Capital with Purpose: Mobilizing Capital for Scalable, Sustainable, and Measurable Impact in Africa

Eva Abel – Partner and Chief Investment Officer at Oryx Impact, an impact fund of funds focused on Africa, targeting investments in the areas of economic development and job creation, climate change mitigation and adaptation, and female empowerment. Prior to Oryx Impact, Eva was an Investment Manager at the European Investment Fund, where she invested close to EUR 0.5 billion in technology Venture Capital (VC) funds across Europe. She was also a Partner at Giza Polish Ventures, a Polish-Israeli VC fund focused on early-stage technology investments. Eva started her career with investment banking at Diamond Capital in Lagos, Nigeria.

Oguche is currently the founder and Managing Partner of HRISP partners – a placement agent and an impact/alternative investment advisory firm. He also manages the newly established Pan African Fund Managers Association (PAFMA)- a platform that aggregates pension and non-pension fund managers in Africa.

He was the Pioneer CEO of the Pension Fund Operators Association of Nigeria (PenOp), the industry body for all licensed pension funds in Nigeria who collectively managed roughly USD 15 billion of pension assets at the time. In this role, he led the efforts of the pension industry in engaging various stakeholders, including the government, financial markets, the media, regulators, international organizations and others in order to ensure that the interests of the pension operators were promoted and protected.

He was previously Nigeria’s Regional Director for OurCrowd, a crowd funding, impact investment and venture capital firm with headquarters in Israel.  He also previously worked as a Special Adviser to Nigeria’s Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, where his portfolio was “Access to Finance”

He also worked in Standard Chartered bank for 15 years, where he had roles in financial control, credit, origination and client coverage, risk, corporate finance and strategy. Whilst in Standard Chartered, he had short term assignments in South Africa and London, working in Credit Risk, and Corporate Finance. His last role there was as an Associate Director in their Lagos office, where he was in charge of the credit quality of a portfolio of assets worth USD 7 billion dollars.

He is currently a member of the Nigerian National Advisory Board for Impact Investments, under the Global Steering Group for Impact Investments (GSG). He is an Independent Non-Executive Director for GT Pensions Limited and Parthian Capital Limited. He is also a founding Governing Council member of Pan African Fund Managers Association (PAFMA).

Rita Babihuga-Nsanze holds dual Honours degrees (BSc. & BA) in Computer Science and Economics from Smith College, Massachusetts, USA, alongside MA and PhD degrees in Economics from Clark University, Massachusetts, USA. Previously, she served as Director of Macro Research for sub- Saharan Africa at Barclays Investment Bank, London, UK, from October 2017 to December 2019. Before that, she held the role of Vice President and Senior Analyst at Moody’s Investors Service (September 2014 – September 2017), overseeing credit ratings for sovereigns and multilateral development banks across Africa and Europe. Rita’s career began at the International Monetary Fund, where she spent over a decade as an Economist and Senior Economist across various departments. During her tenure, she undertook a secondment at the Bank of England, focusing on global financial stability issues during a pivotal period of reshaping prudential and regulatory frameworks. With extensive experience as a global macroeconomist and sovereign credit expert, Rita has deep expertise within the financial services industry, across international and domestic policymaking institutions, global credit ratings, and financial markets.

Catherine Cax is the fomer Managing Director of Investments at the Soros Economic Development Fund (SEDF), the impact investment arm of the Open Society Foundations, where she led global private market investments across emerging markets, deploying approximately $100M annually and mamanged $500M in AUM across climate, inclusive development, and sustainable growth themes, with a strong emphasis on catalytic and blended finance approaches. Catherine brings over two decades of experience in development and impact investing, spanning both public and private capital. Prior to joining SEDF in 2018, she held senior leadership roles at Impact Fund Denmark (formerly IFU), the Danish Development Finance Institution, where she led high-impact commercial investment strategies across Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia, delivering both strong financial performance and development outcomes. After close to 8 years with SEDF, Catherine is now holding Non Exec and advisory roles and has joined the IC of Aqua-Spark, a global investment platform dedicated to building a more sustainable and effiicent aquaculture sector and the IC of Delta40, an African venture studio. She also leads the Capital Market Track of a new bold Nordic Initiative for Industries, Nordic Compass and is Advisory Board member to Climate Investment Partners.

