FOA Hall of Fame - Lucien Bradet

FOA 2012

Lucien Bradet is currently the President of the Canadian Council on Africa, Lucien Bradet was the former Director General of Industry Canada. He completed his university studies in Sociology and Anthropology at the Université nationale du Rwanda, established in the 1960s with the assistance of the Canadian government.

After graduating from the University of Ottawa, he joined the Department of Foreign Affairs, and subsequently held numerous management positions at Information Canada, the Department of Regional Economic Expansion, and Industry Canada, where the “Sustainable Cities Initiative” was developed and implemented. This Initiative has been initiated in 16 cities on three continents, including four large African cities: Algiers, Durban, Dakar and Dar Es Salaam. In the last 7 years, he has led more than 15 missions to more than 20 African countries,(including Senégal, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda), held a number of major conferences in Canada on the economic development of Africa and promoted Investments in Africa by connecting Canadian and North American companies to African corporations. He has facilitated and assisted many African countries to dialogue with Canadians to fast track the investment process and continues to support private development initiatives in Africa through Sponsorships, conferences and collaborative efforts with the private sector.

His contribution has been recognized on several occasions: among other things, he was made an Officer of the Ordre de la Pléiade in recognition of his outstanding contribution to La Francophonie, and in 2009 was named Person of the Year for his contribution to the francophone community and more recently received the Friend of Nigerian award by the Nigerian High Commission in Canada for his contributions to the economic development of Nigeria.