Olafsen, Ellen
Program Coordinator, Innovation & Entrepreneurship
World Bank
Ellen Olafsen is the Global Product Specialist on Growth Entrepreneurship of the Trade & Competitiveness Practice of the World Bank Group. She has been working in the field of entrepreneurship for over a decade, and has had wide geographic exposure ranging from Sub-Saharan Africa to Middle East and North Africa, Central and South Asia and Central America. She overseas programs on digital and agribusiness entrepreneurship, both programs started under her leadership. This year, Ellen is initiating a World Bank Flagship study on growth entrepreneurship intended to inform the design of World Bank projects to promote entrepreneurship in developing economies. Before joining the Innovation and Entrepreneurship unit (infoDev) of the World Bank in 2006, Ellen worked for the Grassroots Business Department in IFC (now Grassroots Business Fund), the Development Gateway at the World Bank, and Citizens Energy International in Angola. Ellen holds an MBA in International Finance and an MA in International Affairs, focused on Sub-Saharan Africa.