8 March 2025 By Niall Murphy Last week’s Finance in Commons Summit (FiCS) – the annual meet-up of public development banks hosted by…
29 February 2025 By Simon Zadek & Niall Murphy How often have you heard someone talk about ‘climate action’, when they are really talking…
Marketing Associate
Anni Huttunen is a digital marketing and communications specialist focused on advancing business growth and sustainable development. Through her work with Google and the International Trade Centre (ITC), she helps SMEs across Africa navigate their digital transformation by delivering training, research, and innovative projects.
Associate Director
Ydir Vissers is a business executive, corporate advisor and business development partner in the nature-based solutions (NBS) space. He has been working on mandates from donors, philanthropies and nature investors around themes of regenerative agriculture, landscape restoration, carbon development and value chain transformation. Most recently, Ydir was involved in supporting specific Governments with their 30×30 agenda through the SPACES Coalition, launching a large-scale reforestation project in Inner Mongolia and designing a blended finance vehicle that aims to invest in global South regenerative ag and carbon opportunities. Before that, Ydir was CEO of Regeneration, where he led the activities around landscape restoration and development of nature positive tropical value chains.
Ydir’s professional career started with the Monitor Group, where he had a 15-year tenure in the strategy consulting industry, advising C-suite executives and government leaders around the world. In his last role at Monitor, he was part of Monitor Group’s global executive team, leading the company’s Global Government platform, working on economic development and competitiveness mandates. Subsequent to Monitor, Ydir became an independent advisor and interim manager working on diverse business and geopolitical mandates, primarily in emerging markets and the Global South.
Dorothy Maseke is the Head of the African Natural Capital Alliance (ANCA) Secretariat and Africa Lead for Nature Finance & TNFD at FSD Africa, where she leads efforts to drive systemic change in nature finance across the continent. She spearheads the development of innovative financial products, services, and solutions that address nature-related risks while building a high-impact portfolio of projects and partnerships. Dorothy has played a pivotal role in strengthening the nature finance capabilities of African financial institutions, leading key initiatives such as the African pilot of the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) and, most recently, the continent’s pilot of TNFD’s Nature Data Public Facility. Her work also includes mobilizing capital for nature by developing a pipeline of investible nature-based solutions through an accelerator programme set up by FSD Africa, coordinating nature-related central bank stress testing across African countries, and supporting the development of National Nature Strategies. A recognized thought leader in global sustainability, Dorothy serves on the World Economic Forum’s Global Futures Council on Natural Capital and has previously represented Africa in international taskforces, including the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) insurer pilot group and the Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials (PCAF). She played a key role in co-creating and launching the Nairobi Declaration on Sustainable Insurance in collaboration with UNEP PSI and FSD Africa, a landmark commitment by African insurance leaders to advancing the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Dorothy’s contributions have earned her multiple accolades, including recognition among Kenya’s Top 40 Under 40 Women, Top 50 Women in Insurance in Africa by the African Insurance Organisation (AIO) in 2022, and Fin-Erth Top 101 Leading Women in Climate (Nature and Biodiversity) Global Awards in 2024. Dorothy is an author of two books – “She Leads” where she covers her leadership journey as well as “Becoming Nature Positive”, which was pre-launched in Davos in January 2025.
Sandrine Dixson-Declève is Honorary President of the Club of Rome, the Executive Chair of the Club of Rome Programme Earth For All and a co Founder/Vision Keeper of the System Transformation Hub. She sits on several Non-Executive Boards & Advisory Boards including for EDP, BMW, UCB, Skysun, OECD, Climate KIC, Leonardo Centre, Imperial College London and is a Commissioner for The Global Climate Governance Commission and the WHO Pan European Commission on Climate & Health. She teaches at the College of Europe, Bruges, Belgium and is a Senior Associate and faculty member of the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL). Until recently, Sandrine was Chair for the European Commission’s Expert Group on Economic and Societal Impact of Research & Innovation (ESIR) 2020-2023, a member of the European Commission’s Sustainable Finance Platform and Sustainable Finance Taxonomy Expert Group 2019-2022; and an Assembly Member, Climate Mitigation & Adaptation Mission (European Commission, DGR&I) 2018. In 2023 Sandrine co-founded the System Transformation 2017 Sandrine co-founded the Women Enablers Change Agent Network (WECAN). Sandrine is a TED global speaker and published “Quel Monde Pour Demain” lucpire editions 2021 and Earth for All: A survival guide for humanity, New Society 2022. She was recognised by Reuters in 2023 as one of 25 global female trailblazers and by GreenBiz as one of the 30 most influential women across the globe driving change in the low carbon economy and promoting green business.
