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Danqing Zhu
Program Analyst, Entrepreneurship Program for Innovation in the Caribbean (EPIC)
Danqing Zhu joined infoDev as Program Analyst for the Entrepreneurship Program for Innovation in the Caribbean (EPIC). She supports the development and implementation of EPIC and provides operational support to other programs under infoDev. Danqing has a long-term commitment to innovation, impact investing, and social entrepreneurship. In her previous roles within the South Asia Sustainable Development Department and the Global Civil Society Team at the World Bank, Danqing contributed to the preparation and implementation of several investment lending projects, as well as Bank-wide stakeholder engagement activities. She also had experience in UNESCO Beijing Office and Deshpande Center for Social Entrepreneurship in Hubli, India. Danqing holds a MA in Sustainable International Development from Brandeis University and a L.L.B in International Studies and Sociology from Peking University.
Justine White
Program Officer, Climate Technology Program
Justine White joins infoDev as a Program officer in the Climate Technology Program. Justine brings over 10 years of experience in both the public and private sectors, focused on fostering innovation, providing technical assistance to government clients on innovation policy, and helping foster local entrepreneurship.
Most recently, Justine has been working in OPCS’ policy and quality department, where she was in charge of the Bank’s Corporate Reporting on AAA, as well as the AAA training agenda development and roll-out Bankwide. Prior to that, Justine worked on a large technical assistance program on innovation policy and coordinated several Bank publications on this topic. She also led the development and roll-out of the Bank’s first online course for clients on ‘introduction to innovation policy’. Prior to joining the WBG, Justine worked for a consulting firm on the financing of large environmental and infrastructure projects in China and Africa. She started her career at the Australian Trade Commission and at the French development agency, working on local economic development and entrepreneurship.
Justine holds a Master’s degree in economics from Sciences-Po Paris, a Master’s degree from INALCO (Chinese) and a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Sydney.
Ganesh Rasagam
Practice Manager, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, World Bank Group
Ganesh Rasagam is the Global Practice Manager for Innovation and Entrepreneurship in the World Bank. The Innovation and Entrepreneurship practice includes infoDev.
Ganesh, a Malaysian national, has over 30 years’ experience in both the public and private sector in competitiveness strategies. His core areas of expertise are in manufacturing competitiveness and enabling infrastructure and he has worked in 34 countries in East Asia, South Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Prior to joining the World Bank in 2003, he was the Chief Executive Officer of a development consulting firm in Penang, Malaysia that specialized in the design and implementation of national and sub-national competitiveness strategies with a focus on manufacturing FDI, Special Economic Zones and spatial growth strategies. He holds degrees in civil engineering, geotechnical engineering and transportation planning/economics from University Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and the Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok, Thailand.
Samiksha Nair
Program Officer, CTP
Samiksha Nair is Program Officer for the Climate Technology Program (CTP), supporting the expansion of the network of Climate Innovation Centers and lead engagement with external stakeholders.
With nearly a decade of experience, Samiksha specializes in cross-sector projects for sustainable development and environmental finance. Prior to joining infoDev, she worked for both public and private organizations in the energy sector as it relates to climate change, energy security and green growth. Samiksha began her career in Washington, DC focusing on energy regulatory issues for oil and natural gas clients. More recently she has worked at the U.S. Department of Energy, World Economic Forum and a private advisory firm managing projects in emerging markets to support and scale business development in renewable energy, climate smart agriculture, and sustainable supply chains.
Samiksha holds a Master’s degree in International Relations and Economics, concentrating on Energy, Resources and the Environment from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies and an MBA from the University of Geneva. She also has a BA in International Relations from the Johns Hopkins University.
Jana Malinska
Senior Program Officer, CTP
Jana Malinska joins infoDev as a Senior Program Officer in the Climate Technology Program to lead development and coordination of the global Climate Innovation Centers and promote linkages within the network and with World Bank Group teams and external stakeholders.
Jana brings 14 years of experience with international organizations, government, and private sector, focusing on business development and investment. Jana has led competitiveness and private sector development operations and technical assistance projects in more than 20 countries across 3 regions over her 7 years with the World Bank Group. Most recently, she coordinated the competitive industries portfolio in the MENA region focusing on business innovation and incubation and tourism, renewable energy and energy efficiency sectors.
Prior to WBG, Jana was a Young Professional with OECD where she was a member of the advisory unit to the Secretary General and helped governments implement investment and public governance reforms. Jana holds Masters degrees from the London School of Economics and University of Economics in Prague and MBA from Universite de Lyon. She continued education at Harvard and MIT.
