Diana Noble has decided to step down as CEO of CDC Group, the UK’s development finance institution, next year after six years successfully leading CDC in a new strategic direction.  

Commenting on her decision, Noble said: “I joined CDC because of the opportunity to reposition an important UK institution as an impactful, distinctive, enduring provider of long term capital in some of the poorest countries of the world.” 

“Our mission is to support companies to grow and create jobs and CDC is doing this now at greater scale than at any point in our long history. With the extraordinary team we’ve built and the support of DFID, our shareholder, CDC is achieving what I set out to do and next year is a natural time to pass this wonderful and inspiring role to the right person for the next stage,” she said. 

Noble has been CDC’s CEO and a member of the Board since 2011.

She joined CDC to implement a refreshed strategy with a balanced dual mission: to deliver both development impact and a financial return. 

Noble oversaw the expansion of CDC from a solely fund of funds investor to one that also provides direct equity and debt finance to businesses.

CDC’s recently published Annual Review showed how, under Noble’s leadership, the organisation now invests solely in Africa and South Asia and disbursed 66% of its investments to the most challenging countries in those regions (44% in 2012).  

Last year businesses in CDC’s portfolio helped create over a million new jobs, both directly and indirectly.

The Board, led by CDC’s Chairman Graham Wrigley, will begin the process of finding a new CEO shortly.  

Noble will support the transition to the new CEO following their appointment later in 2017.

Wrigley said:"We all feel privileged to have had Diana at the helm for the last five years.  Diana has transformed the scale and breadth of our organisation and today CDC is a well-respected institution.” 

“The fact that last year CDC received its first new capital from its shareholder, DFID, in twenty years is evidence of the energy and passion that Diana has put into realising CDC’s mission to invest in businesses to create jobs in some of the poorest parts of the world,” he added.

Over the coming months Noble and the Board will work to finalise discussions with the Department for International Development (DFID) to agree CDC’s investing mandate for the next five years.