New research explores a successful bank making an impact in poor, rural areas in Africa.

Professor Lemma Senbet at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business has been appointed to the Distinguished Advisory Board of the Africa Growth Initiative at the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC. “You join a panel of select, high-level policymakers, academics and practitioners on African socio-economic development issues,” Africa Growth Initiative director Brahima S. Coulibaly writes in a March 7, 2019, letter to Senbet.

Lemma Senbet, the William E. Mayer Chair Professor of Finance at the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business, was recently appointed to serve on the advisory council of the Ethiopian Diaspora Trust Fund (EDTF). Senbet received the appointment from Abiy Ahmed, Ethiopia's prime minister.

An organization led by University of Maryland finance professor Lemma W. Senbet helped senior policymakers bring rigor and evidence to economic policymaking in Africa.

Lemma Senbet, the William E. Mayer Chair Professor of Finance, has been appointed Executive Director of the African Economic Research Consortium (AERC), a premier economic policy research institution serving Africa. The Nairobi, Kenya-headquartered not-for-profit corporation is working to build a thriving community of well-informed economics researchers whose work can shape policies and boost economic development in sub-Saharan Africa.

Professor Lemma W. Senbet has advice for his students: “I tell them to always do your best, wherever you are and whatever you are doing – you never know who could be watching. One thing leads to another and you may end up someplace very different from where you started. Situations are what you make of them.”

The Center for Financial Policy at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business opened a discussion on the bleak U.S. economic outlook and jobs market with a speech from Federal Reserve Board Governor Sarah Bloom Raskin, Sept. 26, 2011 at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington, D.C. The event was part of the center’s distinguished speaker series and drew government and business leaders, along with students and members of media to explore the timely topic.

College Park, Md. – November 5, 2009 — The University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business launched the new Center for Financial Policy on Nov. 2 with a roundtable discussion on the hotly debated issue of “Executive Compensation—Practices and Reform.” The Center for Financial Policy offers an unbiased source of expertise on complex policy issues related to financial institutions, financial markets and public companies through cutting edge education and research.

The Smith School’s world-class faculty discuss their latest research on topics of broad interest and importance at the ThoughtLeadership@Smith Speaker Series. Each presentation is followed by an opportunity to network with alumni and regional business leaders at one of Smith’s convenient local campuses in Washington, D.C., or Baltimore, Md.

Smith School faculty have been actively involved in advising key players and proposing potential solutions to the finance crisis, briefing congressional staffers, members of the House and Senate Committee on Banking and the Committee on Government Oversight, and the federal Oversight and Government Reform Committee on issues from the collapse of Bear Stearns to the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).