Having started college in 2000 as a member of the first class of Davis UWC Scholars, Mukhtar Amin (Ethiopia, UWC of the Adriatic, College of the Atlantic ’04) went on after graduation to earn a master’s degree in development economics, international environment and energy policy at Tufts University’s Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.

He worked as an economist in the U.S. until 2015, when Mukhtar and his wife, Sarah Hurlburt, moved with their three children to Addis Ababa, his home nation’s capital. Mukhtar is now an associate partner and country director for the Ethiopia office of the global consulting firm Dalberg Advisors. He has worked in a broad range of focus areas, from industrialization and labor markets to agriculture and the environment.

“The questions clients bring to us are always complex,” he says, “and I get to be part of dynamic teams that work to bring an innovative mix of solutions to the challenges our clients face.” Recently, Mukhtar helped the Ethiopian government to “analyze the major trends of the country’s labor market and support the development of a national plan of action for jobs creation.”

His wife Sarah, whom he met while both were students at College of the Atlantic, works for CARE International as deputy chief of party for the Livelihoods Program in Ethiopia. “Our lives are there,” Mukhtar says of his country. “We are committed to staying there.”