I am an international development pracademic, working as an Energy and Climate Advisor focused on African countries at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, and as a postdoctoral research fellow focused on resilient infrastructure at University College London, from where I attained a PhD in Infrastructure Economics and Finance. I and am author of the monograph The Political Economy of Hydropower Dependant Nations: A Case Study of Zambia.
In addition to several academic publications, I’ve published op-eds and blogs for advocacy (I’m an occasional activist), information and entertainment in more popular outlets including The New York Times, the Financial Times, The Guardian, The East African, Dawn and GQ India, as well as policy papers with Liberal International and the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change and research with think tanks – the International Growth Centre and DIW Berlin.
Assisting the Government of Rwanda as an embedded World Bank-funded PPP Transactions Advisor at the Rwanda Development Board between 2012-2016, I helped it execute USD 800M of infrastructure projects through public private partnerships, concessions and joint ventures, including Kigali Bulk Water which won several international awards. I also served as the Rwandan Treasury’s Special Policy Advisor on Large Investments. Previously, I worked as an Investment Associate at Duet Africa Private Equity and at TLG Capital and professionally campaigned for women councilors in the 2005 Pakistan local government elections and for John Kerry in the 2004 US presidential elections.
I earned my Master of International Business degree on scholarship from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University in Boston with a semester exchange at HEC Paris MBA, and my BA in Economics from the University of California, Berkeley.
In the process of moving from West Hampstead to Wood Green. Play the violin. Expectant dad. My wife Maaria Siddiqi, an American Pakistani, is a director at AstraZeneca and is going to be relinquishing her governorship at the Camden and Islington Mental Health Trust. Updated: 15/2/2022
energy and a just transition 
As Salaamu Alaikum, Would like to follow-up on the article “Is your economy sharia compliant?” published in the Guardian, 2 February 2011. Have you had any new updates on activating this and perhaps lining it it with the “Global Sustainable Development Goals from a Shariah Perspective” https://www.iiibf.com/sdg-research-agenda/
Thank you for contacting me. I have not. I did not know about this initiative – very interesting. I will make time to look into this. My email is imad.ahmed.16 [at] ucl.ac.uk