Dr. Steve was born and raised in Kampala, Uganda, where he also received his basic education. He holds a Bsc in Economics and Business Administration from the University of Vaxjo, Sweden, (1981), Certificates in Economics and Mathematics (1983), and a PhD in Economics (1988) from Gothenburg University, in Sweden, where he also subsequently became Associate Professor (1994). While at Gothenburg he was a consultant on aid to African countries for the Swedish Agency for International Development Cooperation. During this time, he undertook research collaboration with many universities in Africa including Cape Town, Makerere, Nairobi, Dar es Salaam, and Zambia. Outside academia, he worked as a Research Fellow and Project Director at the World Institute for Development Economics Research (WIDER) in Helsinki, (1999-2001), Senior Economist at the IMF, in Washington (2002-2007), and Lead Economist (2007-2009), Director for several departments, including Research and Operations (2009-2014), and Acting Chief Economist and Vice President at the African Development Bank (2014-2015) in Tunis and Abidjan.