IBF - a leading consultancy for development aid projects

IBF has been working on development aid projects since 1977. We have built a solid reputation in our fields of expertise

IBF International Consulting was founded in Belgium in 1977. We work on development aid projects financed by international organisations such as the European Commission, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, as well as by the Belgian Cooperation, AusAid and DFID, both in developing and transitional economies.

IBF has built a solid reputation for its knowledge, flexibility, reliability, as well as the ability to successfully implement projects within its core sectors: economic development, trade and regional integration, educational and social reforms, institutional support, consumer protection and framework contracts. For a comprehensive overview of the sectors we cover see our description of our units and poles of expertise.

Based in Brussels, "capital of Europe", our annual turnover turns around 45m Euro and we currently employ 140 full time staff and over 500 experts in the field.

  logo_simple_good quality  IBF is a founding member of the Internation Consulting Alliance (ICA - www.icaworld.net), a network of like-minded organisations dedicated to providing top quality development consultancy services in emerging economies.


IBF's Board of Directors

Frédéric André – Chairman of the Board, Managing Director

Frédéric André

Frédéric holds a Masters degree in Business Administration from the University of Louvain la Neuve. After an experience at the London Financial Futures Exchange, Frédéric worked for two years in Albania as the Assistant to the Representative of the European Commission, setting up the first EC representation in the country, informing Brussels about the local political and economic situation, as well as following up all the aid delivery and technical assistance to Albania. Frédéric then joined IBF in 1994 as framework contracts manager, lead the institutional and social departments and was promoted Managing Director in 1998. In 2005 Frédéric made a management buyout of IBF.


Riccardo Innocenti – Director

Riccardo Innocenti

Riccardo Innocenti holds a University Degree in Economics (Università Bocconi of Milan, Italy). He has 20 years experience in international cooperation and Technical Assistance projects covering all the phases of the project cycle management: identification, preparation, implementation, coordination, follow-up and evaluation. Riccardo worked for 3 years as Desk Officer at the European Commission being in charge of the political, trade and cooperation relations between EU and Panama. During these years he gained significant experience in development aid from the donor perspective. Afterwards Riccardo worked as Manager in private companies in the international cooperation sector. He has also performed several technical assistance and evaluation assignments in the field of private sector development and institutional building in Africa and Latin America.


Antonio Barbero – Director

Antonio Barbero

Antonio Barbero holds a Master University Degree in Engineering (Politecnico di Torino, Italy). He has 45 years of experience in University (Professor, Vice Dean, Vice Rector and Coordinator of the Central Technical Commission of CTI - Italian Organization for Standardization in the Energy Sector), where he created and directed the Department of International Affairs of the Politecnico di Torino, a Department that works not only in the academic but also in the international cooperation field. Moreover, Antonio may show 30 years of experience in International Cooperation: he created and directed (from 1992 to 2009 and from 2013 to 2017) the International Cooperation Department of an Italian company, acting in the field of International Cooperation and Technical Assistance. He worked mainly for EU-funded projects, but also for other International Donors, by identifying, preparing, implementing and coordinating international development projects in Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America. He has also covered the position of Technical Director, General Director and CEO, of several private companies (from 1974 to 2004) based in Italy and in Belgium. From 2016 he is Chairman of the Board of Directors of an Italian private company.


Paul Stockton – Independent Director responsible for Ethics

Paul Stockton

Paul is a Chartered Accountant and immediate past Chairman of Moore Stephens LLP, a top 10 London-based firm of accountants and consultants, and of Moore Stephens Europe. Paul is also an Advisory Board member of the London Institute of Banking and Finance. He has been involved in international work for over 30 years, having set up Moore Stephens' International Institutions and Donor Assurance (IIDA) group, including the establishment of 16 specialist offices worldwide. His clients have included most of the large international institutions engaged in development aid funding globally such as the European Commission, United Nations, World Bank, USAID, and many others. He was responsible for developing the firm's public sector practice servicing large contracts with the National Audit Office and other UK Public Sector organisations. He was also responsible for establishing the firm's international outsourcing service. Paul advises a number of private sector clients operating in the technology, hospitality and investment sectors, concentrating on corporate governance, business development and international growth strategy.





