Samuel Tumiwa

Mr. Tumiwa returns as an Advisor to the Energy Sector Group, where he started his career at the Asian Development Bank. He previously led initiatives to significantly scale up investments in clean energy, climate change, and sustainable infrastructure—from around $200 million annually in 2005 to nearly $2 billion by 2009. He also founded the Clean Energy Financing Partnership Facility to mobilize further investment in clean energy and launched the Energy for All Program to help 100 million people access cleaner, more efficient energy. He also served as a project team leader in Central and West Asia and South Asia, where he directed the design and implementation of loans and technical assistance in energy policy, power sector reform, capacity building, clean energy, industrial efficiency, and rural electrification.

Immediately before returning to the energy sector, Mr. Tumiwa was the ADB Representative to North America, where he worked with a broad range of stakeholders—including the governments of Canada and the United States, bilateral and multilateral institutions, research organizations, civil society, and the private sector—to enhance understanding of and strengthen collaboration with ADB. He previously served as Deputy Representative from 2011 to 2016. He also served as Country Director for Afghanistan from 2017 to 2019, where he managed ADB’s relationship with the government and development organizations and oversaw a $4 billion portfolio focused on agriculture and natural resources, energy, and transport. From 2019-2023, Mr. Tumiwa established and later served as Director of Fragility and Engagement, where he led ADB-wide efforts to improve development outcomes in the most vulnerable, least-developed, fragile, at-risk, and conflict-affected contexts—including small island developing states- and headed the NGO and Civil Society Center, ADB’s central unit for civil society engagement.

Before joining ADB, Mr. Tumiwa worked with a design engineering firm in Washington, DC. He has over 30 years of experience as a development professional, working in almost all countries in Asia and the Pacific.