Our Team

Kabir leads the Utilities for Energy Transition program focusing on enabling utility digitalization, data driven decision-making and adoption of innovative business models across the globe in World Bank client countries.  Kabir is also part of the core team for the Markets, Connectivity, and Trade program and leads the World Bank’s regional integration and power trade engagement with the Eastern Africa Power Pool.

Prior to joining ESMAP, Kabir worked in the Bank’s Energy and Extractives Global Practice in the East and Southern Africa regions, where he managed various energy sector country dialogue and investment lending and analytical projects on utility strengthening, electricity access, cross-border power trade, and renewables.

Kabir holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Maryland and a MA in Economics from the University of Delhi.

Lucie has 24 years of experience in communications, with 16 years at the World Bank Group, including assignments with IFC in Nairobi and Dakar.  She has worked on environmental and social policies, transport and climate change, and trade and investment climate issues. 

As ESMAP’s communications lead, she is responsible for advising ESMAP teams on messaging and communication of ESMAP global knowledge products and program results; raising ESMAP’s profile in international forums and enhancing ESMAP’s digital presence; and supporting regional teams on energy subsidy reform communications.

Marie-Gisele provides integral support to the Energy Access and the World Bank Power System Planning teams. She has acted as the Sr. Executive Assistant in the Office of the Director and Sr. Director of the World Bank Energy & Extractives Global Practice.  Marie-Gisele's experience expands numerous World Bank operation systems, monitoring and evaluation, trust fund administration, and human resources related matters. Marie-Gisele is fluent in both French and English.

Marj implements front- and back-end development and oversees the overall design of the ESMAP website, subsidiary sites, and activity databases. She designs and produces the quarterly electronic newsletter; writes news for the web; and maintains ESMAP’s external contacts database.  Marj leads the coordination of all ESMAP’s Donors’ Consultative Group Meetings and all International knowledge exchange and global outreach events, such as: ESMAP Knowledge Exchange Forums in Austria, Netherlands, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom; Mini Grids Learning Events in Ghana, Kenya, Myanmar, and Nigeria; and the ESMAP Geothermal International Conferences.

Mark is the co-lead of the World Bank Group’s Offshore Wind Development Program and is also part of ESMAP’s Green Hydrogen program. He has worked in the offshore renewable energy sector for all of his career. Prior to joining ESMAP, he worked in an energy and environmental consultancy, where he was leading engineering and environmental advisory teams on the design and planning of offshore wind projects. He has extensive experience in supporting the development of new offshore wind markets, having worked with the governments of: Azerbaijan, Barbados, China, Colombia, India, Jersey, Philippines, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Turkey, and Vietnam, to help establish supportive policies and undertake feasibility studies. Mark has a PhD in Offshore Renewable Energy and a degree in Aerospace Engineering, both from the University of Southampton, UK.

Martina leads ESMAP’s cross-sectoral Efficient, Clean Cooling technical assistance program (under Accelerating Decarbonization) where the main focus of her work is on energy efficiency, cooling, buildings and development.  She also works closely with the Energy Climate Finance team on the mobilization of climate finance for cooling and collaborates with the Bank’s Health, Nutrition and Population Global Practice in the context of the Bank’s support to countries’ COVID-19 response, with a focus on reliable and sustainable vaccine cold chains and health facilities.  Martina is also involved in World Bank operations in a number of countries, including Mexico (as co-task team leader), India and Tunisia.  She has extensive experience in carbon finance, as well as energy and climate policy analysis from earlier positions with the World Bank Carbon Finance Unit, the International Energy Agency and Natural Resources Canada. She holds BA and MA degrees in economics from Université Laval (Québec City, Canada).

Mirlan will be leading the Markets, Connectivity, and Regional Trade (MARCOT) theme, within the Foundations for the Energy Transition program in ESMAP.  Mirlan brings extensive operational experience in dealing with energy connectivity and trade issues in ECA, South Asia and Africa.  He previously worked in the Africa energy unit where he led country dialogue and energy programs in several countries and served as a regional energy trade and markets focal point. In particular, he led the regional integration engagement in Southern Africa and is the program manager for the Advancing Regional Energy Transformational Projects Multi Donor Trust Fund (AREP-MDTF) for Southern and Eastern Africa, which will become an associated Trust Fund within ESMAP.

Wali is primarily responsible for trust fund administration and financial management/reporting in the ESMAP and Energy Climate Finance programs.  He comes to us from the Afghanistan Country office where he was working on the Bank’s largest single country multi-donor trust fund, the Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund (ARTF). Wali has extensive experience in financial management, Bank’s operational policies and procedures, disbursements and trust fund management. Over the last one year, Wali was with the South Asia Regional Integration Unit and the FCV Group on Development Assignment managing regional and global trust funds.

Nadia is leading the ESMAP Energizing Renewables program and is part of the Green Hydrogen team of the ESMAP Accelerating Decarbonization program as well as member of the Energy Climate Finance team.

Her work focuses on energy transition programs across multiple markets, supporting sustainable and bankable deployment of renewables and green hydrogen, mobilization of private capital and associated fundraising efforts, in particular climate finance. She is leading the Sustainable Renewables Risk Mitigation Initiative (SRMI), launched at COP24 to support countries develop sustainable and bankable renewable energy programs, leveraging private investments while maximizing socio-economic benefits.

Prior to joining the World Bank, Nadia was managing the business development & project finance aspects of the renewable energy projects of a public entity, from structuring the related transactions to raising their financing as well as developing and negotiating all associated contractual documents. Prior to this, she was providing transaction advisory as a business lawyer, advising clients on French and international transactions. Nadia holds 2 MAs from ESCP Europe Graduate School of Management (France) and the University La Sorbonne (France) in addition to her admission to the Paris Bar.

Nathyeli is leading the ESMAP Gender and Energy Program. Her work focuses on the inclusion of the gender perspective within Energy Sector interventions to foster women's participation in the sector, promote the use of productive uses of energy among women-owned businesses, and include more women as users of energy. Within the World Bank, she has been leading the implementation of the new Gender and Energy program globally while also providing gender technical support to the Africa region of the World Bank.  Before joining ESMAP, Nathyeli worked as a gender expert for the Inter-American Development Bank. She was also a consultant for gender and urban mobility in climate change adaptation and mitigation projects. Nathyeli holds an Economics degree from the Costa Rica University and a Master´s in Urban Economics from the Torcuato Di Tella University (Argentina).

Senior Program Assistant

Rahul co-manages ESMAP’s cross-sectoral Efficient, Clean Cooling program which focuses on efficient and climate friendly solutions for space cooling and cold chains in the health and agriculture (food security) sectors. He is a core member of the COVID 19 Global Vaccine Delivery Taskforce, focusing on the deployment of sustainable cold chains to deliver COVID 19 vaccines in low- and middle-income countries. On a regional level, Rahul is the focal point for Lighting Africa's work on solar electrification of public institutions such as schools and health centers to maximize human capital development and respond to COVID 19 challenges. He also works on the World Bank's Eastern Africa Power Pool (EAPP) initiative for advancing energy access and regional integration in Eastern Africa.

Prior to joining the World Bank, Rahul worked in private sector energy (wind, solar, nuclear) consulting as a Senior Engineer and Client Manager. He holds a Bachelor in Electrical Engineering from the University of Mumbai, a Masters in Electrical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin – Madison, and a Masters in Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.