Dr Y Abba Omar is Director Operations at the Mapungubwe Institute (MISTRA), a position he previously occupied from 2013 to 2016. He was the head of strategy at the Banking Association South Africa (BASA) from January 2017 until his return to MISTRA in January 2021. He has held several positions in the public sector, having served as South Africa’s Ambassador to Oman from 2003 to 2008, and then to the UAE from 2008 to 2013, Deputy CEO of GCIS from 1998 to 2002, GM: Corporate Affairs at Armscor.

He has served on the Board of SA Tourism and chaired the Board of Trustees of the South African National AIDS Council (SANAC). He led two country scenarios for the office of the South African Presidency, as well as lectured on Risks and Scenarios at post-graduate level at the Wits School of Governance. He has been part of the team managing the Indlulamithi Scenarios Project since its inception in 2017. He is a Business Day columnist and currently serves on the National Planning Commission and the Public Economy Project, located at Wits University. He recently co-edited the MISTRA publication ‘Reflections on Africa’s place in the world’.

He completed his PhD through Wits University Dept of Sociology and completed the Advanced Executive Programme through UNISA’s School of Business Leadership