Born and raised until the age of 15 in Ethiopia, I am a young man who will always have Africa in his heart, despite the fact that I have now lived for 17 years in the USA. Eventually, I want to return to Ethiopia and work towards African economic development thorough greater participation in the integration into the global economy. I am well prepared linguistically for this challenge since, although I have lived and dreamed in English now for many years, I speak Arabic as well and have continued to improve through study and social contacts—in addition to being fluent in Amharic (Ethiopian) and Tigrina (Eritrean) languages. I see language as one of the key motors of economic development and finance as its foundation.

 I have traveled throughout Australia, in addition to India, the United Arab Emirates, much of Europe, and nearby Sudan—in addition to my home country. Of the many places that I have had the opportunity to visit, perhaps the country that I most admire is Australia, Melbourne in particular. I find the Australian people to be a profound inspiration, with their zest for life and dedication to economic progress. This is why the University of XXXX is my first choice for graduate school, along with my appreciation for the extremely high quality of the University in general and the Department of Finance in particular. I am most impressed with Dr. XXXX’s comment that, in your department, “students and scholars work together to address important financial issues that face us today and in the future.” It is my hope that, if I am accepted, I will be able to contribute towards making Africa part of the lively and fruitful discussions taking place in your program about international economic development, especially the importance of Africa as part of the global economy. I would be particularly delighted to study under Dr. XXXX as well who is very dedicated to international issues in the areas of finance and market efficiency, especially the role of the financial analyst.

In our increasingly globalized, economically interconnected world, financial markets play an especially critical role in the economic growth of Sub-Saharan African countries. The central problem that we have is that we lack the basic financial infrastructure needed for economic development. I ask you to accept me into your program on behalf of Africa, providing me with the world class intellectual tool kit that I need in order to play an important role in helping Ethiopia and her neighbors to build the necessary financial infrastructure to develop more rapidly, in sustainable ways, through the establishment of financial markets. I firmly believe that obtaining an advanced degree in Finance combined with 3-5 years of capital markets experience would allow me to realize my dream of becoming instrumental in the advancement of my beloved Africa. My long term goal is to help Ethiopia and her neighbors to develop their own stock exchanges as I see this as an especially critical aspect of long term economic development in the region. This is why I have done volunteer work with the Ethiopian Commodities Exchange, helping to better educate its workforce with respect to basic principles of exchange trading. As an undergraduate student, I worked two jobs to help my family, well over full time, while going to school, and my grades subsequently suffered a great deal. As a result of a lot of hard work, however, I now feel confident that I am in a position where I would be able to dedicate myself full time to my studies. I deeply appreciate your consideration of my application to your program.