PROF OLIVER SAASA
Non-Executive Director
Prof. Oliver Saasa is Professor of International Economic Relations and Managing Consultant/Proprietor of Premier Consult Limited in Lusaka. Prior to 2000, Prof. Saasa served for 12 years as the Director of the Institute of Economic and Social Research at the University of Zambia. Prior to that, he was the Head of the Development Studies Department at the same University. A Rhodes Scholar, Prof. Saasa obtained his doctorate in 1983 from Southampton University in the UK. His PhD thesis was on: The Control of transnational Corporations in Developing Countries: A Comparative Analysis of National Policy-making towards International Investment in Tanzania and Zambia.
Prof. Saasa has served and continues to serve on many financial sector boards at both national and international levels. These have included the Trade and Development Bank (TDB) -formerly the PTA Bank – of which he was Chairman; Stanbic Bank (Zambia); Trade and Development Fund (a subsidiary of TDB – of which he is currently the Chairman); Chairman of the TDB Academy (the advisory arm of the TDB); Public Service Pensions Fund (Zambia); and the Africa Economic Research Consortium (AERC). He is also Chancellor of Mulungushi University, one of the three main public universities in Zambia. He was recently appointed by the Zambian President as Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Council. He is also the Chairman of the Business Coalition Council Emergency Taskforce – BCCET (with over 180 large corporate members in Zambia).
Prof. Saasa has consulted widely with many governments, international and regional bodies that have included the World Bank, OECD, AfDB, and many other multilateral and bilateral institutions. He has published widely in the fields of trade, investment and international economic relations, concentrating in earlier years on regional integration and trade and investment promotion in Southern Africa. In the past 25 years, he has released several books on the relations between developed and developing countries, focusing primarily on aid and investment flows and donor-recipient structures and systems for aid management.
Prof. Saasa holds the following qualifications:
• Ph.D. in International Economic Studies Thesis title: The Control of Transnational Corporations in Developing Countries: A comparative analysis of national policy-making towards International Investment in Tanzania and Zambia, obtained from Southampton University, United Kingdom.
• M.Sc. in International Studies Thesis title: The impact of foreign investment on less; developed countries: A select analysis in the context of the New International Economic Order Proposals, with special reference to Zambia, Kenya and Tanzania, obtained from Southampton University, United Kingdom.
• Bachelor of Arts (Development Studies/Political Economy from the University of Zambia, Zambia.