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About the talk: The most recent GIIN Annual Impact Investor Survey reports that total assets under management (AUM) for impact investing reached US$114 billion, being roughly $36 billion dedicated exclusively to emerging markets. This represents massive growth over just two years when, in 2015, the market estimate was $60 billion. This growth, coupled with numerous reports and surveys showing millennials’ strong interest in aligning values with investments, suggests money and talent are pouring into the nascent field. Despite this rapid growth, key improvements are needed before this promising field can reach its full potential. In his talk, Kusi Hornberger will present his thoughts on eight of the most pressing issues and recommendations for improvement along the impact investment cycle for emerging markets – from goal setting to reporting results.
About the Speaker: Kusi Hornberger is a Senior Project Manager in the Washington, DC office of Dalberg Global Development Advisors. Kusi has 10+ years of project management, investment and strategy experience working with a range of public, private, and non-profit clients, including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, ECOM Agroindustrial Corp., World Bank Group, Starbucks, Experian and USAID.
Prior to joining Dalberg, Kusi was Vice President of Investment Research & Strategy at Global Partnerships where he oversaw the investment strategy and portfolio including analysis of investment opportunities in agriculture cooperatives, artisan retailers, cookstove and solar lamp manufacturers and distributors, private health clinics as well as integrated microfinance institutions across Central/South America and East Africa. He was also the in-house expert on agriculture finance, leading the investment appraisal and relationships for portfolio of investments in >40 rural and agriculture focused social enterprises across range of commodity value chains including coffee, cocoa, fresh vegetables and nuts. Further he was responsible for managing GP’s relationship with the Council for Smallholder Agriculture Finance (CSAF), served as an advisor to the Finance Alliance for Sustainable Trade (FAST) and Agros International and presented at numerous conferences (Cracking the Nut, FLII, SCAA, SOCAP, etc.) about GP’s approach to investing in agriculture value chains.
Kusi also has experience working as a management consultant, spending three years at Bain & Company based out of its Sao Paulo, Brazil office and serving a wide range of public, private and non-profit clients across South America including several leading agribusiness multinationals and foundations during his time there he authored a Bain Brief titled “The State of Impact Investing in Latin America” As well as working as an Investment Officer for six years with the International Finance Corporation where he spent three years based out of the Bogota, Colombia office and held lead the formation of the investment promotion agency Invest in Bogota as well as shift the strategy of Brazil’s investment and export promotion agency APEX-Brasil to a sector led approach. He also published numerous articles on private sector development and competitiveness including “Attracting FDI – How Much Does Investment Climate Matter?”. Finally, he started his career working with TechnoServe Inc. in East Africa where he was one of the early members of the coffee team working with Peets Coffee & Tea that helped transform the coffee sector in Rwanda and Tanzania. Kusi holds a Masters of Business Administration from INSEAD Business School in Singapore, a Master of Public Administration in International Development from the Harvard Kennedy School and a Bachelors of Arts from the University of Pennsylvania. He is fluent in Portuguese, Spanish and conversant in Swahili.