finance advisor to that country’s Agricultural Credit Bank. He participated in an exercise to restructure the loan portfolio of the institution. As a senior advisor to the African Development Bank, Mr. Straughter assisted the institution in its successful efforts to sell its securities in the United States to public sector retirement funds.

As a senior advisor on trade, Mr. Straughter represented the Eastern Caribbean Investment Promotion Services (ECIPS) in the United States. He organized in-bound and out-bound trade missions between the United States and the member countries of ECIPS. He was directly involved in the increased foreign direct investment into the ECIPS member countries from the United States. The investments benefited small and medium enterprises in the Caribbean. Mr. Straughter served as a senior advisor to U.S. Virgin Islands Government Employees Retirement System (GERS). Mr. Straughter assisted the GERS in the restructuring of its loan portfolio and the design of a system of accountability and reporting to management.

Mr. Straughter is also a specialist in state and local government issues and has served as the executive director of the National Black Caucus of State Legislators (NBCSL). NBCSL is an organization of 600 legislators from 44 states and the US Virgin Islands. He was executive director from 1986 to 1990. He now serves as senior advisor to the president of NBCSL on international matters. Mr. Straughter has organized delegations of state legislators to African and Caribbean countries and foreign delegations to study trade and economic development issues in the United States for NBCSL.