Geeta Sethi
Global Lead, Food Systems, World Bank
Geeta Sethi is the Advisor and Global Lead for Food Systems at the World Bank. She is the lead architect of the World Bank’s Food System Transformation agenda, a food system that provides the triple bottom line—prosperity, sustainability, and healthy people. She also manages the World Bank’s program on Food Loss and Waste Reduction. She has more than 20 years of experience working as an economist on fragile, low-, and middle-income countries. Her work has focused on issues of rural development, service delivery and intergovernmental fiscal policies around the world. She has delivered many lending programs to the World Bank Board and published books and articles in refereed journals on issues relating to rural labor markets, trade policy and fiscal decentralization. Previously, she was the Chief of Staff to the Climate Change Vice President and Special Envoy, the Operations and Strategy Manger for Climate Change, and worked as the Program Manager for the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program. She has an MBA and PhD in Economics.
Jacob Ricker-Gilbert
Professor, Department of Agricultural Economics, Purdue University
Jacob Ricker-Gilbert is a University Faculty Scholar who joined Purdue after completing his PhD at Michigan State University. Most of his current work focuses on sub-Saharan Africa, and the core topics include 1) analyzing the economics of smallholder farm households’ post-harvest decisions in Africa and 2) studying how smallholder farm households in Africa adapt to climate change. Ricker-Gilbert has published numerous peer-reviewed articles related to themes in journals such as American Journal of Agricultural Economics, World Development, Economic Development and Cultural Change and Journal of Development Economics. He has also given seminars and workshops to share the findings of his research with African governments, businesses, and donor organizations. Ricker-Gilbert was part of a team that won the 2017 Bruce Gardner Memorial Price for Applied Economic Policy Analysis. Ricker-Gilbert enjoys collaborating with colleagues from other disciplines and through these collaborative efforts he has been able to help secure nearly $40 million in external grant funding since 2011. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, USAID, and the World Bank have been the main funders of his research.
Yared Sertse
Co-founder and General Manager, Shayashone PLC
Yared Sertse is the Co-founder and General Manager of Shayashone PLC, engaged in agribusiness advisory, manufacturing and distribution of social impact products. He holds a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from Bradford University/TiasNimbas Business School. Yared has over 18 years’ experience in International Business, Research and Development organizations in Ethiopia and other countries in Africa. Since starting his own business in 2010, Yared has successfully managed to grow and diversify the business from a consultancy business into manufacturing, distribution and export/import. Yared has multi-industry experience in agriculture, pharmaceuticals, oil and gas, brewery and others. He has also been awarded with the ‘Shell Oil Products Africa President’ award. Yared is passionate about strategies which nurture businesses with triple bottom line impact and strategies that make businesses sustainable.
Kateryna Schroeder
Senior Agriculture Economist, Data-driven Digital Agriculture, World Bank
Kateryna Schroeder is a Senior Agriculture Economist in the Global Engagement unit of the Agriculture and Food Global Practice of the World Bank, focusing on data driven digital agriculture solutions. She is a lead author of the World Bank global flagship ‘What’s Cooking: Digital Transformation of the AgriFood System’. Prior to joining the World Bank Group, Kateryna worked as a researcher at the Food and Agricultural Policy Institute and as a frequent consultant with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations on issues related to food security, agricultural policy and trade. She is an author of multiple journal articles and book chapters on these topics. Kateryna holds a PhD in agricultural and applied economics from the University of Missouri, USA
Natia Mgeladze
Global Lead, IFC Food Safety Advisory
Natia Mgeladze is a Global Lead for the IFC Food Safety Advisory. Prior to taking up the position of Global lead at IFC Global Food Safety platform in December 2020, Dr Natia held the role of international food safety expert in IFC form 2010 and worked with over 200 food and agribusiness clients worldwide to measurably improve food safety, generating over $709 million in increased sales and attracting $607 million in investments. For ten years before joining IFC, Natia was a Food Safety and Quality Assurance Manager of Coca-Cola Bottlers Georgia and food safety advisor of infant formula producing company, Humana Georgia. Her top three priorities are for the IFC to achieve its strategic objectives, expand knowledge and awareness, and elevate the importance of food safety, food loss and waste reduction and food fortification to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. Natia holds a PhD in Medicine from Tbilisi State University, Georgia.
Ashesh Prasann
Senior Agricultural Economist, World Bank
Ashesh Prasann is a Senior Agriculture Economist in the Front Office of the Agriculture and Food Global Practice at the World Bank. His current work is focused on decarbonization of the food system, agricultural pollution control, and repurposing of agriculture policies and support. Previously, he has co-authored flagship reports on Future of Food: Shaping the Food System to Deliver Jobs and Scaling up Disruptive Agricultural Technologies in Africa and led advisory teams that have supported countries in the formulation of national agricultural investment plans and undertaking core sector diagnostics including reviews of agricultural policies and public expenditures, agro-logistics, and value chain analysis. He has also co-led the preparation and supervision of multi-sector investment projects in Mexico and Comoros, and supported operations focused on Climate-Smart Agriculture, Digital Agriculture, Covid-19 Response, Famine Risk Reduction, and Sustainable Tourism in the Africa, Latin America and Caribbean, and East Asia regions. Ashesh holds a PhD in Agricultural and Food Resource Economics from Michigan State University, a MPP from the University of Chicago, and BS in Economics and International Studies from Trinity College, Hartford.
Questions Submitted
Mohammad Nadir
- Nov 13, 2022DR. YOGENDRA NATH
- Nov 12, 2022jose luis
- Nov 9, 2022