Born in 1969 and raised in Lusaka, Zambia, Dambisa Moyo is the quintessential global economist who spends a great deal of her time unravelling the many mysteries of macro and micro economies’-precipitating shifts in global markets and nations at large.
Dambisa holds a Doctorate (D.Phil.) in Economics from St Antony’s College, Oxford University; in 1997, she earned a Master of Public Administration (M.P.A.) from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. Before that, she had gained a Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.) in Finance and Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in Chemistry from American University in Washington D.C. She went on to work for the World Bank as a Consultant and at Goldman Sachs- in its debt capital markets and as an economist in the global macroeconomics team.
Her distinguished academic pedigree, work experiences and travels to over 50 countries have enabled her gain unique and diverse insights on the political, economic, and financial workings of emerging economies, in particular the BRICs and the frontier economies in Asia, South America, Africa and the Middle East.
Her work examines the interplay between rapidly developing countries, international business, and the global economy, while highlighting the key opportunities for investment.
Dambisa’s fierce interest in world economies has been encapsulated in several books; her first book ‘Dead Aid: Why Aid Is Not Working and How There is Another Way for Africa’ argues that foreign aid has harmed Africa and that it should be phased out. It became a New York Times bestseller and was published in Chinese, English, French, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese and Dutch. Her second book, ‘How the West Was Lost: Fifty Years of Economic Folly and the Stark Choices Ahead’ also entered the New York Times bestseller list, and her third book, ‘Winner Take All: China’s Race for Resources and What it Means for the World’, was published in June 2012 to critical acclaim, debuting at #13 on the New York Times best-seller list as well as entering The Wall Street Journal’s business best sellers at #4.
A revered speaker at international meets including those organised by the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Council on Foreign Relations, American Enterprise Institute and the 2009 Munk Debates as well as most of the G7 countries, Dambisa stated in her speech at the TEDGlobal 2013, “…Ninety percent of the world’s population lives in emerging markets, and to them, the obsession with political rights is beside the point, taking a backseat to food, shelter, education and healthcare. When you’re earning less than $1 a day, you’re far too busy trying to feed your family to worry about defending democracy… What would you choose if you had to choose between the right to a roof over your head and the right to vote?” Do you agree?
This amazingly intellectual woman was awarded the Hayek Lifetime Achievement Award, named for the Nobel Prize winner and recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, Friedrich Hayek in 2013. She was named by TIME Magazine as one of the world’s 100 most influential people and honoured by the World Economic Forum as one of its Young Global Leaders in 2009. Dambisa was also featured in Oprah Winfrey’s power list of 20 remarkable visionaries in 2009.
Dambisa is a contributing editor to CNBC, the business and finance news network and has appeared as a guest on other networks such as CNN, Bloomberg, BBC and Fox Business. Her writing regularly appears in economic and finance-related publications such as the Financial Times and the Wall Street Journal.
Dambisa Moyo of Zambia is an African woman, but world business leaders have an ear attuned to her evaluations…isn’t she such an inspiration?
