Samuel Bonzu (PP ’11), Special Appointee, African Department, International Monetary Fund, Washington DC

Dr. Samuel Bonzu is currently serving as a Special Appointee in the African Department of the IMF Headquarters in Washington DC. He has over ten years of experience in government (Ministry of Finance, Sierra Leone, Bank of Sierra Leone and Sierra Leone National Revenue Authority); academia (University College London, Royal Holloway, University of London and University of Sierra Leone.); policy research, and private sector work on economic policy management and development programs. He received a Master of Public Policy from GRIPS in 2011 and a Ph.D. in Economics from Royal Holloway, University of London in 2018.

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Syed Nasir Ershad (PP ’02), Economic Minister, Embassy of Bangladesh in Tokyo

Ershad joined the Bangladesh Civil Service in 1995 as an Assistant Commissioner and Magistrate. He has since served in various ministries, departments and organizations in different capacities both at home and abroad. Since December 2020, Ershad is back in Japan where he serves as Economic Minister at the Embassy of Bangladesh in Tokyo. Ershad holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree in economics and received his Master of Public Policy from GRIPS in 2002.

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Aiko Kikkawa (MA ’13; Ph.D. ’17), Economist, Economic Research and Regional Cooperation Department, Asian Development Bank (ADB)

Dr. Aiko Kikkawa is an Economist at ADB’s Economic Research and Cooperation Department. Her research portfolio covers international migration and remittances, aging and demographic change, gender and economic analyses of ADB projects. Prior to joining ADB, she worked at the International Organization for Migration where she led technical assistance programs on overseas employment policy, remittances, and disaster relief operation targeting mobile population. She obtained her MA and Ph.D. in development economics from GRIPS and a master’s degree in forced migration from the University of Oxford.

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Bam Bahadur Mishra (PP ’06), Deputy Governor, Nepal Rastra Bank

Mr. Bam Bahadur Mishra was appointed as Deputy Governor of Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), the Central Bank of Nepal, in March, 2021. Prior to his appointment as Deputy Governor, Mishra was the Executive Director of NRB’s Foreign Exchange Management Department. During his career as a central banker, spanning about two decades, Mishra served in different areas, including the regulation of banks and financial institutions and their supervision, foreign exchange management, and the central bank’s provincial office operations. Before entering the central bank, he gained experience in private sector commercial banks where he worked for eight years. Mishra received his Master of Public Policy from GRIPS in 2006.

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Rakhymzhan Issakulov (YLP ’16), Head of the Administration of the Governor of Nur-Sultan, Republic of Kazakhstan

Upon finishing his Bachelor of Science in Economics and Management from Royal Holloway, University of London in 2010, Rakhymzhan started his career in the Administration of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan. After serving in several roles for about five years, he successfully applied to GRIPS and enrolled in the Young Leaders Program in October 2015. With the knowledge and skills gained at GRIPS, he was promoted to the political position of state inspector of the President’s Administration upon his return to Kazakhstan. In September 2018, he was appointed Head of the Administration of the Governor of the West Kazakhstan Region and since October 2020, he has been serving as Head of the Administration of the Governor of Nur-Sultan, the capital city of Kazakhstan.

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Rahul Nangare (PF ’10), First Secretary (Trade), Indian High Commission, London

After completing his M.A. from Pune University in 1998, Rahul passed India’s Civil Services examination and was selected to join the 1999 batch of the India Revenue Service (IRS/ Customs). During his career spanning more than 20 years, he has worked in various capacities in India, including Under Secretary in the Ministry of Finance in Delhi, Additional Director of Central Excise Intelligence and Additional Commissioner of Customs in Mumbai. He received the Presidential Award for Specially Distinguished Record of Service in 2019. He is currently on deputation to the Foreign Ministry to work in the Indian Embassy in the United Kingdom as a specialist in Trade and Customs matters. Rahul received his Master in Public Finance from GRIPS in 2010 and was chosen as Valedictorian at Graduation Ceremony.

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Dinusha Hettiarachchi (PF ’15), Superintendent of Customs, Sri Lanka Customs

Dreaming of becoming an IT professional, Dinusha enrolled in the Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology, and concurrently in the University of Kelaniya, majoring in Information Technology and Industrial Management respectively. Upon graduation in 2005, he started his career as a Software Engineer in a leading IT company. After three years in the private sector, however, Dinusha moved to the public sector and joined Sri Lanka Customs as an Assistant Superintendent of Customs in 2008. While working he completed his MBA at the University of Moratuwa and in 2014 he was offered a WCO scholarship to pursue his studies in the Public Finance Program at GRIPS. Being well-trained and prepared, Dinusha was assigned some challenging tasks upon returning from Japan. He has gradually worked his way up in Sri Lanka Customs and was recently promoted to Superintendent of Customs.

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Benedict Makanga (G-Cube ’18), Personal Assistant to the Deputy Governor, Bank of Uganda

After completing his Bachelor of Science in Quantitative Economics, at Makerere University, Benedict started his career in 2003 as a statistician managing and analyzing various sets of data in the Uganda Bureau of Statistics. In 2005, he accepted a job offer at Centenary Rural Development Bank as a Credit Officer, responsible for extending microloans to rural businesses and rural households. In 2007, Benedict joined the Bank of Uganda where he has held various roles in different departments before being appointed to his current position as Personal Assistant to the Deputy Governor. Benedict graduated with a Ph.D. in Advanced Policy Studies from the GRIPS Global Governance Program (G-Cube) in 2018.

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