Arkebe Oqubay is a Senior Minister and Special Adviser to the Prime Minister of Ethiopia and has been at the centre of policymaking for over twenty-five years. He is a research associate at the Centre of African Studies in the University of London, and holds a PhD in development studies from SOAS, University of London. He is the former mayor of Addis Ababa and winner of the ABN Best African Mayor of 2006, and finalist for the World Mayor Award 2006. He is a recipient of the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star and serves as board chair of several leading public organizations and international advisory boards. His work includesMade in Africa: Industrial Policy in Ethiopia(OUP, 2015);African Economic Development: Evidence, Theory, and Policy(OUP, 2019); andChina-Africa and an Economic Transformation(2019, OUP). He was recognized as one of the 100 Most Influential Africans of 2016, and a 'leading thinker on Africa's strategic development' by the New African.

Justin Yifu Lin is Dean of the Institute of New Structural Economics and Institute of South-South Cooperation and Development, and Professor and Honorary Dean of the National School of Development at Peking University. He was the Senior Vice President and Chief Economist at the World Bank, 2008-12. He is a councillor of the State Council and a Member of the Standing Committee, Chinese People's Political Consultation Conference, and is the author of more than twenty books including Beating the Odds: Jump-starting Developing Countries; Going Beyond Aid: Development Cooperation for Structural Transformation; The Quest for Prosperity: How Developing Economies Can Take Off; New Structural Economics: A Framework for Rethinking Development and Policy; Against the Consensus: Reflections on the Great Recession; and Demystifying the Chinese Economy.