As Ashesi University launches its new Economics programme, alumna Andara Kamara ‘11 reflects on her time at the University, her career as an economist, and her hopes for Ashesi students entering the economics field.
When it was time for Andara Kamara ‘11 to choose a university, Ashesi was at the top of her list. She declared a major in Business Administration, and having studied science in high school, was introduced to economics for the first time by way of the macro- and microeconomics course requirements in Ashesi’s core curriculum. It was here that she found herself drawn to economics and policy.
“I learned that every decision we make, even though we may not realize it, is an economic one. We live in a world where we have to make trade-offs and deal with the opportunity costs of our actions or inactions.”
Andara’s economics classes also offered a practical angle, with insight into how economic decisions governments make can affect everyday life, a natural progression to her two graduate degrees in development and public policy.
After seven years at Ghana’s Ministry of Finance, where she served as an economist with the Tax Policy Unit, she now works in governance and economic reforms at the African Development Bank in Côte d’Ivoire. In her current role, she provides technical assistance to governments by designing and implementing programmes that strengthen the capacity of their institutions, such as their ministries of finance or other relevant agencies, to foster sustainable and inclusive economic growth. She also assists with the development of lending instruments to governments to address critical economic and national policy reforms.
“Some of the things I collaborate on with colleagues are institutional support projects. Working on these projects has been exciting, from conceptualizing the project to engaging in the policy dialogue with governments and knowing that you are contributing to something that has long-term positive implications.”
Since the days of her first economics class at Ashesi, Andara has come to love the field because of how its complex, multidisciplinary nature pushes practitioners to truly think.
Andara is enthusiastic about Ashesi’s new Economics programme, because she believes students enrolled in it will benefit from the University’s liberal arts foundation.
“[This approach] encourages critical thinking and analysis, which is crucial in understanding and developing solutions to socioeconomic issues.”
“Economics requires a multidisciplinary approach—a deep reflection on historical, social, institutional, political, and sometimes geographical factors—to design policies that really make a difference and change lives. The ability to develop and apply multidisciplinary thinking is a superpower you can get only from studying economics.”
