A businessman and consultant in Finance and Development who advises governments and private compagnies, Zephirin Diabré served as Chairman, Africa and Middle East of AREVA (now ORANO) the french nuclear, electricity and mining conglomerate, from 2005 to 2011. He joined Areva from the United Nations, where he was the Associate Administrator (the second in command) of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the largest UN program covering Africa, Latin America, Asia, Arab States, East Europe and CIS countries, from 1999 to 2005. Before that, Diabré has served in the government of Burkina Faso, from 1992 to 1996, first as Minister of Industry and Mining, then as Finance Minister. He started his career with the Burkina Breweries Corporation, a producer of beer,soft drinks and mineral water,where he was Deputy managing director from 1988 to 1992. He received a Master of Management degree from the Kedge Business School of Bordeaux (France) in 1982 and a PhD in Business Administration from the university of Bordeaux in 1987. He was a visiting scholar at the Harvard Institute for International Development (HIID) from 1997 to 1998.