Dr. Solomon Assefa is a distinguished leader in science and technology, driving groundbreaking research and transformative business initiatives. As the founder of Viridian Partners, he collaborates with scientist-entrepreneurs to turn pioneering ideas into scalable solutions and successful market ventures. With a B.S., M.Sc., and Ph.D. from MIT, he brings over two decades of expertise in corporate R&D, executive leadership, and strategic innovation. His work empowers companies, research institutions, and startups to develop cutting-edge technologies that shape the future of industries. His expertise spans emerging technologies, innovation ecosystems, and cross-sector partnerships, bridging scientific discovery with real-world impact. Committed to harnessing technology for societal advancement, he champions initiatives that drive sustainable progress and economic growth.
As Vice President at IBM Research, Dr. Assefa led global R&D initiatives, overseeing hundreds of research scientists and advancing breakthrough technologies from concept to market. He played a pivotal role in shaping IBM’s strategic direction, spearheading innovation-driven collaborations with universities, corporations, governments, multilateral agencies, and nonprofits. Additionally, he led IBM’s Africa labs in Kenya and South Africa, fostering local innovation ecosystems and developing technology solutions for emerging markets in financial services, healthcare, agriculture, and the public sector.
Dr. Assefa has authored over 150 peer-reviewed articles, holds more than 70 patents, and has been named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. The Africa America Institute has honored him for his significant impact on science, technology, and innovation. He is a Fellow of Optica and IEEE.
Deborah Lehr is the CEO of Basilinna, a strategic advisory firm, and the Executive Director of the Paulson Institute, created by former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson. She has worked across Asia, the U.S., the Middle East, and Europe. Previously, Deborah launched Edelman Global Advisory, the public affairs firm of Edelman, after it acquired her firm. She was also a partner at Mayer Brown, Senior Director at the New York Stock Exchange, and Senior Advisor to the Chairman and CEO of Merrill Lynch.
Deborah started her career in the U.S. Government as a Director for Asian Affairs at the National Security Council, a Deputy Assistant U.S. Trade Representative, and at the Commerce Department working on export controls and trade. Deborah is the founder and chairman of the Antiquities Coalition, which fights against illicit trade in antiquities, where her leadership role has earned her global recognition.
She is on the boards of National Geographic, the Antiquities Coalition, the World Monuments Fund, Meridian International, and the Middle East Institute. She is also on the Advisory Boards of Sesame Workshop and Aliph, and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Partner
Jennifer Blanke is an expert on economic growth and development finance who serves on the boards of various development and impact investment focused entities. She was previously Vice President Agriculture, Human and Social Development at the African Development Bank Group, responsible for overseeing the Bank’s strategy, lending and other activities in this area. Prior to that she was Chief Economist at the World Economic Forum, overseeing economic research and risk-related activities. Before joining the World Economic Forum, Dr Blanke worked as a management consultant for Eurogroup Consulting in Paris, France, where she specialized in banking and financial market organization. She has written and lectured extensively on issues related to national competitiveness and economic development. Dr Blanke holds a Master’s degree in International Affairs from Columbia University, New York, and an MA and PhD in International Economics from the Geneva Graduate Institute. She was until 2019 a member of the Canadian Government’s Council of Economic Growth.
Senior Advisor
For over two decades, Tony has advised government, financial sector and philanthropic leaders on a range of strategic challenges at the intersection of business, finance and public policy. These include centre of government reform, national economic development strategy and the architecting of green finance investment opportunities. He began his career in the Australian diplomatic service before moving into the private sector, first in investment banking where he focused on infrastructure project financing and then in strategy consulting as a Partner at Monitor Deloitte and as an adviser with the World Bank Group. He is currently the CEO of the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD), a cross-sector international initiative mobilising action on nature-related risk management and corporate reporting.
