Bicha Ngo: First Woman in Investment Quebec

The new CEO of Bicha Ngo Investments Quebec (IQ) was announced Wednesday by Quebec Minister of Economy, Innovation and Energy Pierre Fitzgibbon.

This is the first time that a woman has held this position. She replaces Guy LeBlanc, who has been in office since 2019. His four-year term expired in April and will not be renewed, as the CEO has said from the start that he does not intend to stay much longer.

“Bicha Ngo is an exceptional candidate to take over at Investments Quebec. His leadership and experience in major transactions will be valuable assets to ensure Quebec’s economic development,” said Minister Pierre Fitzgibbon..

(Re)Read: Bicha Ngo, The Quiet Ambition of an Extraordinary Woman

Bicha Ngo has been Senior Executive Vice-President of Private Investments at Investment Québec since October 2019. Her appointment as IQ CEO will be effective from October 1.^er Next February for three years.

It intends to be part of the continuum. According to her, IQ is a “mature and agile organization that has evolved to respond to the genuine concerns of businesses and tailor its service offering to their needs.”

She wants to continue Guy LeBlanc’s work in supporting Quebec businesses internationally, attracting foreign investment to Quebec, strengthening supply chains, improving productivity and innovation, improving the quality of the workforce, and financing businesses. It also wants to further the development of the battery sector and other priority sectors identified by the Quebec government.

A finance graduate from HEC Montreal, Bicha Ngo manages the venture capital and development capital investment teams as well as investment funds and specialty financings at IQ. She also headed the Natural Resources and Energy Division of the state corporation. She has 25 years of experience in the business sector. She was Vice President of Corporate Development at Domtar, in addition to working at HSBC, CIBC World Markets and Merrill Lynch.

Same salary

After retiring in 2019, Guy LeBlanc had long known Minister Fitzgibbon when he was appointed. They both studied at HEC Montreal in addition to working alongside each other at PricewaterhouseCoopers. They are also business partners, with the minister notably investing in the startup company of a former IQ manager’s son.

Guy LeBlanc led a profound transformation of the Quebec government’s finance department, which expanded into the regions and investments increased significantly under his leadership.

Guy LeBlanc has sponsored nearly 15 billion dollars (G$) of investment, particularly in the battery sector. “Another $15B is under discussion and will be announced in the coming years,” Investments Québec’s CEO said in an interview in November. Essentially, these are the second phase and the third phase to increase the capacity of the already announced factories.

Therefore this file will undoubtedly become the most important to the new owner. His remuneration should be similar to that of the current CEO, who saw an increase in pay compared to his predecessor when he was appointed in 2019. His emoluments crossed the million-dollar mark last year, a 19% increase over the 2021-2022 fiscal year.

This rise has been criticized as IQ posted a negative return of 4.8% in 2022-2023 during a period of great volatility in stock markets and economic uncertainty. The company posted a loss of $224 million. Over five years, IQ achieved an average annual return of 6.3%.

Regarding the international aspect of its mission, IQ supports $6B in new foreign direct investment in 2022-2023, compared to $4.6B the previous year. This number is three times more than in 2018-2019.

Investment Québec estimates that its support made possible the equivalent of $3.1B in exports for Quebec businesses again for the fiscal year ending March 31. The estimate for the last fiscal year was $1.95 billion.