I am here to help you navigate new markets and deliver sustainable development projects.
No business or project is the same, but communication, research and organisational skills remain invaluable. Train of Thought is here to help you work through any needs you have with your projects. I add value to your organisation by building structure, delivering high quality research and writing, and creating processes to enable success.
About me
Sophia Nina B-A, founder
Sophia is a consultant, editor, writer and researcher.
She is a consultant with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), part of the World Bank Group focusing on energy, transport infrastructure and SME development projects in Central Asia. Her consulting portfolio also includes advisory services to clients in the infrastructure, transportation, private equity, and international development sector.
Sophia has 7 years of research, editing, due diligence, writing, data analysis, fact-checking and partnership management experience on projects in Russia, Eastern Europe and Eurasia.
Sophia has lived and worked in Europe, Central Asia and South Asia for over a decade. She has published 30 articles on regional affairs, with bylines in The Diplomat, Le Monde, The BBC, and The Economist.
Alongside her work as a consultant and a writer, Sophia has been travelling across South and Central Asia, visiting key global infrastructure projects to assess the challenges and opportunities and how they are evolving on the ground.
Sophia holds a master’s degree in Russian Studies from UCL and an MA in Politics and International Relations from the University of Aberdeen. Sophia is a native English speaker but also speaks Russian, Uzbeki and Dari.
Fields of Knowledge
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Infrastructure: Transport, Energy, Water and Social.
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International Sustainable Development & Partnerships
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Research, Data Analysis, Writing and Editing
Projects
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Since 2024, I have been working as a consultant for the IFC, developing transport infrastructure, renewable energy and SME development projects in Turkey and Central Asia.
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In November 2024, I worked on the UN "Digitalisation of Transport" project with the UN ESCAP agency in Tajikistan to deliver training sessions on development finance, railway transport infrastructure, and stakeholder management, and carry out roundtable discussions with transport specialists from the Ministries of Transport of Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Azerbaijan
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In Tajikistan in 2024, as part of the UN "Digitilisation of Transport" project, I alongside experts from the UN ESCAP agency and specialists from the Transport Ministries of Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Azerbaijan carried out a site visit of an electric bus manufacturing plant in Dushanbe, owned by Akia Avesta, a private Turkish-Tajik joint venture.
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From 2022 to 2023, I was invited by RailFreight to speak at two of their summit conferences in Hungary and Poland about how to operate freight corridors in times of sanctions and I conducted a risk analysis of alternative European transport corridors
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Trips to Kazakhstan since 2024, where I carry out stakeholder and partnership meetings with the operational staff at the Aktau International Seaport in Western Kazakhstan, a key seaport involved in the Middle Corridor project.
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From 2021 to 2024, I worked as a Research Associate, then I was promoted to Associate at The Risk Advisory Group, working in the Russia, Eastern Europe and Eurasia team. I worked in a hybrid team both in London and Moscow, where I carried out 50 due diligence, market entry and compliance research projects for transport companies, law firms, private equity funds, oil and gas companies, and international development organisations.
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In November 2024, I was invited by the LSE to give a talk on my career path in international financing.
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In 2019, I worked as an intern for The Economist, running editorials, editing and fact checking publications on Russia, China and Eurasia coverage.
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From 2017 to 2019, I worked as an intern in the security and diplomatic mission of the Embassy of Afghanistan in London. I was responsible for all research and briefing outputs of embassy material, weekly news roundups in the region for the Ambassador and organising partnership strategy discussions with humanitarian and development agencies.
