Our Team

Raihan joined ESMAP as Lead Energy Specialist from the Africa Energy Practice.  Raihan brings 25 years of Bank operational experience from two regions – Africa and South Asia. He has worked extensively in electricity sector policy, regulation, utility reforms, regional integration, energy finance, guarantees, renewable energy, and energy access. He has supported client governments introduce new policies, implement public private partnerships and design innovative projects to push the boundaries of energy sector development.

Raihan is a thought leader in promoting innovative technologies and disruptive business models to help countries achieve their development targets in a faster and sustainable manner. Before moving to ESMAP, Raihan was managing the Energy Access Flagship and the Lighting Africa Program.  He helped the Lighting Africa Program evolve to support electrification of productive uses, and public institutions to contribute to broader Bank objectives of human capital development.  These lessons were effectively used in the Uganda Electricity Access Scale Up Project (EASP - P166685) and Regional Off-Grid Electricity Access Project (ROGEAP – P160708) to provide electricity access to more than 10 million people. In South Asia, Raihan played a significant role in the design and development of the Bangladesh solar market which electrified about 18 million people.

In addition, Raihan has extensively worked on energy practice areas such as hydropower, geothermal energy, grid connected solar PV, regional transmission interconnections, utility performance improvement, and power sector reforms. He has authored numerous livewires and policy research working papers.

Raluca leads Improving Livelihoods and Human Capital Development as part of Electricity Access Team. The initiative aims at promoting productive use of electricity and electrification of public institutions, which are expected to enhance the socio-economic impact of the electrification programs.  In the context of Covid-19, she coordinates ESMAP’s support to the electrification of health and vaccine storage facilities. She also co-leads the energy access program in Myanmar. Raluca started her career at the World Bank in Africa Energy Sector where she managed Africa Electrification Initiative and various lending energy projects.  Prior to joining ESMAP, she designed results-based financing for access to infrastructure in Global Partnership on Output-based Aid.

Rutu is part of the energy access team, leading the work on providing energy access to displaced persons, marginalized and host communities as well as linking this work humanitarian settings. She works with task teams to operationalize this work as well as coordinate with internal Bank colleagues in the Fragile Conflict and Violence Team as well as with external stakeholders at the UN and NGO actors active in this space. Her focus is on implementing ESMAP products in the field.

She also leads several World Bank projects and operations in East Asia Pacific and Africa and has worked previously on projects in the MENA region, ECA region as well. Her work focuses on energy access, energy efficiency, climate change and clean cooking. Prior to joining the World Bank, she worked at the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), focusing on mitigation, adaptation, and sustainable development. She also at the European Commission at the Directorate General Trade’s Sustainable Development Unit and at the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency. She has studied at the University of East Anglia UK; Wageningen University, the Netherlands and Yale University and Harvard University, USA.

Sabine Cornieti, Energy Specialist

Renewable Energy | Solar | Wind | Climate Change

Sabine is part of the Renewable Energy team and co-founder of the Sustainable Renewables Risk Mitigation Initiative (SRMI), leading global solar and wind deployment operations in Burkina Faso, Indonesia and Vietnam as well as providing strategic advice to over 25 SRMI countries. Previously, Sabine worked with the World Bank’s Climate Change Group engaged in renewable energy policies.

Before joining the World Bank, Sabine was an Associate Business Developer for EREN Renewable Energy in Jakarta, a large wind and solar independent power producer. She focused on market analysis, project acquisition due diligence, financial modeling, and technical development of solar and wind projects developed under feed-in-tariff and auctions schemes in Indonesia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam. She also worked with GIZ in Indonesia on renewable energy policies, and with UNDP in New York on evaluating post-conflict programs. She holds a BSc in Economics from the University of Nottingham, UK, a MSc in Economics from Sorbonne Paris 1, and specialized in Renewable Energy Policies at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, USA.

Talal supports the ESMAP Energizing Renewables program and the Sustainable Renewables Risk Mitigation Initiative (SRMI) team. His work focuses on the integrated approach for scaling up effective deployment of renewable energy globally.

Prior to joining the World Bank, Talal’s work focused on designing and building grid-connected solar PV plants for commercial and industrial applications in Canada. Later, he worked on advancing off-grid and hybrid solar PV systems in the Middle East and North Africa region, and advised various organizations including UNICEF, WHO, and GIZ in the context of the deployment of renewable energy for critical services in humanitarian and stabilization.  Talal has field experience in development and implementation of renewable energy strategies in the Gaza strip, Sudan, and Syria.

Talal holds a Masters of Engineering from the University of Toronto focusing on energy systems, and a Bachelor of Engineering from the University of Nottingham.

Tarek is part of the Accelerating Decarbonization, Energy Storage, Innovative Solar, and Utilities for the Energy Transition teams. He serves as ESMAP’s technical backbone for electric mobility, coordinates the knowledge work on battery sustainability, and contributes to the efforts on distributed photovoltaic systems. Tarek supports the World Bank operations on transport electrification and decarbonization in Europe, Southeast Asia, and in the MENA region. Prior to joining the World Bank, he worked for the German development agency GIZ on various sustainable energy projects in Africa and the MENA region. Tarek holds a Master’s degree in Electric Engineering and Information Technology from the Technical University of Munich.

Tatia is part of the Energy Access team, with a focus on integrating mini grids and off-grid solar into electrification programs. Previously, Tatia spent nearly six years in the World Bank’s Africa region, working on mainstreaming grid-based, mini grid, and off-grid energy access solutions into lending projects in Sub-Saharan Africa, promoting regional power integration in West Africa, and supporting the energy efficiency agenda in Energy and Extractives Global Practice. Before joining the World Bank, Tatia worked with Sidar Global Advisors, where she oversaw research and business intelligence in the energy and infrastructure sectors for Eurasian public and private sector clients. She holds an MA International Economics, International Affairs and Energy Policy from the Johns Hopkins University Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, and an MSc in European Political Studies from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Yabei is a senior energy specialist, leading the Clean Cooking Fund. She manages the global knowledge products, engages and coordinates with internal and external partners, and supports clean cooking programs development and implementation in Africa and South Asia. Yabei has over 15 years of experience in household energy, energy efficiency, renewable energy, climate change, environment health, and urban development. Before she joined ESMAP in 2017,  Yabei had managed various energy projects in East Asia and Pacific (EAP) and Europe and Central Asia (ECA) regions. She led the regional flagship program the EAP Clean Stove Initiative with country programs in China, Mongolia, Indonesia, and Lao PDR; and coordinated efficient and clean heating projects in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Prior to joining the World Bank, Yabei worked at the Joint Global Change Research Institute with focus on solar energy and climate change modeling. She holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Maryland, a Master in City Planning from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a BA in Finance from Renmin University of China.