Welcome
Official YPP Website
Application Stories
Program Description and Rotations
10 Truths about the YPP
10 Truths about the YPP (part 2)
YP Experiences
YP Experiences (Part 2)
Have you applied?
Career Paths and Progression
Post YP Career
Looking Back- a YP from the 90s
Eligibility Quiz
Increase your competitiveness
The Young Professionals Recruitment Program that Produced Heads of Countries and Titans of Industry
For fifty-six years, the World Bank Young Professionals Program has produced political and business leaders.
What do Martin Wolf (Financial Times chief economics commentator), Simeon Djankov (former Bulgarian deputy PM and finance minister), Hedayat Amin Arsala (former VP of Afghanistan), and Jin-Yong Cai (former IFC CEO and TPG partner) have in common? Apart from having PhDs in Economics, they were all former World Bank Young Professionals.
Mary Ellen Iskenderian (president of Women’s World Banking), Sunil Sanghvi (retired McKinsey senior partner), and Gavin Wilson (former Goldman Sachs managing director and IFC AMC CEO) have MBAs instead of economics PhDs, but they too were all former World Bank YPs.
The vast majority of YPs stay on after they complete the two-year Young Professionals Program (the YPP was previously only a year long). The majority will even stay on at the World Bank after their initial five-year contract ends. On rare occasions, a World Bank YP will permanently move to the International Finance Corporation (IFC).
When World Bank YPs leave the World Bank Group, they often join another international or development organization, work in development consulting, return to their previous company (more common with management consultants), or start freelance/creative careers. However, the examples below stand out because they chose different paths. Ten more former YPs:
|
YPP Year Country of 1st Univ degree |
Position after leaving WB |
Current or other positions |
Degrees |
|
2016 Nigeria |
Senior Fellow and Director, Africa Program Carnegie Endowment for International Peace |
Ahmadu Bello University BSc International Relations and French
University of Oxford Ph.D. International Development
The University of Birmingham M.Sc. International Political Economy and Development |
|
|
2016 USA |
David M. Rubenstein Fellow (Global Economy and Development) The Brookings Institution |
Clemson University BA Economics and Mathematics
University of Oxford PhD Economics MSc Economics for Development |
|
|
2016 USA |
Director of China Programs and Strategic Initiatives University of Pennsylvania |
Princeton University Bachelor of Arts Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs
University of Oxford PhD Politics Master of Science Environmental Change and Management |
|
|
2012 USA |
Partner & Associate Director Boston Consulting Group |
Cornell University BA Government, Economics and International Relations
Harvard Business School MBA
Harvard Kennedy School MPP Public Policy |
|
|
2010 UK |
Assistant Professor American University School of International Service |
UCL B.A. Modern European Studies (Economics & Italian)
London School of Economics and Political Science Ph.D. Economics Master's degree Global Market Economics |
|
|
2009 China |
Vice President, Programs Energy Foundation |
Peking University BS and MS Atmospheric Physics and Environment
Princeton University PhD Science Technology and Environment Policy School of Public and International Affairs |
|
|
2008 USA |
Energy Access and Investments Team |
Co-founder and COO Nithio |
Stanford University BS Mechanical Engineering
Massachusetts Institute of Technology PhD Engineering Systems
University of Melbourne MEng Development Technologies |
|
1995 Japan |
Principal Mitsubishi Corporation (Investment Banking Group) |
Executive Vice President & CFO TEPCO Renewable Power, Inc.
Director Bridgepoint Capital Ltd |
Keio University BA Economics
University of California, Los Angeles - The Anderson School of Management MBA |
|
1982 South Korea |
Founder, GPI-a boutique financial advisory company |
Representative (IC) Expert Korea Expert Consulting Group
Director of the Supervisory Board Macquarie Korea Infrastructure Fund |
Seoul National University B.A. International Economics
Wharton School- MBA
The George Washington University Ph.D International Finance and Business |
|
1973 Denmark |
Vice President EAC Data ApS (ØK Data) |
Partner Lucas Corporate Finance corporate finance advisory services
CEO SoftHouse Europe |
Copenhagen Business School B.Sc. Business Administration
The Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth- MBA
|
If you want to listen to the experiences of YPs during their time as World Bank Young Professionals, sign up for free to Real YP Experiences to listen to their stories. The aforementioned former YPs are not affiliated with YPP Mentor.
Do you want to hear the firsthand experiences of other former World Bank Young Professionals from the same program that influenced a deputy prime minister, vice president, Financial Time chief econ commentator, i-banking managing director, PE partner, and NGO CEO? Click on the enroll button
Read the Official WBG YPP Webpage
Excerpt: Do you have a passion for international development/finance? Do you have skills in economics, finance and political risk insurance in emerging markets, education, health, social sciences, infrastructure development, engineering, urban planning, agriculture, natural resource management or other areas relevant to public/private sector development? The WBG YPP is a two-year leadership development program at the start of a five-year employment contract with the World Bank, IFC or MIGA. YPs must have a graduate degree and been born on or after October 1, 1989.
YPP Mentor (this site) is an unofficial website that does not represent the views of the World Bank Group. The former Young Professionals are speaking only of their own personal experiences. They are not representing the World Bank Group.
Contact us: [email protected]
Please read the Official WBG YPP FAQs page before emailing us. We apologize that we do not have the capacity to respond to questions that can be answered by reading the official site.