Jin Lee
Climate Innovation Associate
Ms. Jin Lee is a Climate Innovation Associate working with infoDev's Climate Technology Program. Ms. Lee supports the development and implementation of country-level Climate Innovation Centers (CICs) that provide a suite of services and venture financing for climate technology SMEs and entrepreneurs. She is currently coordinating a Proof-of-Concept Competition in Vietnam to identify promising climate technology ventures that will become clients of the Vietnam CIC.
Prior to joining the World Bank in 2014, she worked in London and Washington, DC in the field of climate change policy and carbon finance. She has a masters degree in International Relations/Economics from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in Washington, DC.
Welela Ketema
Program Officer
Welela is infoDev’s local representative based in the Ethiopia World Bank Country Office. There, she supervises the establishment of the recently launched Climate Innovation Center (CIC). Additionally, she provides general support to infoDev projects being considered in the country or region.
Welela brings 20 years of experience from the private sector in the US and in Ethiopia. Prior to moving to Ethiopia, she has worked at American Express Financial Services, where she focused on accounting & financial management. She also worked at the Gap, Inc. corporate offices in San Francisco, specializing in Strategy, Planning and Business Development.
Welela moved to Ethiopia four years ago and spent a couple of years working as an Advisor at East African Holdings, the second largest business conglomerate in Ethiopia.
Welela holds a MBA degree in Venture Management from the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota. She is addicted to physical exercise and either swims or plays squash every day. An avid cyclist when she lived in California, she doesn't find Addis Ababa quite as cyclist-friend....yet!
Karlene Francis
Operations Officer
Karlene Francis joins the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Unit as an Operations Officer in the World Bank's Jamaica Country Office. She is responsible for coordinating activities in the Caribbean with primary focus on the Entrepreneurship Program for Innovation in the Caribbean (EPIC).
Karlene, a Jamaican national, has extensive experience working in the private sector, public sector, and international financial institutions. Her core areas of expertise are in ICT and entrepreneurship. Prior to joining the World Bank, she managed complex regional projects and programs funded by the World Bank, IDB, Canada, and CDB in fifteen Caribbean countries. While at the Inter-American Development Bank, she was the Technical Lead for the design of four ICT projects and supervised several projects in the Jamaica portfolio. As a Senior Director in the Government of Jamaica, she was responsible for the ICT portfolio and led the development of national and Caribbean policies and strategies.
Karlene holds a MSc in Computer Based Management Information System and a BSc in Computer Studies (Computer Science and Management) from the University of the West Indies. She is a Project Management Professional and has a Post Graduate Diploma in Public Sector Management.
Toni Eliasz
Mobile Innovation Specialist
Toni is a co-Lead for the Digital Entrepreneurship Program, responsible for initiatives that stimulate the commercialization of mobile/web startups and innovation ecosystems in key markets in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and the Eastern Europe, including the establishment of a global network of tech hubs (mLabs / mobile applications laboratories) and the implementation of global innovation contests, events and startup acceleration programs.
Prior to joining the World Bank, Toni co-founded and lead two successful organisations in South Africa, an ICT business model catalyst Ungana-Afrika, as well as MoMoJoburg, the first African chapter of Mobile Monday, which is a global networking platform for key mobile industry visionaries and professionals. Before his years in Africa, he has also held various management positions with Finnish software industry and holds an M.Sc. from the University of Helsinki.
Yehia Eldozdar
Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist
Yehia Eldozdar joins infoDev as the Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist and is tasked to design, implement and evaluate results frameworks for our programs, which entails working with our team, clients and end beneficiaries.
Prior to joining infoDev, Yehia was part of IFC’s Investment Climate team in the MENA region where he spent seven years working on a number of business regulatory reform projects in Egypt, Lebanon and West Bank and Gaza. He also worked on developing a number of impact estimation models for IFC advisory products including business regulation, business edge and credit bureaus. Yehia also worked with the global Jobs team on executing two impact estimation studies for Financial institutions and Agri business for IFC investments in Lebanon and Egypt respectively. Before joining the World Bank group, Yehia worked for seven years as an SME Policy Development Specialist in the Office of the Ministries of Economy, Foreign Trade & Finance in Egypt. His work included consultations with the private sector on issues related to SME definition, legal and regulatory matters facing enterprises from start-up to operations to exit and the drafting of policy papers related to those issues.
Yehia holds an MSc in Economic Development & International Trade from the University of Reading in the UK and a BA in Economics from the American University in Cairo.