Gabriel Goddard is the Lead Economist for Southern Africa in the World Bank Group (WBG)’s Trade & Competitiveness (T&C) Global Practice. He has been based in Pretoria since December 2015, and coordinates the T&C program in Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Before Africa, Gabriel coordinated WBG private sector development engagement in Macedonia, Georgia, Bulgaria, Montenegro, and Uzbekistan. He has authored reports on investment promotion, smart specialization, human capital development, and innovation policy, including the 2012 “Igniting Innovation: Rethinking the Role of Government in Emerging Europe and Central Asia”. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics from CIDE in Mexico City and a masters and PhD in Economics from Oxford university.