Marcelo de Camargo Furtado currently serves as the Head of Sustainability at the Itaúsa Institute in Brazil and is a Principal at NatureFinance. He is also a board member at WRI Brasil, Conectas Human Rights, the Sovereignty and Climate Center, and the Food for Humanity Initiative at Columbia University’s Climate School. He co-founded the Brazilian Coalition on Climate, Forest and Agriculture and is a member of the Sustainability Committees of Dexco and Marfrig. Previously, he was Executive Director of Greenpeace Brazil, where he worked for 24 years, before becoming CEO of the Arapyaú Institute and the Alana Foundation
Senior Advisor
Ingrid has more than 25 years of investing experience in finance across private and public markets. In her current role, as Executive Director, Head of Impact and Sustainable Investing at Federated Hermes she is responsible for thought leadership and thematic portfolios. She started her career at Lazard focusing on consumer, financials and healthcare sectors and then joined Jupiter Asset Management as a Fund Management Director. She is a Senior Advisor at Morphosis, and was Co-Chair of the leadership group at Natural Capital Investment Alliance, part of the Sustainable Markets Initiative and is an expert member at the International Advisory Panel on Biodiversity Credits. She is Non-Executive Director at Fair4All Finance. She is recognised as an expert in Biodiversity and Impact investing and in 2024 was included in Fin-Erth’s 101 Global Female Leaders in Nature and Climate. She was a finalist in Investment Week’s ESG and Sustainable Woman of the year and was included in Citywire’s global ranking of top 1,000 fund managers.
Partner
Lucy is a veteran business operations and strategic implementations leader with extensive experience working with and for businesses, customers and partners to shape and scale new ideas, innovations and technologies. Lucy’s career spans roles in B2B and B2B2C operations and delivery in industries including content & digital marketing, print publishing, and software technology. She has a close understanding of the journey from start-up to scale-up for solution innovators, and is a navigator and pathfinder through enterprise programs of work. Lucy holds a BA in ancient world studies.
Founder & Managing Partner
Simon’s work over four decades has focused on creating, catalysing, and shaping markets and their enabling policy environment in ways that address sustainable development goals. He has worked with many of the world’s leading businesses, governments, financial regulators and civil society actors in diverse roles, from his founding leadership of NatureFinance and AccountAbility to his senior advisory roles on sustainable finance to the UN Secretary General and the World Economic Forum, to his co-Chairing of China’s first Green Finance Taskforce and steering of the G20’s work on green finance under the Chinese, Argentinian and German Presidencies, to positions in leading academic institutions in China, Europe, the US, and Southern Africa. He was a member of the International Advisory Board of Generation Investment Management, and the first Chair of NatureAlpha, a nature data business. He is currently Senior Advisor to the Paulson Institute and the Taskforce on Nature related Financial Disclosures and a member of the International Advisory Panel on Biodiversity Credits. Simon is widely published including the award-winning book The Civil Corporation and most recently ‘Time to Plan for a World Beyond 1.5C”, and has a Ph.D in economics.
Founder & Managing Partner
Niall is an accomplished entrepreneur, investor and technologist. Over the past 30 years he has founded, led, scaled and exited technology-based businesses at the forefront of new and emerging market domains in southern Africa, Western Europe and the UK, and the United States. Working with venture and growth capital investors in Europe and the US, Niall has taken multiple innovations through productisation, go-to-market and scale-up. He was co-founder of one of southern Africa’s first ISPs in a JV with US telco Sprint in the mid 90s, acquired by UUnet. He co-founded pan-European public WiFi network The Cloud and that was acquired by Sky, growing the business organically and with a roll-up acquisition strategy. He founded EVRYTHNG pioneering digital product passport and traceability for consumer products, acquired by Digimarc. Niall has played an active role in industry and market development, including ICT policy formulation and internet service provision regulatory definition in the new South Africa in the mid 1990s, developing standards for public WiFi security and roaming with the IETF and IEEE, a long term role on the UK’s OFCOM spectrum advisory board, and the development and standardization of digital product identification to upgrade the global barcode standard with GS1 Digital Link. Recognized by the World Economic Forum as a Global Innovator, Niall holds a BSc in computer science and mathematical sciences.