Anne-Marie is CIO of FSD Africa Investments, the investment arm of FSD Africa and is a member of the FSD Africa Board. She is the former CEO of FSD Mozambique, and Co-founder of Alitheia IDF Managers, a private equity fund manager investing in women-led businesses.

Anne-Marie has a wealth of experience in building African financial markets. Across her career, she has led a range of development finance investments and implemented strategies for private sector growth, in roles at the World Bank Group, CGAP, and UK Aid – among other development finance institutions. She has held Board and Advisory positions at pioonering inclusive finance organisations in Africa

Matt Christensen is a Senior Advisor and Non-Executive Director.

From 2020 to 2026, he was a Managing Director at Allianz Global Investors (AllianzGI), where he served as Global Head of Sustainable and Impact Investing. In his role, he developed and implemented the firm’s impact investing and blended finance strategy, and created what has become the market’s largest private credit impact investment fund to date, at over EUR 1 billion AUM. During his tenure, ShareAction noted AllianzGI as the top German asset manager in 2025.

Previously, Matt was Global Head of Impact and Responsible Investment for AXA Investment Management, where he created a EUR 1 billion AUM impact investment business. Earlier, he was the Founding Executive Director of Eurosif, managing the organisation from its start-up phase to its place as a leading EU policy think-tank.

He holds an MBA from The Wharton School and an MA degree in International Political Economy from the University of Pennsylvania. Matt and his family reside in Paris.

More than 20 years experience in the development sector with focus on private sector programmes in various sectors such as financial institutions, agribusiness, forestry, tourism, green deal and digital.

Last decade focused on the development of financial products for companies both in the banking and capital markets sector and supporting Governments on financial sector and capital markets development through Policy Dialogue.

Current European Commission DG INTPA Lead on the Team Europe Initiative for Investing in Business (IYBA) in the African Continent a 4 EUR billion Global Gateway Team Europe initiative that since 2021 has supported thousands of micro, small and medium-sized businesses across Sub-Saharan Africa.

Harry is a Senior Manager at the Argidius Foundation, and a co-founder of the Growth Firms Alliance, a coalition of philanthropic funders dedicated to unlocking the potential of growth firms to transform low- and middle-income countries.

Raphaël de Muizon is an infrastructure finance professional with more than 15 years of experience across project finance, blended finance, and development finance. He has a strong track record in originating, structuring, and managing complex debt and guarantee transactions across Africa, Asia, and Europe, with expertise spanning energy, transport, telecoms, and social infrastructure. Over the years, Raphael developed an extensive experience working with sponsors, DFIs, commercial banks, and institutional investors in international environments.

Currently an Investment Associate Director at GuarantCo, part of the Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG), Raphaël focuses on mobilising private capital into frontier markets through innovative credit enhancement solutions. Prior to this, he held investment and relationship management roles within PIDG and spent over a decade at Crédit Agricole CIB in London and Paris, where he managed infrastructure and utility client relationships and oversaw project finance transactions across EMEA.

Raphaël is dual-trained in engineering and finance, and hold a Master’s degree in Aeronautics & Space Engineering and Master’s degree in Business & Strategy from ESSEC Business School.

About GuarantCo

GuarantCo mobilises private sector local currency investment for infrastructure projects and supports the development of financial markets in lower income countries across Africa and Asia. GuarantCo is part of the Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG) and is funded by the governments of the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Australia and Sweden, through the PIDG Trust, the Netherlands, through FMO and the PIDG Trust, France through a stand-by facility and Global Affairs Canada through a repayable facility. GuarantCo is rated AA- by Fitch and A1 by Moody’s in 2014. Since 2005, GuarantCo has enabled USD 7.1 billion of total investment and USD 6.8 billion of private sector investment, giving 44.8 million people access to infrastructure and creating around 248,000 jobs in Africa and Asia. www.guarantco.com

Zachary Fond is a Managing Partner at Alta Semper Capital, an Africa-focused private equity firm and an active investor in healthcare and consumer health across the continent. He has nearly 20 years of experience investing in and advising businesses across both emerging and developed markets, with a particular focus on scaling market-leading platforms in Africa.

