biography
March 12, 2021Mr. Ahmed Shide is the Minister of Finance of Ethiopia since October 2018. Previously Mr. Shide served as Minister of Transport as well as Minister of Government Communication Affairs of Ethiopia. Before that, he served as a State Minister of Ministry of Finance and Economic Development for more than eight years, where he diligently led the country’s economic cooperation and regional development and integration agenda. During his service as a State Minister, he championed the economic reform endeavors of the Government and contributed to the significant development achievements the country recorded over the past couple of decades. He is now leading the economic reform agenda the Government announced recently which aims to boost private participation in many areas of the economy and enhance economic efficiency. Moreover, he also dedicatedly served the Government of Ethiopia at various capacities including at the regional state level. Minister Ahmed Shide is a member of the Federal Parliament of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia. Mr. Shide holds Masters of Arts in Participation, Development and Social Change from the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, United Kingdom, Post-Graduate Diploma in Managing Rural Resources and Resource Conflicts from the Institute of Social Studies, The Hague, the Netherlands, and MBA from Greenwich University, London, United Kingdom. He also holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Ethiopian Civil Service College, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Dr. Eyob Tekalgn Tolina is currently a State Minister of Ethiopia’s Ministry of Finance. Previously, he was Minister in charge of Ethiopia's National Planning Commission. Mr. Tolina has spent over eighteen years helping shape Ethiopia’s economic and social development through various responsibilities within leading public, private, supranational, multinational, and academic institutions. Mr. Tolina’s diverse background has spanned a variety of roles such as Minister Counselor at the Embassy of Ethiopia in Washington D.C., advisor to the Ethiopian governors of the IMF and World Bank, government and public affairs consultant to Fortune 500 multinational Dow Chemical, and his work for different government agencies including Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Trade. Mr. Tolina has managed the Ethiopian Public Private Consultative Forum(EPPCF), the major platform for policy deliberation between the government and the private sector in Ethiopia. Mr. Tolina has also worked for a number of regional and international organizations including UNECA, COMESA, UNCTAD, the World Bank Group and the International Finance Corporation (IFC). Before his current role, Mr. Tolina has served as a director at SGI Frontier Capital, an American investment firm focused on the World's Frontier Markets. These experiences have given Mr. Tolina a unique, balanced perspective on the challenges and opportunities facing developing countries like Ethiopia, a country that is aspiring to become the economic growth engine of Africa in the decades ahead. Mr. Tolina is a political economist with strong skills in team building, effective advocacy, private equity investing, strategic planning, portfolio management, public relations, private sector development, and policy analysis. Mr. Tolina has a Masters from the George Washington University in Washington D.C and a PhD from University of Maryland’s School of Public Policy focusing on political economy.
MS. YASMIN WOHABREBBI SAEED, STATE MINISTER OF FINANCE FOR ECONOMIC COOPERATION FEDERAL DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF ETHIOPIA Ms. Yasmin Wohabrebbi is a State Minister of Finance at Ethiopia’s Ministry of Finance, with a portfolio of international economic cooperation. In this role, she leads the Ministry’s external economic cooperation policy and operation, as well as effective mobilization and management of external resources. She is a seasoned resource mobilization and partnership management professional with over twelve years of experience in the field. Having built strong relationships with key donors and international organizations, Ms. Yasmin has helped to mobilize significant resources from several multilateral, bilateral and philanthropic organizations for Ethiopia’s development. Her extensive knowledge of government policies and strategies, as well as cooperation requirements and procedures resulted in successful outcomes in development financing. Ms. Yasmin has played an indispensable role in the design of many development projects across all sectors and led negotiations with development partners to secure loans and grants. She also plays a principal role in Ethiopia’s national and international development effectiveness and sustainable financing initiatives. Prior to assuming the post of State Minister, Ms Yasmin served the Ministry of Finance in different capacity including Director of International Financial Institution Directorate in the Ministry for more than seven years. While at the ministry, she has taken progressive responsibilities in resource mobilization, allocation and management from international financial institutions including the World Bank; led development partner coordination platforms to strengthen collaboration; and oversaw the country’s credit rating to enhance creditworthiness and attract investment. Previously, she was the Director of Partnerships and Resource Management at the Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Agency, where she developed a resource mobilization strategy; identified and sought funding sources and oversaw proposal and report development focusing on the agriculture sector. Ms. Yasmin holds a master’s degree in International Trade Policy and Trade Law from Lund University in Sweden, and a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Economics from the University of Gondar in Ethiopia.
