Africa’s Pulse: An analysis of issues shaping Africa’s economic future

Andrew Dabalen is the World Bank’s Africa Region Chief Economist since July 1, 2022. The Chief Economist is responsible for providing guidance on strategic priorities and the technical quality of economic analysis in the region, as well as for developing major regional economic studies, among other roles. He has held various positions including Senior Economist in the World Bank’s Europe and Central Asia Region, Lead Economist and Practice Manager for Poverty and Equity in Africa and most recently, Practice Manager for Poverty and Equity in the South Asia Region. His research and scholarly publications focused on poverty and social impact analysis, inequality of opportunity, program evaluation, risk and vulnerability, labor markets, and conflict and welfare outcomes. He has co-authored regional reports on equality of opportunity for children in Africa, vulnerability and resilience in the Sahel, and poverty in a rising Africa. A Kenyan national, Dabalen holds a master’s degree in International Development from University of California - Davis, and a PhD in Agricultural and Resource Economics from University of California - Berkeley.

Mavis Owusu-Gyamfi is Executive Vice President of the African Center for Economic Transformation (ACET), based in Accra, Ghana. In this role, she assumes broad strategic and leadership responsibilities, working across departments to bolster ACET programs and to strengthen collaboration and outreach with partners in both the public and private sectors. Mavis is a political economist by training and a private-sector development specialist. She joined ACET having built a distinguished career over 25 years in international development. She previously worked at the UK Department for International Development (DFID), now known as the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development office (FCDO), where she led the creation and implementation of DFID’s first private-sector development strategies in a number of countries. More recently, she worked as the Director of Program Policy at Save the Children. In 2016, she joined a newly established NGO, the Power of Nutrition, as its Director of Investments, overseeing rapid growth across a dozen African and Asian countries. Mavis Owusu-Gyamfi holds an MPhil from the University of Sussex.

Gilles Olakounlé Yabi is the founder and CEO of WATHI, the West Africa Citizen Think Tank launched in 2015. WATHI is a unique participative and multidisciplinary citizen-focused think tank on West African issues (www.wathi.org). Gilles Yabi worked as senior political analyst and later as West Africa Project Director of the International Crisis Group, a think tank dedicated to conflict prevention and resolution. He led the research, policy, advocacy and media work of Crisis Group in West Africa and worked particularly on the political crises and conflicts in Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Mali and Nigeria. Holding a Ph.D in Development economics from the University of Clermont-Ferrand in France, Gilles Yabi also worked as a journalist for the weekly magazine Jeune Afrique in Paris. Dr Yabi has authored dozens of articles and book chapters on African political and economic issues. He ensures a strong media presence for WATHI, namely through a weekly column broadcast “Ça fait débat avec WATHI”, on Radio France International (RFI). Gilles is also a non-resident scholar at the Africa Program of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace based in Washington DC, US.

Jakkie Cilliers is an African Futurist and author. He is the founder and former Executive Director of the Institute for Security Studies (ISS). He currently serves as chair of the ISS Board of Trustees and head of the African Futures and Innovation Programme at the ISS. His 2017 best-seller, Fate of the Nation, addresses South Africa’s futures from political, economic and social perspectives. His two most recent books, Africa First! Igniting a Growth Revolution (March 2020) and The Future of Africa: Challenges and Opportunities (April 2021) takes a rigorous look at the continent as a whole.

Edith Jibunoh is the External and Corporate Relations (ECR) Manager for East and Southern Africa, at the World Bank - a role she assumed after completing roles as ECR Manager in the Infrastructure Practice Group and ECR’s Global Stakeholder Engagement Adviser. Prior to this, Edith served as Global Policy Director at the ONE Campaign where she worked on advocacy, policy, and stakeholder engagement, and in several positions in the Nigerian government including Chief of Staff and Adviser on International and Bilateral Relations to Nigeria’s Minister of Finance, and Economist in the MDG Office of the Nigerian Presidency. Earlier in her career, she worked in the Bank’s East Asia and Pacific region as well as the UN Office in New York.

Speakers will be joined by Cesar Calderon, Lead Economist, and James Cust, Senior Economist, Africa, World Bank, co-authors of the April 2023 edition of Africa’s Pulse.