Commonly, rags to riches stories are based on pure luck, but for Senator of Liberia, Amara Konneh, it was based on pure ambition. Born in poverty with a late start to systematic education, Konneh was more than aware he was designed for bigger things than the life of poverty. Unfortunately for him, he grew up in the time of the civil war, and when he reached the age of 17, his father and his three siblings were killed during this combat, resulting in him living as a refugee in Guinea.
Just like many Africans who have faced numerous setbacks, he did not let his grief overwhelm him, as he established a school for Liberian refugees in Guinea which permitted him to be a Refugee Education Coordinator at the International Rescue Committee or the prefecture he was stationed in. There, he was in charge of overseeing the procedure of 18 refugee schools. Following such an astonishing accomplishment at a young age, he immigrated to America to continue his lost education.
The Drexel alumni continued his lust for African development as he went back to Liberia in 2006 to work for female president, Ellen Johnson-Sirleag as her Deputy Chief of Staff for policy, eventually becoming the Minister of Finance and development planning- which he championed himself after the Ebola crisis. This fiscal initiative that Konneh planned allowed for utilization of 240 million dollars in foreign aid- that was intended for the public and private sectors of Liberia- to alleviate the EBola disaster that maintained the economic stability.
Amara served as Regional Integration and Partnership Senior Advisor to the World Bank’s Africa Region’s Vice Presidency, managing strategic partnerships with the African Union and 8 Regional Economic Commissions (RECs), providing expertise and technical assistance to advance regional economic integration between countries and the wider African economic community, and coordinated the deployment of a $2B portfolio in resources to RECs and led partnership dialogues to strengthen engagement.
As MBA Holder from MIT and MPA Holder from Harvard, he attained the role of being a globally minded regional integration (monetary union) and partnership advisor to the World Bank being pillar to African development related issues, with specific concern to the rebuilding of the continent post the COVID-19 crisis.
His avid concern for this topic earned him the election of the 55th Senator of Gbarpolu County in October 2023, which is the title he now wears.
