Matthias Ploeg
Matthias Ploeg is a senior consultant at Technopolis Group, based in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, and Amsterdam focusing on policy evaluation and strategy support, with a particular interest in the role of innovation and private sector development in emerging countries, in particular in the area of the Green Economy and Climate. He is an experienced evaluator, economist and project manager.
Matthias regularly leads major international studies and policy evaluations. In 2015-2017, Matthias was lead consultant on the joint review of the Donor Committee on Enterprise Development’s (DCED) Working Groups on Green Growth and Business Environment Reform. He recently also developed a policy guidance document for the international Globelics research initiative, focusing on the link between natural resources and innovation. Before that, Matthias was the methodological lead for the African Development Bank’s (AfDB) Portfolio Evaluation of Energy Projects, as well as the evaluation of the European Union's (EU) Framework Programme on Energy. At the moment Matthias is involved as an evaluation expert in the Midterm evaluation of the Swedish Program for International Climate Change Mitigation and methodological lead of the M&E Support to the World Bank’s African Centers of Excellence Initiative in West Africa.
In his work, Matthias worked on projects for national public authorities throughout Europe and international organisations such as the European Commission, UNESCO, OECD, GIZ and AfDB. He has worked extensively throughout Africa in over 10 countries, as well as in the Caribbean.
Matthias graduated with a M.Sc. in Economics (distinction) from Trinity College Dublin. Next to his work, He is currently pursuing a PhD (part-time) in Economics on frugal innovation in emerging economies at Radboud University Nijmegen. On a personal title, Matthias is a board member of the recently founded Spark Business Support Centre at the Nangui Abroguoa University in Abidjan, one of the first on-campus incubators in Côte d’Ivoire.