Sameeh Ullah

About the Candidate

Accomplished Economist, Program and Economic Development Specialist with over 10 years of experience in strategic
planning, program management, and socio-economic development. Demonstrated success in leading large-scale
economic development projects, driving data-driven policy formulation, and delivering measurable outcomes across
public, private, and international development sectors. Recipient of the Ford Foundation Fellowship award.

Education & Academic Experience
Master, Economics, (University of Ottawa) Canada 2024
MSc, Business Statistics and Management, (University of the Punjab) Pakistan 2011
Graduate Teaching Assistant (University of Ottawa) Canada 2024
Visiting Research Fellow (Peking University) Hybrid 2020
Professional Experience
Projects Consultant- Economic and Strategic Development (ADB and other clients) Remote 11/2018 – 04/2024
• Economic Development Projects for Central Asia: For 15+ projects across 12 countries and a budget over $1 billion, led
data-driven policy development & interventions for sustainable socio-economic development.
• Collaboration with Global Organizations: Collaborated with prestigious international organizations, including the Asian
Development Bank, the World Bank, UN Women, DRI, and UNDP.
• Strategic Frameworks Development: Created frameworks for interventions such as optimal site selections, urban observatories,
zonal valuation systems, sector development, gender information systems, and labor market information systems, including model
creation, indicators development, database structuring, and implementation roadmap.
• Sustainable Economic Corridors Development: Conducted assessments to identify optimal locations and sectors for Economic
Corridors and Special Economic Zones (SEZs), facilitating economic growth and regional development for several countries.
• Infrastructure Modelling and Forecasting: Produced estimates of infrastructure demand by 2050 across 15 major sectors and
scenarios planning, with financing requirements, and gaps for Asia’s 45 countries after transforming and developing model.
• Gender-Responsive Budgeting: Worked on tagging government spending, resulting in the implementation of gender-responsive
budgeting with stakeholder analysis to ensure inclusive policy formulation.
• Trade Data Analysis & Evaulation : Performed impact assessments of EU GSP+ on socio-economic and other indicators.
• Development of Tools and Assessments: Developed tools and conducted assessments of specific areas for future development,
assessing socio-economic benefits and factoring in climate change mitigation and biodiversity.
Program Manager Education Sector (PHCIP funded by the World Bank) Pakistan 03/2023 – 09/2023
• Foundational Learning Cell and Program Management: For the World Bank’s PHCIP with a budget of $26 million, led
implementation and operations, aligning with World Bank’s financial and procurement systems.
• Educational Policy Interventions: For 3,900 schools, led educational policy interventions to improve ECCE curriculum, teachers’
capacity building, infrastructure, facilities, and enrolment.
• Public Relations & Outreach Campaigns: Worked with local communities and developed social mobilization campaigns.
• Program Fund Utilization & Oversight: Successfully increased fund utilization from below 20% to over 70%.
• Program Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E): Oversaw monitoring and evaluation using Disbursement-Linked Indicators (DLIs)
and other key performance indicators (KPIs) to ensure compliance with World Bank standards.
• Program Forums & Steering Committee Meetings & Reviews: Organized and led departmental reviews, prepared progress,
and financial reports, and ensured timely submissions.
• Liaison with Government & Donors: Facilitated cross-sectoral collaboration between stakeholders and the project.
Senior Program Manager Economic Development, (The Urban Unit, Govt. of Punjab) Pakistan 11/2016 – 02/2023
• Economic Growth Programs: Worked on various strategic economic development initiatives worth several billion dollars funded
by the Governments, World Bank, UN, and ADB to bolster regional economic growth and local economic development.
• Leadership in Strategic Initiatives: Led researchers and teams on various projects aimed at regional economic growth and
spatial development, aligned with national and provincial growth frameworks.
• Strategy & Policy Documents Development: Co-authored several documents, including the Punjab Spatial Strategy 2047.
• Industrial Development: Developed and implemented industrial growth strategies, including conducting the Surveys, Industrial
Census and Mapping, and planning industrial estates and zones. Also formed the Industrial Regulatory Authority framework.
• Data Analysis for Policy Development: Developed geographic, social, and economic data and conducted analysis using Stata,
R, Python, ArcGIS, Geoda, MS Office, Tableau, and Power BI.
• Economic Modeling: Developed economic models with projections and empirical studies to support strategic decision-making.
• Decision Support Systems: Designed and deployed user-friendly tools for strategic location selection, aligning and optimizing
infrastructure, and future investments through detailed spatial and sectoral analyses.
• Local Economic Development: Contributed in development of comprehensive master plans and business growth roadmaps,
translating regional development strategies into policies and projects.
• Project Design, Development & Execution: Designed, contributed to, and supported the execution of major projects including
Affordable Housing, Transport, Health & Education, Skills Development, Urban Transformation, and Strategic/Specific Areas.
• Management of Feasibility Studies: Managed pre-feasibility and feasibility studies of New Economic City, and other large
infrastructure projects covering their economic, market, financial, and strategic environmental assessments.
• Business Development: Developed technical proposals, RFPs, financial proposals, TORs, and managed funding and grants to
secure and sustain major projects.
Policy Advisor Sustainable Economic Development (APTMA) Pakistan 09/2010 – 10/2016
APTMA represents over 400 textile mills in Pakistan with over 30 billion dollars in exports to the US, Canada, and EU.
• Assisting Top Management: Directly assisted the top management while coordinating with the political leadership, government
officials, and other stakeholders. Primarily involved in enhancing industrial competitiveness using analytics.
• Data Analysis & Policy Advisory for Industry Competitiveness: Monitored & performed analysis on trade data, industry
trends, policies, and relevant indicators to offer strategic insights on emerging issues.
• Sector Development Plans: Formulated sector development plans with value chain analysis, strategic analysis, scenario planning,
SWOT analysis, benchmarking and performance metrics.
• International Trade & Compliance: Facilitated international trade and compliance, ensuring local businesses met global
standards and expanded market access, aligning with sustainability goals.
• Economic & Policy Impact Assessments: Conducted economic and policy assessments to evaluate the industry performances.
• Private Sector Development: Leveraged analytics to drive private sector growth initiatives, including market analysis, investment
planning, and Business Attraction, Retention, & Expansion, resulting in enhanced industry performance and diversification.
• Sustainable Production & Resource Efficiency: Established a Sustainable Production Centre (SPC) by securing funds and
technical assistance, and implemented cleaner production, water and energy conservation, and resource efficiency interventions.
• Stakeholder Engagement: Built and maintained relationships involving governments, industries, and international partners.