Over the course of his career, Zachary has led investments across Egypt, South Africa, Morocco, Kenya, Angola, Nigeria, and Namibia, working closely with management teams to drive operational improvement and regional expansion. Prior to joining Alta Semper in 2016, he was a Senior Associate at Emerging Capital Partners, based in Nairobi. Earlier in his career, he worked in corporate finance at SABMiller and began his career in M&A at Goldman Sachs and UBS in Johannesburg and New York.

Zachary holds a BA in Economics from Cornell University and an MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

An economist by training, with over 20 years of career experience at Telefónica, during which she began dedicating herself to philanthropy — making the decision together with her husband to allocate 30% of their income to development projects in Africa, from which the OpenValue Foundation was born. Convinced that there are alternative and complementary ways to address the problems of poverty, they progressively moved into the world of impact investment, developing a hybrid model that combines philanthropy and impact investment within the foundation. “We believe so that people can reach their full potential; we just need to open doors of opportunity.”

CEO and co-founder of Global Social Impact Investments (GSI), an impact investment firm that channels capital into profitable companies addressing social and environmental challenges, demonstrating that financial return and impact can be aligned in a rigorous and transformative way.

A driving force in the impact ecosystem, bridging traditional finance, strategic philanthropy and impact investment, she has served on the boards of Spain NAB, Impact Europe and SpainCap.

Anna-Liisa Goggs joined CREO in January 2020 as Regional President, EMEA. As a successful entrepreneur dedicated to supporting impact businesses she is passionate about leveraging networks and partnerships to help scale climate solutions and broaden climate finance.

Prior to joining CREO, Anna-Liisa developed and managed a flourishing results-focused curriculum and investor matching programme for over 250 social enterprises in the Middle East involved in health, climate and education sectors, among others.

Alongside this, Anna-Liisa is a highly experienced corporate lawyer, accomplished in corporate finance transactions, M&A activity and IPOs. She has also supported several large family businesses as in-house counsel and helped a UAE family-owned conglomerate set up a foundation and develop ESG investment strategies.

Anna-Liisa holds an MBA and BA Law with French. She is based in London.

Teresa has over 30 years of experience in investment banking, wealth management, and impact investing, with previous roles at Warburg, UBS Wealth Management, Rothschild, and Pictet. Her expertise includes M&A advisory, capital allocation, fund selection and due diligence, ESG integration, and investing in developed and emerging markets, with a focus on Africa.

A long-standing advocate for responsible investment, she became Spain’s first Toniic member in 2018. In 2019, she co-founded Oryx Impact, a fund-of-funds platform mobilising capital into high-impact opportunities across Africa through a curated, diversified strategy that de-risks investments and catalyses institutional capital.  She represents Oryx Impact at the Spain NAB (GSG Impact) and serves on its International Commission.

She holds an MBA from IESE Business School and a BSc in International Relations from Wellesley College and the London School of Economics.

Natalie Jabangwe is the CEO of the Timbuktoo Foundation, that houses a $1bn start up fund, a leading organization focused on driving innovation across Africa. Under her leadership, the foundation has become a key player in empowering young innovators and entrepreneurs, fostering creativity, and promoting sustainable development through technology and education.

Before joining Timbuktoo, Natalie served as the Group Digital Executive Officer at the Sanlam Group, Africa’s largest non-bank financial company in Africa and overseeing 34 countries and a budget of $600m. From 2014-2021, she was CEO of EcoCash, Zimbabwe’s largest mobile money service, where she was one of the youngest female CEOs in Africa’s mobile financial sector. Her career has been marked by her commitment to leveraging technology to create impactful solutions, earning her recognition as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in 2018. Natalie is also a 2017 Oxford University Tutu Fellow, reflecting her leadership and influence across Africa.

Ik Kanu is a Founding Partner at Atlantica Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm he co-founded in 2019 to back tech and tech-enabled startups from Seed to Series B across Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, and Tanzania. A Kauffman Fellow (Class 23) with a background bridging engineering, technology investing, and operational advisory, Ik works closely with founders building in fintech, insurtech, cybersecurity, AI, and frontier areas such as African semiconductor design. He holds an MBA from NYU Stern, a Master’s in Management Science from Penn State, and a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering, also from Penn State.

