Girum is a Principal Economist at the Development Impact Measurement Department in the International Finance Corporation (IFC). Prior to joining IFC, Girum Abebe held a position of Senior Economist at the World Bank’s Africa Region Gender Innovation Lab (GIL). He also served as a thematic lead for the unit’s Private Sector Development and Entrepreneurship thematic area. Girum’s research portfolio spans a diverse array of topics on private sector development, including entrepreneurship development, labor market policies and social protection programs. Girum studies how to improve the functioning of markets using impact evaluation tools. His research explores innovative and scalable approaches that can help align markets more effectively with the demands of investment, the private sector, and marginalized communities, including youth and women. He also studies how active labor market policies, productive safety nets, land rental systems and business training programs can be leveraged to promote the inclusion of disadvantaged youth and women into productive wage- and self-employment. He has co-authored research papers published in the American Economic Review, Review of Economic Studies, and Journal of Development Economics, among others. Girum holds a Ph.D. in Development Economics from the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS) in Tokyo.