Prior to joining UN-TBLDC, Taffere worked as a Senior Advisor with the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change (TBI). Until his retirement from the UN in April 2016, Mr Tesfachew was the Director of the Division for Africa, Least Developed Countries and Special Programmes (ALDC) at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). In this capacity, he led a team of economists who conducted research and analysis for two major annual reports published by UNCTAD namely, the Economic Development in Africa Report (EDAR) and the Least Developed Countries Report (LDCR). Mr Tesfachew is a member of the UN Committee for Development Policy (CDP). He holds an MA degree in Economics from the University of Lancaster, UK, and an MPhil and a PhD in Economics from the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK. He has authored or co-authored on a range of topics, including: “The role of policy in promoting enterprise learning during early industrialization: lessons for African countries”; “The unfinished agenda in international technology transfer”; “Government policies and the urban informal sector”; “Technological learning and industrialization in Ethiopia”; “The Journey of Ethiopian Airlines: Technological learning and catch-up in Aviation”; “Learning to catch-up in Africa: a case study of the Floriculture and Cement industries in Ethiopia”; “Special Economic Zones and Export-led Growth: An industrial policy imperative”; “Industrial Parks in Ethiopia: Newcomer advantages”; among others.