Nadia Kouassi Coulibaly is Head of Research Analytics at AVCA – the African Private Capital Association, where she leads research and data strategy focused on private capital markets across Africa.

She has over 15 years of experience across African and European private capital ecosystems. Since joining AVCA in 2021, she has expanded its research agenda and strengthened its role as a trusted source of data and insights for investors, development institutions and policymakers. She is dedicated to advancing market transparency to support capital allocation across Africa’s private capital ecosystem, with a focus on institutional capital mobilisation and Francophone Africa.

Prior to AVCA, Nadia was Head of Research at France Invest. She holds an MSc in International Economics from Paris Dauphine University.

Dr. Edoh Kossi AMENOUNVE holds a PhD in Administration and Finance from Laval University in Canada (1995) after an MBA (1992). Before taking office as CEO of the Bourse Régionale des Valeurs Mobilières (BRVM), Dr. Edoh Kossi AMENOUNVE was from October 2012 to June 2022, CEO of the Bourse Régionale des Valeurs Mobilières (BRVM) and the Central Depository/Settlement Bank (DC/BR). Dr. AMENOUNVE was also, from September 2003 to September 2012 Secretary General of the Regional Council for Savings and Financial Markets (CREPMF), the financial market regulation authority of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (AMF-UMOA). Dr. AMENOUNVE is the Past Chairman of the West African Capital Markets Integration Council (WACMIC).
Dr. AMENOUNVE is the Past President and member of the Executive Committee of the African Securities Exchanges Association (ASEA).
Since July 2021, Dr AMENOUNVE is Member of the NASDAQ Exchange Review Council.
Dr. AMENOUNVE is Member of the Supervisory Board of the Africa Financial Summit, the largest annual gathering of financial leaders in Africa.
Dr. Edoh Kossi AMENOUNVE is considered as one of the most influential finance specialists in Africa.
He is an Officer of the “Ordre du MONO”, the National Order of the Togolese Republic.

H.S.H. Prince Max von und zu Liechtenstein is the Chairman and CEO of LGT Group since 2020 and he has been CEO of LGT Group since 2006. Prince Max holds a master’s degree from Harvard Business School. Since the beginning of his tenure at LGT in 2006, the international private banking and asset management group has increased its assets under management from approximately CHF 70 billion to CHF 386 billion. LGT is fully controlled by the Liechtenstein Princely Family and employs over 6000 people in more than 40 locations worldwide. He is also Founder and Chairman of Lightrock and a member of the Foundation Board of LGT Venture Philanthropy.

Artak Melkonyan is a development finance strategist and impact investment architect with more than 30 years of experience of private and development finance across 40+ countries.

He serves as Senior Technical Advisor to timbuktoo, UNDP’s pan-African innovation platform designed to mobilize $1 billion in catalytic capital to support venture ecosystems and innovation infrastructure across Africa. Advising the CEO and Board directly, he leads strategy on blended finance design, institutional governance, and strategic partnerships with funders, development finance institutions, and private investors.

Artak pioneered UNDP’s Impact Venture Accelerator model, which has scaled to more than 20 countries, helping multilateral institutions develop new approaches to public–private collaboration and build investible startup pipelines in frontier markets. He has also led UNDP’s engagements with private sector financial institutions ranging from venture capital firms to large global financial conglomerates. He was named among the Top 100 Fintech for SDG Influencers in 2019.

His professional background spans private equity, banking, consulting, and international development. Previously Senior Vice President at Dun & Bradstreet, he led financial infrastructure expansion across the Middle East, South Asia, and Africa. He has also managed a major venture philanthropy fund and led development finance initiatives across Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas.

In addition to his practitioner career, Artak has contributed to management education as Dean of Business at the French University of Armenia and delivered courses at the University of Lyon 3 (France), Thammasat University (Thailand), and the American University of Armenia — bringing impact finance and disruptive management practice into classrooms across three continents. He is an INSEAD ISEP alumnus, holds executive credentials from Georgetown University, and master’s degrees from the American University of Armenia and the State Engineering University of Armenia

Private sector development expert with 26 years of experience in SME growth, investment, M&A and fundraising. Extensive track record in designing and managing multi-country SME finance and advisory programmes in developing economies, working with SMEs to grow and financial institutions to build scalable lending operations. Expertise includes high-growth SMEs, family businesses in transition, early-stage tech, and gender and youth-focused initiatives.

