Mr. Zarau Wendeline Kibwe, a seasoned Tanzanian economist, serves as the Executive Director for Africa Group 1 Constituency on the World Bank Group’s Executive Boards in Washington, DC. He represents 22 Sub-Saharan African countries, including Botswana, Burundi, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, The Gambia, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
Before ascending to his current position, Mr. Kibwe dedicated over seven years to serving the WBG’s Executive Boards through the same Constituency, progressing from Advisor to Senior Advisor and ultimately to Alternate Executive Director. Prior to his tenure on the Board, Mr. Kibwe began his career with the World Bank Group in Tanzania, where he served as an Economist in the Macroeconomics, Trade and Investment (MTI) Global Practice at the Country Office. In this role, he contributed significantly to economic analyses and actively participated in the policy dialogues with Tanzanian Authorities.
Earlier in his career, Mr. Kibwe held various positions in the Central Government of Tanzania and Academia. As a Senior Policy Analyst in the President’s Office-Planning Commission, he contributed to shaping national development strategies. His tenure as an Assistant Customs Officer at the Tanzania Revenue Authority allowed him to contribute to domestic resource mobilization and trade facilitation across borders. In Academia, he shared his expertise by lecturing economics courses at the University of Dodoma (UDOM) and the Mwalimu Nyerere Memorial Academy (MNMA).
Mr. Kibwe holds a Ph.D. and an MA in Development Economics, as well as a Master of Public Policy from the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS) in Tokyo, Japan. He earned his BSc in Economics from Mzumbe University in Morogoro, Tanzania.
