Jacques Attali

Jacques Attali is a world-reknown economist and advisor, who was recently nominated by French President Nicolas Sarkozy as the head of the Commission to promote French Growth. Moreover, Professor, writer, Honorary Member of the Council of State, Special Adviser to the President of the Republic from 1981 to 1991, founder and first President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development in London from 1991 to 1993, Jacques Attali is currently CEO of A&A, an international consulting firm specialised in new technologies, based in Paris, and President of PlaNet Finance, an international non-profit organisation assisting microfinance institutions all over the world.

He founded Action Contre la Faim in 1980 and the European programme Eurêka (a major European programme on new technologies that invented, among other things, the MP3). In, 1989, he also launched an international programme of action against the disastrous floods in Bangladesh. Jacques Attali then advised the Secretary General of the United Nations on the risks of nuclear proliferation.

He is at the origin of the higher education reform, known as LMD, to bring all European degrees into line. Jacques Attali is an editorialist for the magazine L’Express. He has written forty four books, translated into more than twenty languages, with over six million copies sold all over the world, including essays (dealing with a wide variety of subjects ranging from mathematical economics, to music), biographies, novels, children’s tales and plays. Jacques Attali is a brilliant and emotive speaker. A true “Renaissance man,” he addresses a wide range of subjects, whether they are economic, political or philosophic.

He is fluent in English and French.

PlaNet Finance is an international non profit organization created by Jacques Attali with the support of Muhammad Yunus which aims at alleviating poverty by contributing to the development of the microfinance sector. Thanks to its international network of 37 offices, PlaNet Finance has developed programs in more than 60 countries. In 2006, PlaNet Finance supported 7 million microentrepreneurs worldwide.

PlaNet Finance Group contributes to the strengthening and development of the sector by means of:

1. PlaNet Finance, international NGO:
   Training, Technical Support and Advisory Services provided to Microfinance Institutions, National microfinance networks, Governments, Banks and Microentrepreneurs.
   Financing services of MFIs in debt through PlaNet Microfund for young Microfinance Institutions, and an investment partnership with ResponsAbility for mature MFIs.
2. Planet Rating, an independent affiliate, which ensures the follow-up and the transparency of Microfinance Institutions.
3. MicroCred, a microfinance investment company.