Frank Odhiambo

Frank Odhiambo is currently a doctoral student in Development Economics at ETH Zurich in Switzerland, where he focuses on inclusive education and the mental well-being of children with disabilities in sub-Saharan Africa. Before his Ph.D. studies, he was a Policy and Research Manager for Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) in Kenya, where he spent seven years managing development research across different sectors. As Research and Policy Manager, he oversaw a portfolio of impact evaluations across the health and micro-entrepreneurship sectors. Before that, Frank was a Project Officer at Concern Worldwide, an Irish humanitarian and development organization, on an urban resilience project.  

Kobbina Awuah

Kobbina Awuah is an expert in investments and corporate management in emerging markets. He is the founder of Peak Investment Capital, an African private equity firm specializing in small and medium-sized companies. He holds an MA from Harvard Business School and a BA in Engineering from Cornell University and is currently pursuing a PhD in economics at the University of Zurich.

Gisela Martins da Fonseca

Program Manager

Gisela Martins da Fonseca holds a MSc in Statistics and Information Management from the NOVA University Lisbon and a BA in Business and Economics from the University of Zurich. Her main research interests lie in development economics, gender and education.

Rona Bolliger

program manager - on academic leave

Rona Bolliger is pursuing an MA in Political, Legal and Economic Philosophy at the University of Bern and has a BA in Political Science from the University of Zurich. Her main focus in academia lies on gender, family and health politics, as well as the philosophy of economics. Outside of academia, she has experience in public affairs, communication and political campaigning.

Abdoulaye Cissé

program specialist - Grad school support

Abdou is currently a PhD student in Agricultural and Resource Economics at UC Berkeley. He previously worked in the Investment Banking Division of Bank of America Merrill Lynch in New York and Dubai. He holds a Bachelor's in Economics with Honours from Stanford University. Abdou is a native of Dakar, Senegal.

Anja Jean-Mairet

Program Specialist - Webinar Program

Anja Jean-Mairet is currently pursuing her MSc in Economics of Sustainability at the Erasmus University of Rotterdam and holds a BA in Economics with Environmental Sciences from the University of Zurich. Previously she has been working for the Corporate Sustainability team at Georg Fischer AG as a Sustainability Specialist. Her main interests are in sustainable development, particularly in circular economy and poverty reduction. Outside of academia she is and has been volunteering for multiple social projects.

Bless Rachael Adzahli

Program Specialist - Mentor Management

Bless Rachael Adzahli is a PhD candidate at the University of Ghana focusing on Natural Resource Economics. She is an alumna of the University of Cape Coast, Ghana, where she received a Master’s Degree in Economics (MPhil) and a Bachelor’s Degree in Social Sciences, Economics and Mathematics. She is a co-founder of Beyonders Foundation.

Ellen Borg

Program Specialist - Mentee management

Ellen Borg is currently finishing her BA in Economics at the University of Zurich. Her main interests lie in conflict and security, as well as inequality and poverty reduction.

Kyllian Douhou

Program specialist - Evaluations

Kyllian Douhou is a BSc student majoring in Economics at the University of Bern and pursuing a complementary option in Applied Probability and Statistics at the University of Zurich. Interested in quantitative methods, growth and development economics, he aspires to apply his knowledge to practical and innovative initiatives.

Sewoenam Chachu

Program specialist - Webinar program

Dr. Sewoenam is a senior lecturer in comparative linguistics with a PhD in linguistics from the University of Paris Sorbonne. She was the Head of the Department of French, University of Ghana from 2019 to 2022. She is an alumnus of the DAAD/DIES International Dean’s Course and a member of the Ghana team for the 2023/2024 National Multiplication Training (NMT) on internationalization for Technical Universities in Ghana. She mentors female PhD students in Ghana through monthly virtual meetings and is passionate about mentoring young people.

Talea Grootenhuis

Program specialist - Mentee Management

Talea Grootenhuis is currently working as a Predoctoral Fellow at the University of Zurich on Dina Pomeranz's team. She holds an MSc in Public Policy and Human Development from UNU-MERIT and Maastricht University and a BA in European Studies from Maastricht University. Previously she worked as a trainee at the EU's representation at the International Labour Organization in Geneva.

Emmanuel Asibu-Yartey

Web Developer

Emmanuel Asibu-Yartey is a developer with more than 10 years of experience. He has worked in diverse industries and has developed several institutional apps and websites. He completed a BSc in Computer Science with First Class Honours at Regent University College of Science and Technology. He is currently starting up his own firm, where he develops mobile and web applications for organizations.

Lucas Zavala

Advisor

Lucas Zavala's work focuses on barriers to trade and the resulting inequalities in emerging economies. He is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow in the International Economics Section at Princeton University and has joined the World Bank's Development Impact Evaluation group as an Economist in 2022. Lucas received his PhD from Yale University, where he also served as Co-Director for the Herb Scarf Summer Research Program. He has worked as a consultant for the World Bank and as a Research Manager at Harvard Business School.

Samira Adhar

Advisor

Samira is a graduate student in Economics at Boston University. Her research interests include labor, IO, and development economics. She previously worked as a Predoctoral Fellow at the University of Zurich, and has an MA from Columbia University and BA from the University of Delhi.