Dr. Zainab Usman

Director, Africa Program Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Zainab Usman is and the founding director of the Africa Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, D.C. Her fields of expertise include institutions, economic policy, energy policy, and emerging economies in Africa.

Prior to Carnegie, Usman was at the World Bank initially as part of the prestigious Young Professionals Program and later as a public sector specialist. At the World Bank, she worked on social sustainability, policy reforms, natural resources management, and disruptive technologies. She has worked on these issues in Cote d’Ivoire, Morocco, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, the Republic of Congo, Serbia, Tanzania, and Uzbekistan.

Zainab is author of the book Economic Diversification in Nigeria: the Politics of Building a Post-Oil Economy, and co-editor of the book which was selected as one of the Best Books of 2022 on economics by the Financial Times. She is also co-editor of the book, The Future of Work in Africa: Harnessing the Potential of Digital Technologies for All. She also contributed to World Bank’s flagship report on Rethinking Power Sector Reforms in Developing Countries. Her written and broadcast commentary has appeared in Al-Jazeera English, BBC, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, Project Syndicate, The Washington Post, among others.

Zainab Usman obtained her doctorate (DPhil) from the University of Oxford.

2024 Agenda Sessions

How can African mineral producers participate in U.S. clean energy supply chains?

This session will focus on the opportunities for African mineral producing countries to integrate into the U.S. clean energy industries – facilitated by recent climate-related legislation including the Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the Inflation Reduction Act and the CHIPS and Science Act. Drawing on a recent report published by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the session will identify the synergies between the United States’ objectives of developing new clean energy supply chains and reorienting its strategic relationship with African countries’ own long-held aspirations to industrialize and transform their economies by leveraging their mineral resources endowments. The discussion will identify recommendations for the U.S. government, African governments, the private sector and nongovernmental actors on both sides of the Atlantic on how to advance this U.S.-Africa partnership in maximizing the benefits of the mineral resources essential to the low-carbon transition.

Wednesday 07 February 16:40 - 17:00 Governments Stage 1

Intergovernmental Summit

Add to calendar 02/07/2024 16:40 02/07/2024 17:00 How can African mineral producers participate in U.S. clean energy supply chains? This session will focus on the opportunities for African mineral producing countries to integrate into the U.S. clean energy industries – facilitated by recent climate-related legislation including the Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the Inflation Reduction Act and the CHIPS and Science Act. Drawing on a recent report published by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the session will identify the synergies between the United States’ objectives of developing new clean energy supply chains and reorienting its strategic relationship with African countries’ own long-held aspirations to industrialize and transform their economies by leveraging their mineral resources endowments. The discussion will identify recommendations for the U.S. government, African governments, the private sector and nongovernmental actors on both sides of the Atlantic on how to advance this U.S.-Africa partnership in maximizing the benefits of the mineral resources essential to the low-carbon transition. Governments Stage 1 Africa/Johannesburg

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