Afshin writes, researches, and speaks broadly on emerging markets and globalization, with specific interests in the New Silk Road, global hub cities, and the geopolitics of energy.
A senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Institute at Johns Hopkins University, Molavi is a regular emerging markets contributor to Forbes and is founder of the Emerging World newsletter. Molavi’s dispatches and essays have been published in The New York Times, Financial Times, Foreign Affairs, Smithsonian, Newsweek, Businessweek, Journal of Commerce, National Geographic, and dozens of academic and specialty publications. Molavi is a Senior Non-Resident Research Fellow at the New America Foundation and a former director of the World Economic Roundtable. Molavi worked as a senior global advisor at Oxford Analytica and an analyst at the International Finance Corporation. He co-founded emerge85 Lab, an initiative dedicated to exploring change in the emerging world and its global impact.
He lives in Washington DC with his wife and two children. He is an avid “weekend warrior” in basketball and tennis and a lifelong fan of Washington sports teams.
Favorite sports memory?
That time our high school coach called “Slot Right, Out Pass-Up X” at a clutch moment when we were down a touchdown against our rival. I was the slot receiver, the target of the short pump fake that then freed me up to go long and catch the tying touchdown. Pretty epic, even if we did go on to lose the game.
Your global sports Mount Rushmore:
Michael Jordan (the greatest basketball player of all time. I know, I know, Lebron is awesome too, but MJ still has the edge in my book), Roger Federer, Stephen Curry (his semi-final and Gold medal Olympics performances were legendary), Pele.
Which world leader would you put in goal?
Nelson Mandela (RIP) because he has courage, patience and a remarkable ability to not let the past consume him (vital traits for a goalkeeper).
Which athlete would you want to be world leader?
Maybe Roger Federer because he stays cool even though he is relentless in achieving his goals.
Best rivalry:
The Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics of the 1980s.
A sign that the world of sport is shrinking:
The globalization of football/soccer, and all of the kids in the U.S that wear Premier League T-shirts with global brands like Emirates emblazoned on them.
Where would the Great Game Lab find the quintessence of global sport?
In any quiet gym where young men and women are actively training, hoping they can become the next global icon
Question you'd most want to ask other fellows?
If you have already passed the age of 50, is it too late to go pro? (asking for a friend :)..)