IBF's Management team


Frédéric André – Managing Director (info@ibf.be)

Frédéric André

Frédéric holds a Masters degree in Business Administration from the University of Louvain la Neuve. After an experience at the London Financial Futures Exchange, Frédéric worked for two years in Albania as the Assistant to the Representative of the European Commission, setting up the first EC representation in the country, informing Brussels about the local political and economic situation, as well as following up all the aid delivery and technical assistance to Albania. Frédéric then joined IBF in 1994 as framework contracts manager, lead the institutional and social departments and was promoted Managing Director in 1998. In 2005 Frédéric made a management buyout of IBF.


Karina Dzabara – Chief Financial Officer

Karina Dzabara

Karina holds a Bachelor Degree in Finance from the BA School of Business and Finance (Riga, Latvia) and a Master degree in Economics with the main fields of qualifications in Economics, theory of accounting and audit from the University of Latvia (Riga, Latvia). She has over 14 years of experience in financial management, having worked as a Financial Accountant for a Big Four international audit firm, as a Chief Accountant of the Events Management Unit at IBF managing contracts of 50+ million and now as Chief Financial Officer for IBF in the international cooperation business.


Riccardo Innocenti – Director Technical Cooperation

Riccardo Innocenti

Riccardo Innocenti holds a University Degree in Economics (Università Bocconi of Milan, Italy). He has 20 years experience in international cooperation and Technical Assistance projects covering all the phases of the project cycle management: identification, preparation, implementation, coordination, follow-up and evaluation. Riccardo worked for 3 years as Desk Officer at the European Commission being in charge of the political, trade and cooperation relations between EU and Panama. During these years he gained significant experience in development aid from the donor perspective. Afterwards Riccardo worked as Manager in private companies in the international cooperation sector. He has also performed several technical assistance and evaluation assignments in the field of private sector development and institutional building in Africa and Latin America.


Aaron Imperiale – Director Technical Cooperation

Aaron Imperiale


Luca Costa – Director Technical Cooperation

Luca Costa


Monica Schina – Director of Framework Contracts Unit

Monica Schina

Monica Schina has been working on international projects for over 18 years. She started with the International Training Center of the International Labour Organisation, worked for European consulting companies and joined IBF in 2013 and is now heading the Framework Contracts Unit.

She masters the entire project cycle, from tendering to project management and is fully versed in EC and other IFIs procedures. She has managed, coordinated, and contributed to hundreds of international cooperation projects in numerous fields, in particular in private sector development and institutional building, with a regional focus in Western Balkans, former USSR and South Africa. Over her carrier she has held responsibilities over tendering and implementation units both in Technical Cooperation and FWC, from strategic set-up of project proposals to quality delivery of all project outputs.

Monica holds a University degree in Political science with International law orientation.




Gabriel Calfat – Director of Framework Contracts Unit

Gabriel Calfat


Benjamin Beaudet – Systems & Financial Controlling Director

Benjamin Beaudet

Benjamin holds three Master Degrees: in Economics from the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), in European Economics from the Institut des Etudes Européennes (IEE-ULB) and in Financial Risk Management from the Université Saint-Louis.

Benjamin worked for more than four years at the European Commission Directorate General of Regional Policy (DG REGIO) as financial officer responsible for the Technical Assistance Budget of the ERDF and Cohesion Fund.

In 2008, Benjamin joined IBF as Financial Controller for International Technical Assistance projects. Since 2011 Benjamin has also built more specific experience in events,  project and team management and is Director of the Events Management Unit dealing with numerous  international events.




Gabriele Bendazzi - Business Development Centre Coordinator

Gabriele Bendazzi


Federico Mallone - Writing Centre Coordinator

Federico Mallone


Vitaly Benidovsky – Director IT

Vitaly Benidovsky

Vitaly Benidovsky holds a University degree in Software development and Automated System Engineering. With over 20 years of experience he implemented system analysis, architectural design and development of various software systems. In the last 10 years he focused on the systems helping people working in International development field and in the field of organising events and conferences.