Dr. Wolday Amha, a prominent economist and the Executive Director of the Association of Ethiopian Microfinance Institutions has died in a car crash near Addis Ababa yesterday. Addis Fortune wrote that he was traveling from the town of Modjo, 76Km east, to Addis Abeba when his vehicle collided with another truck branded Euro Truck at about 2:00pm, citing family members.
Widely known as one of the country’s most influential economists, Wolday was heavily involved in research and development in economics and microfinance. He taught for a number of years at Addis Ababa University. He was profoundly loved and respected by many of his students and peers.
In the past, he worked as a consultant to the Ministry of Agriculture as advisor under FAO’s special program for food production and food grain marketing project and as a consultant for a number of NGOs helping them to improve their credit and saving operations.
Hailing from Asmara, Eritrea, Wolday graduated from the Technical University of Berlin in December 1994 with a PhD and joined Awassa College of Agriculture (1995) and the Economics Department of Addis Ababa University (1996) as an Assistant Professor. In 1997, he worked as a senior researcher in a USAID project in Ethiopia conducted in collaboration of Michigan University. Since 1998, he has served as the founding Director of the Association of Ethiopian Microfinance Institutions (AEMFI). He held the position of President of African Microfinance Network (AFMIN) for three years and President of the Ethiopian Economic Association (EEA) for five years.
Wolday has been a board member of Commercial Bank of Ethiopia for number of years.
He is survived by his wife and three children.
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Prominent economist Wolday Amha dies in car crash
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