Events

AgriFin 2017 Forum | Convened with The World Bank: Financing Low-Carbon Resilient Agriculture

September 12-13, 2017

London, UK

OVERVIEW
AGENDA
SPEAKERS

The AgriFin 2017 Forum aims to connect key stakeholders in the agriculture finance and climate finance space. This strategic event will convene leading financiers, investors, policy makers, climate funds and donors, as well as a wide range of key innovative actors from the public and private sectors, and provide them with an opportunity to understand how they may collaborate more effectively.

A key objective of the forum will be to explore how financiers in developing countries, especially those working with agricultural clients, can partner with climate finance investors to further their investments in low-carbon resilient agriculture. Through a series of strategic and technical presentations, case studies and discussions, opportunities for a range of partnerships will be explored. The forum will also create the space for participants to engage with leading actors from across the agricultural finance and climate finance arena.

Join us for this interactive forum where you can share knowledge and experiences, learn how to best access, leverage, and unlock climate finance at scale and broker profitable business relations that can contribute to financing the transition to a low-carbon and climate-resilient agriculture sector.

Monday, September 11, 2017: Reception Cocktail 19:00-21:00

Church House, Westminster, London, UK

Schedule Day 1: September 12, 2017

Times	Session
07:30-08:00	Registration
08:00-08:15	Opening: Making Climate Finance Work in Agriculture Overview of the challenges the agriculture sector faces to access capital and the role that climate finance can play to strengthen the links between investors, financial institutions and farmers. Marc Sadler, The World Bank
08:15-08:30	Keynote: Innovative Climate Finance Deep insight on the opportunities of innovative climate finance to unlock the capital needed to finance low-carbon climate-resilient development. *Michael Metcalfe,* State Street
08:30-09:30	Hard Talk: Financing Low-Carbon Resilient Agriculture Discussion on the implications of climate change in the agriculture and financial sectors and the critical role of climate finance to accelerate the transition to low-carbon resilient agriculture. Charlotte Grezo, Global Sustainable Capital Management Bas Rüter, Rabobank Group Jixian Wang, Agriculture Development Bank of China Peter Wheeler, The Nature Conservancy
09:30-10:00	Climate Finance and Agriculture Finance Landscapes Increase understanding of how climate finance and agriculture finance work, its importance and current barriers and opportunties to invest in low-carbon resilient agriculture. 09:30-09:45--Landscape of Agriculture Finance Bas Rüter, Rabobank Group 09:45-10:00--Landscape of Climate Finance Angela Falconer, Climate Policy Initiative
10:00-10:30	Coffee Break
10:30-11:15	Case Studies: Blending Climate Finance and Agriculture Finance Showcase innovative examples of climate finance being blended and channeled through financial institutions to farmers. 10:30-10:45--Noelle O'Brien, Kenya StARCK+ and DAI 10:45-11:00--Andrew Mitchell, Global Canopy Programme & *Carlos Burneo,* Agrobanco 11:00-11:15--Sylvia Wisniwski, Finance in Motion
11:15-13:00	Panel: Blending Climate Finance and Agriculture Finance Identify innovative opportunities to blend climate finance and agriculture finance to scale up climate smart investments in the agriculture sector. Jochen Harnisch, KfW Tanja Havemann, Clarmondial Prasun Kumar Das, APRACA Peter Stoute-King, Convergence 12:30-13:00--Q&A
13:00-14:30	Networking Lunch
14:30-15:15	Case Studies: Moving the Needle, Leveraging Climate Finance Showcase examples of innovative initiatives that are unlocking climate finance and leveraging additional capital for low-carbon resilient agriculture. 14:30-14:45--Edit Kiss, Althelia Ecosphere 14:45-15:00--Adrien Henry, Moringa Partnership *15:00-15:15--H.R. Dave,* National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development
15:15-15:45	Coffee Break
15:45-17:30	Panel: Moving the Needle, Leveraging Climate Finance Identify key opportunities and financial innovations to unlock public and private climate finance and leverage the capital needed to finance low-carbon resilient agriculture. Mohamed Bakarr, Global Environment Facility Abyd Karmali, Bank of America Merrill Lynch Kenneth Lay, Rock Creek Group 17:00-17:30--Q&A
17:30-17:45	Wrap Up
19:00-21:00	Networking Cocktail

Schedule Day 2: September 13, 2017

Times	Session
08:00-08:15	Recap of Day One
08:15-08:45	Case Studies: Financial System Innovations for Low-Carbon Resilient Agriculture Showcase examples of financial innovations that have the potential to significantly expand access to finance for low-carbon resilient agriculture. 08:15-08:30--Mary Joseph, FarmDrive 08:30-08:45--Katherine Foster, Institute for Distributed Technologies
08:45-10:30	Panel: Financial System Innovations for Low-Carbon Resilient Agriculture Discussion on how climate finance, innovative business models and technological developments can support financial institutions and other financiers to expand access to finance for farmers. Sambou Coly, Mastercard Foundation Jay L. Koh, The Lightsmith Group Hillary Miller-Wise, Tulaa Jerome Perez, Nespresso 10:00-10:30--Q&A
10:30-11:00	Coffee Break
11:00-11:45	Case Studies: Bringing Climate Smartness into Risk Management Showcase examples of climate-smart innovative approaches that have the potential to significantly transform risk management. 11:00-11:15--Mark Ellis Jones, F3 Life 11:15-11:30--Michael Andrade, Pioneering Ventures 11:30-11:45--Srini Sundaram, Agvesto
11:45-13:30	Panel: Bringing Climate Smartness into Risk Management Identify concrete examples of innovative risk management approaches, mechanisms and tools that are helping financial institutions and investors to better assess and manage climatic and agricultural risks. Nabil Fawaz, MIGA Yoon Kim, Four Twenty Seven Alexa Mayer-Bosse, Munich Re Michael van den Berg, Triodos Bank 13:00-13:30--Q&A
13:30-14:30	Networking Lunch
14:30-14:45	Case Study: Frameworks, Unlocking the Potential of Climate Finance Showcase innovative examples of financial institutions that have mainstreamed climate change into their lending operations. *14:30-14:45--Chris Isaac,* AgDevCo
14:45-16:20	Panel: Frameworks, Unlocking the Potential of Climate Finance Identify key strategies and policies to develop the necessary conditions to mainstream climate change into the financial system and accelerate investments in low-carbon resilient agriculture. Christine Negra, Versant Vision Barbara Buchner, Climate Policy Initiative Andy Jarvis, CIAT/CCAFS David Howlett, Global Resilience Partnership 16:00-16:20--Q&A
16:20-16:45	Coffee Break
16:45-18:15	The Way Forward: Linking Climate Finance and Farmers Global leaders in climate finance discuss how to unlock the capital needed to finance low-carbon resilient agriculture and layout a roadmap to move this agenda forward. Andrew Mitchell, Global Canopy Programme Edit Kiss, Althelia Ecosphere Sylvia Wisniwski, Finance in Motion

Times	Session
07:30-08:00	Registration
08:00-08:15	Opening: Making Climate Finance Work in Agriculture Overview of the challenges the agriculture sector faces to access capital and the role that climate finance can play to strengthen the links between investors, financial institutions and farmers.
08:15-08:30	Keynote: Innovative Climate Finance Deep insight on the opportunities of innovative climate finance to unlock the capital needed to finance low-carbon climate-resilient development.
08:30-09:30	Hard Talk: Financing Low-Carbon Resilient Agriculture Discussion on the implications of climate change in the agriculture and financial sectors and the critical role of climate finance to accelerate the transition to low-carbon resilient agriculture.
09:30-10:00	Climate Finance and Agriculture Finance Landscapes Increase understanding of how climate finance and agriculture finance work, its importance and current barriers and opportunties to invest in low-carbon resilient agriculture. 09:30-09:45--Landscape of Climate Finance 09:45-10:00--Landscape of Agriculture Finance
10:00-10:30	Coffee Break
10:30-11:15	Case Studies: Blending Climate Finance and Agriculture Finance Showcase innovative examples of climate finance being blended and channeled through financial institutions to farmers. 10:30-10:45--Case Study 1 10:45-11:00--Case Study 2 11:00-11:15--Case Study 3
11:15-13:00	Panel: Blending Climate Finance and Agriculture Finance Identify innovative opportunities to blend climate finance and agriculture finance to scale up climate smart investments in the agriculture sector. 12:30-13:00--Q&A
13:00-14:30	Networking Lunch
14:30-15:15	Case Studies: Moving the Needle, Leveraging Climate Finance Showcase examples of innovative initiatives that are unlocking climate finance and leveraging additional capital for low-carbon resilient agriculture. 14:30-14:45--Case Study 1 14:45-15:00--Case Study 2 15:00-15:15--Case Study 3
15:15-15:45	Coffee Break
15:45-17:30	Panel: Moving the Needle, Leveraging Climate Finance Identify key opportunities and financial innovations to unlock public and private climate finance and leverage the capital needed to finance low-carbon resilient agriculture. 17:00-17:30--Q&A
17:30-17:45	Wrap Up
19:00-21:00	Networking Cocktail


Schedule Day 2: September 13, 2017

Times	Session
08:00-08:15	Recap of Day One
08:15-08:45	Case Studies: Financial System Innovations for Low-Carbon Resilient Agriculture Showcase examples of financial innovations that have the potential to significantly expand access to finance for low-carbon resilient agriculture. 08:15-08:30--Case Study 1 08:30-08:45--Case Study 2
08:45-10:30	Panel: Financial System Innovations for Low-Carbon Resilient Agriculture Discussion on how climate finance, innovative business models and technological developments can support financial institutions and other financiers to expand access to finance for farmers. 10:00-10:30--Q&A
10:30-11:00	Coffee Break
11:00-11:45	Case Studies: Bringing Climate Smartness into Risk Management Showcase examples of climate-smart innovative approaches that have the potential to significantly transform risk management. 11:00-11:15--Case Study 1 11:15-11:30--Case Study 2 11:30-11:45--Case Study 3
11:45-13:30	Panel: Bringing Climate Smartness into Risk Management Identify concrete examples of innovative risk management approaches, mechanisms and tools that are helping financial institutions and investors to better assess and manage climatic and agricultural risks. 13:00-13:30--Q&A
13:30-14:30	Networking Lunch
14:30-15:00	Case Study: Frameworks, Unlocking the Potential of Climate Finance Showcase innovative examples of financial institutions that have mainstreamed climate change into their lending operations. 14:30-14:45--Case Study 1 14:45-15:00--Case Study 2
15:00-16:45	Panel: Frameworks, Unlocking the Potential of Climate Finance Identify key strategies and policies to develop the necessary conditions to mainstream climate change into the financial system and accelerate investments in low-carbon resilient agriculture. 16:15-16:45--Q&A
16:45-17:00	Coffee Break
17:00-18:00	The Way Forward: Linking Climate Finance and Farmers Global leaders in climate finance discuss how to unlock the capital needed to finance low-carbon resilient agriculture and layout a roadmap to move this agenda forward.
18:00-18:15	Closing Remarks

Monday, September 11, 2017: Reception Cocktail 19:00-21:00

Church House, Westminster, London, UK

Schedule Day 1: September 12, 2017

Times	Session
07:30-08:00	Registration
08:00-08:15	Opening: Making Climate Finance Work in Agriculture Overview of the challenges the agriculture sector faces to access capital and the role that climate finance can play to strengthen the links between investors, financial institutions and farmers.
08:15-08:30	Keynote: Innovative Climate Finance Deep insight on the opportunities of innovative climate finance to unlock the capital needed to finance low-carbon climate-resilient development.
08:30-09:30	Hard Talk: Financing Low-Carbon Resilient Agriculture Discussion on the implications of climate change in the agriculture and financial sectors and the critical role of climate finance to accelerate the transition to low-carbon resilient agriculture.
09:30-10:00	Climate Finance and Agriculture Finance Landscapes Increase understanding of how climate finance and agriculture finance work, its importance and current barriers and opportunties to invest in low-carbon resilient agriculture. 09:30-09:45--Landscape of Climate Finance 09:45-10:00--Landscape of Agriculture Finance
10:00-10:30	Coffee Break
10:30-11:15	Case Studies: Blending Climate Finance and Agriculture Finance Showcase innovative examples of climate finance being blended and channeled through financial institutions to farmers. 10:30-10:45--Case Study 1 10:45-11:00--Case Study 2 11:00-11:15--Case Study 3
11:15-13:00	Panel: Blending Climate Finance and Agriculture Finance Identify innovative opportunities to blend climate finance and agriculture finance to scale up climate smart investments in the agriculture sector. 12:30-13:00--Q&A
13:00-14:30	Networking Lunch
14:30-15:15	Case Studies: Moving the Needle, Leveraging Climate Finance Showcase examples of innovative initiatives that are unlocking climate finance and leveraging additional capital for low-carbon resilient agriculture. 14:30-14:45--Case Study 1 14:45-15:00--Case Study 2 15:00-15:15--Case Study 3
15:15-15:45	Coffee Break
15:45-17:30	Panel: Moving the Needle, Leveraging Climate Finance Identify key opportunities and financial innovations to unlock public and private climate finance and leverage the capital needed to finance low-carbon resilient agriculture. 17:00-17:30--Q&A
17:30-17:45	Wrap Up
19:00-21:00	Networking Cocktail


Schedule Day 2: September 13, 2017

Times	Session
08:00-08:15	Recap of Day One
08:15-08:45	Case Studies: Financial System Innovations for Low-Carbon Resilient Agriculture Showcase examples of financial innovations that have the potential to significantly expand access to finance for low-carbon resilient agriculture. 08:15-08:30--Case Study 1 08:30-08:45--Case Study 2
08:45-10:30	Panel: Financial System Innovations for Low-Carbon Resilient Agriculture Discussion on how climate finance, innovative business models and technological developments can support financial institutions and other financiers to expand access to finance for farmers. 10:00-10:30--Q&A
10:30-11:00	Coffee Break
11:00-11:45	Case Studies: Bringing Climate Smartness into Risk Management Showcase examples of climate-smart innovative approaches that have the potential to significantly transform risk management. 11:00-11:15--Case Study 1 11:15-11:30--Case Study 2 11:30-11:45--Case Study 3
11:45-13:30	Panel: Bringing Climate Smartness into Risk Management Identify concrete examples of innovative risk management approaches, mechanisms and tools that are helping financial institutions and investors to better assess and manage climatic and agricultural risks. 13:00-13:30--Q&A
13:30-14:30	Networking Lunch
14:30-15:00	Case Study: Frameworks, Unlocking the Potential of Climate Finance Showcase innovative examples of financial institutions that have mainstreamed climate change into their lending operations. 14:30-14:45--Case Study 1 14:45-15:00--Case Study 2
15:00-16:45	Panel: Frameworks, Unlocking the Potential of Climate Finance Identify key strategies and policies to develop the necessary conditions to mainstream climate change into the financial system and accelerate investments in low-carbon resilient agriculture. 16:15-16:45--Q&A
16:45-17:00	Coffee Break
17:00-18:00	The Way Forward: Linking Climate Finance and Farmers Global leaders in climate finance discuss how to unlock the capital needed to finance low-carbon resilient agriculture and layout a roadmap to move this agenda forward.
18:00-18:15	Closing Remarks

Charlotte Smith, MODERATOR

Presenter of Farming Today at the BBC
Charlotte Smith is an experienced journalist, broadcaster and conference host. She started work as a news reporter and after a conversation in a lift 30 years ago moved into covering agriculture. She now presents programmes about farming, food, environment and rural life on BBC TV and radio in the UK. Charlotte is the proud President of the National Federation of Young Farmers Clubs. Away from work she attempts to organize two kids, a husband and a grumpy cat.

Michael Andrade

Advisor to Pioneering Ventures
Michael Andrade is one of India’s top rural banking professionals recently wrapped up a 20-year career with HDFC Bank, one of India’s leading banks. He’s now an Advisor to Pioneering Ventures, an incubator specializing in building industrial-scale ventures in the Indian agriculture and food supply chain sector.

Dr. Mohamed Bakarr

Lead Environmental Specialist at the Global Environment Facility
Dr. Mohamed Bakarr is Lead Environmental Specialist at the Global Environment Facility (GEF) in Washington DC. He is responsible for all major GEF programs designed to tackle drivers of environmental degradation through the integrated approach. Dr. Bakarr has extensive experience in the area of natural resource management and conservation, and has previously held senior level positions at Conservation International and the World Agroforestry Center. At the GEF, he has contributed greatly toward advancing innovative financing options to generate multiple global environmental benefits in the agriculture sector.

Dr. Barbara Buchner

Executive Director of the Climate Finance at Climate Policy Initiative
Named one of the 20 most influential women in climate change, Barbara Buchner advises leaders on climate, energy, and land use investments around the world. Barbara is lead author on CPI’s Global Landscape of Climate Finance, which has set the benchmark for climate finance tracking, and Climate Finance in 2013-14 and the USD 100 billion goal. She directs CPI’s work as Secretariat of the Global Innovation Lab for Climate Finance (the Lab).

Carlos Burneo

Development Director of Banco Agropecuario at Agrobanco
Mr. Burneo is Peruvian and an economist at Universidad del Pacífico, Lima, Peru, with an MBA from INCAE, Alajuela, Costa Rica. He has more than 25 years of experience in commercial and strategic management in the Peruvian Financial System. Between 1996 and 2001 he was leading a multidisciplinary team in the Agroindustrial Business Management of Banco de Crédito del Perú. He is currently the Development Director of Banco Agropecuario - Agrobanco, the agrarian bank of Peru.

Sambou Coly

Financial Inclusion Manager at Mastercard Foundation
Sambou Coly is the Financial Inclusion Program Manager at Mastercard Foundation and focuses on responsible finance and agriculture. Before joining the Foundation, Sambou was the Country Manager of Oikocredit-Senegal where he was responsible for the overall management of the microfinance/agriculture portfolio and for the West Africa private equity portfolio. He has extensive field experience in Senegal, Burkina Faso, Gambia, Mali, Benin and Ivory Coast. He is multilingual, speaking English, French and Wolof.

H.R. Dave

Deputy Managing Director at National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development
Mr. H. R. Dave is the Deputy Managing Director of NABARD, the Development Bank for Rural India. Under the leadership of Mr. Dave, NABARD got accredited as the Direct Access Entity under Green Climate Fund, Adaptation Fund and National Adaptation Fund for Climate Change (NAFCC). NABARD has channelized these funds for building climate change resilience of rural livelihoods and for promoting climate smart agriculture. NABARD has also created its own climate fund from out of its profits and Mr. Dave is currently leading NABARD’s interventions in the climate action space. Under his guidance, NABARD recently implemented a climate action campaign on the theme of water in 100,000 villages of India with participation of over 4,000 NGO partners of NABARD and over 500,000 village water volunteers.

Mark Ellis-Jones

Co-founder and CEO of F3 Life
Mark Ellis-Jones is the co-founder and CEO of F3 Life. He is an environmental economist and negotiated Africa’s first “payments for ecosystem services” or conservation contracts. Previously Mark was a co-founder and led financial product design at an award-winning mobile money microcredit provider. Mark has substantial experience in early stage businesses.

Angela Falconer

Associate Director of Climate Finance of the Climate Policy Initiative
Angela Falconer is Associate Director in the Climate Finance program of Climate Policy Initiative (CPI), based in London. She has led numerous studies tracking climate finance globally and nationally in Indonesia and Côte D’Ivoire, in collaboration with relevant ministries. Angela was also heavily involved in CPI’s Indonesia program in its early years, including roles advising the Government of Indonesia on national climate fund design and studies evaluating fiscal policies in the palm oil sector.

Nabil Fawaz

Sector Manager-Agribusiness and General Services at MIGA
Nabil Fawaz is Sector Manager for agribusiness and general services at the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), the political risk insurance and credit enhancement arm of the World Bank Group. Mr. Fawaz has extensive experience in underwriting investment projects in emerging markets and advising clients on structuring transactions to mitigate political risks. At MIGA he has led transactions across all economic sectors including energy, oil and gas, financial markets, and telecommunications. He has helped investors manage political risk in different regions including Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. Recently he has led a MIGA initiative involving the mobilization of $1 billion in insurance capacity to retain and encourage foreign direct investment in the Middle East and North Africa. Since the initiative was launched in 2011, MIGA has supported new and existing investments in Egypt, Jordan, Libya, Morocco, and Tunisia.

Charlotte Grezo

Director, Investment and Risk Committee at Global Sustainable Capital Management
Charlotte Grezo is a member of Global Sustainable Capital Management's (GSCM) Executive Committee and Investment & Risk Committee and heads GSCM’s Sustainability work. Prior to this, Charlotte was Group Sustainability Strategy Director at Centrica. Throughout her career, her focus has been on sustainability strategy, policies and performance. She previously held senior management positions and had Group-wide responsibility for Sustainability at Vodafone and Lehman Brothers and led on environmental issues Group wide for BP.

Dr. Jochen Harnisch

Head of Division, Agriculture, