Taffere Tesfachew, PhD is currently the Acting Managing Director of the United Nations Technology Bank for the Least developed Countries. Until December 2021, he was a Senior Advisor at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change (TBI). Prior to joining the TBI, he was a staff member of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) for nearly twenty-eight years working in different capacities, including as Director of the Division on Africa and Least Developed Countries (LDCs). He is also a member of the UN Committee for Development Policy (UN-CDP).

Tesfachew is an economist and holds an MA degree in Economics from the University of Lancaster, UK, and an MPhil and a PhD from the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), University of Sussex, UK. He has published on a range of topics, including: “Technological Learning and Industrialization in Ethiopia”; “The role of policy in promoting enterprise learning during early industrialization”; “The Journey of Ethiopian Airlines: Technological Learning and Industrialization in Ethiopia”; “Industrial Parks in Ethiopia: Newcomer advantages”; “Learning to catch-up in Africa”; “Special Economic Zones and export-led growth: an industrial policy imperative”, among others.