About the authors

All of the Doing Business Blog authors are members of the World Bank Group. Their posts are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the World Bank Group, its Board of Directors or the governments they represent. For more information, please see our content policy.

The regulars

Svetlana Bagaudinova is a private sector development specialist with IFC and manages data collection for the Doing Business report. Prior to joining the IFC, she worked as a consultant with Booz Allen Hamilton. A half-Russian half-Avar, Svetlana divides her missions time between Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

Simeon Djankov is the creator of the Doing Business series. In his dozen years at the World Bank, he has worked on regional trade agreements in North Africa, enterprise restructuring and privatization in transition economies, corporate governance in East Asia, and regulatory reforms around the world. Simeon was a principal author of the World Development Report 2002. After Doing Business, we expect him to move on to even bigger and greater, but we haven't identified what that might be yet...

Sabine Hertveldt is a private sector development specialist with the Doing Business team where she leads the enforcing contracts indicator. Prior to joining the IFC, Sabine worked as an attorney with Allen & Overy and White & Case for 7 years. Sabine is known for her missions to Lagos, Conakry and Kabul where she gets lost because of her terrible sense of direction. A Belgian national, she eats fries with mayonnaise every Wednesday.

Dahlia Khalifa is a senior member of the Doing Business team bringing over 20 years of experience in investment banking, business management, and strategic communications. Coming from the private sector where she founded and managed businesses and non-profit organizations, she is now putting her practical experience to the test at what is her fourth career - trying to help make doing business easier for the rest of us. She hopes to eventually move towards a fifth career as a full-time lecturer, something her children complain she has already achieved.

Rita Ramalho is an economist with the Doing Business team in the Finance and Private Sector Development Vice Presidency. She has led three of the of the topics in Doing Business report: Dealing with Licenses, Paying Taxes, and Closing a Business. She traveled to all Portuguese speaking countries in search of ways to improve their business environment. She researched the relationship between business regulations and growth and is currently analyzing the relationship between business taxation and entrepreneurship and investment. She believes that the only way to really know a city is by walking even where sidewalks are almost inexistent.

Sylvia Solf is a private sector development specialist on the Doing Business team. Prior to joining the Doing Business team, she worked in portfolio management at the Inter-American Development Bank as well as in the area of private sector and social development in Mexico and Chile. For Doing Business, she has traveled around the globe from Malaysia to Peru re-living entrepreneur's experiences in court houses, and company and property registries. She has discovered that most governments tend to agree on one thing: starting a business in their country takes one day.

Justin Yap is a regulatory economist with the Doing Business team. Before joining the World Bank, he practiced law in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. Justin is a Singaporean by birth and a Canadian by upbringing. Any connection to Singapore's ranking in the Doing Business indicators is purely coincidental.

Guest bloggers

Teymour Abdel Aziz, a Swiss and Egyptian national, is an economist with the Doing Business team and works on the Transparency indicator. Prior to joining the Doing Business team in 2007, he worked at UBS, monitoring political, regulatory and economic developments relevant to the financial services industry.

Mema Beye joined the Doing Business team after graduating from the Fletcher School with a Master in International Business relations. Before joining the World Bank, he worked in business development in Angola and Investment policy in the US.

Maya Choueiri joined the Doing Business team in 2007, and is currently working on the Infrastructure indicator. She studied engineering in Lebanon and the US.

Roger Coma-Cunill, a Spanish national, leads the research on the registering property indicator. Prior to joining the Doing Business team in 2007, he worked in the sustainable development network of the World Bank and consulted for leading international companies in Brussels, Belgium

Jacqueline den Otter works on the Trade indicator of the Doing Business team. Her work experience lies i.a. with the Netherlands' Executive Director's office at the World Bank, the embassy in Brazil, and an importing and exporting company in the Netherlands.

Carolin Geginat a German national, is an economist leading the development of the new infrastructure indicator for Doing Business. Previously, she was also responsible for the Licensing Indicator. Prior to joining Doing Business she worked on debt relief arrangements for a number of African countries under the Highly Indebted and Poor Countries (HIPC) Debt Relief Iniative.

Cemile Hacibeyoglu is a Turkish national of Russian and Azeri origin who works on the property registration indicator with the Doing Business team. Prior to joining the team, she worked with scientific entrepreneurs at the U.S. Civilian Research & Development Foundation, and on investment climate and risk assessment with the Cohen Group and the Turkish Industrialists’ and Businessmen’s Association.

Jean Michel Lobet joined the Doing Business Project in 2006 and leads the protecting investors research. Prior to joining the World Bank, Mr. Lobet held positions related to legal reform with the Organization of American States and the Inter-American Development Bank in Washington, DC.

Sushmitha Narsiah is a Junior Professional Associate with the Doing Business Team and is working with the Gender initiative. Prior to joining the team in 2007, she worked with the Enterprise Surveys at the World Bank.

Dana Omran, an Egyptian national, leads the dealing with licenses indicator. Prior to joining the Doing Business team, she worked with the King Abdullah II Design & Development Bureau in Amman and the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna.

Caroline Otonglo is a Kenyan attorney and accountant who joined the Doing Business Team in 2007. Prior to joining the team, she worked with KPMG Kenya as a tax and corporate advisor.

Camille Ramos, a Brazilian national, joined the Doing Business team in 2006 and currently works with Trading Across Borders team, having previously worked with the Starting a Business team and managing the Law Library.

Ivana Rossi, an Argentine national, works on the Transparency indicator. Prior to joining the Doing Business team in 2007, she worked on governance projects with different international organizations and the non-profit sector of her home country.

Yara Salem, a Palestinian national, joined the Doing Business team in 2007 and leading the "Starting a Business" indicator. Prior to joining the team, she worked for the Palestinian Ministry of Trade and Economy as the Director for Private Sector Development and Trade.

Umar Shavurov joined the Doing Business team in 2006 and works on the Dealing with Licenses indicator. Prior to joining the team, he led the International Business Council in Kyrgyzstan promoting better business environment and investment climate.

Larisa Smirnova joined the Doing Business team in 2007 and is currently working with the Transparency indicator team. She previously worked with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Russia and Japan.