Led regional programmes across multiple countries, building teams and launching financial services businesses in four countries. Experience spans more than 30 country programmes within African Development Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, International Finance Corporation, and private investment banking environments, with deep regional knowledge of Africa, the Balkans, Eastern Europe, and the former Soviet Union.

Currently advising the AfDB on the development of an SME strategy to mobilise $5-6bn into the sector from AfDB and African sources.

Co-CEO at Norrsken Foundation, a global ecosystem supporting impact entrepreneurs in solving the world’s greatest challenges, such as climate, biodiversity, healthcare and mental health. Funda is also the Co-Founder of the Norrsken Impact Accelerator (now Norrsken Evolve), a venture capital fund and acceleration program for early-stage impact startups. Prior to assuming global operational leadership at Norrsken, she led the foundation’s international expansion and the establishment of Norrsken House in Stockholm, Sweden. She holds a Ph.D. in Strategic Management from IESE Business School, focusing on scaling impact ventures. She has previously been a visiting scholar at Stanford University as well as a management consultant and business developer across several international markets.

Saad Sheikh is a Partner and Co-Head of Enko’s private credit strategy, located in the London office. Prior to joining Enko, from 2014 to 2022, Saad was a principal at as African focused fund, where he was responsible for deal origination, structuring, and execution for their emerging markets private debt fund. Saad focused on various industries in Africa, including healthcare, fintech, and consumer goods. Prior to that, from 2012 to 2014, Saad was a Consultant at Accenture where he was involved in and transformation projects. From 2005 to 2012, Saad focused on infrastructure projects for Nokia.

Saad is an engineer by background and has an Executive master’s in business administration from Imperial Business School, London.

Signe Kolbye Sørensen, Director Strategy & Impact at Norfund, the Norwegian Development Finance Institution.

Signe works on shaping Norfund’s strategic direction, strengthening its work on private capital mobilisation and overseeing its approach to delivering and measuring impact. She has been with Norfund for the past 7 years and also serves as vice chair at the Board of NorNAB, the Norwegian advisory board for impact investing. Prior to Norfund, Signe worked in boutique consultancies in Oslo and Copenhagen with impact investing and development finance. She holds a MSc in Economics from University of Copenhagen.

Sebastian is a seasoned investment professional with more than 28 years of experience in the financial sector related to energy, venture capital and impact investments. He started his career with two years of humanitarian relief work in Bosnia Hercegovina during the Balkan War leading the planning and implementation of large-scale projects for international organisations. After completing an MBA at IESE, he joined Schroders, an independent UK based merchant bank in London where he advised governments and large utilities on Privatisations, M&A transactions and project financings. In 2004 he co-founded a VC investment firm, SI Capital, focused on climate finance – one of the pioneer VC firms within the climate finance space in Europe. In 2019, he co-founded Oryx Impact, a fund-of-funds platform mobilising capital into high-impact opportunities across Africa through a curated, diversified strategy that de-risks investments and catalyses institutional capital.

Nour Zaki is the Deputy CEO for Business Development at PRE Group (one of Egypt’s leading real estate developers with a land bank exceeding 12 million sqm and a portfolio spanning residential, commercial, and mixed-use destinations across Egypt and Libya) and Gadwa Industrial Development (a diversified industrial platform with market-leading positions in FMCG, packaging, wires and cables, and pharmaceuticals).

Prior to joining the family enterprise, Nour was a strategy and management consultant at McKinsey & Company, advising C-suite leaders across Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE on growth strategy, operating model transformation, and cross-sector M&A. She previously gained commercial experience at Procter & Gamble in Dubai, where she led brand and marketing initiatives within the MENA haircare division.

A civil and architectural engineering graduate of the University of Bath, where she held a Chancellor’s Scholarship for academic excellence, Nour brings a multidisciplinary perspective to capital deployment, industrial growth, and real estate development across the region.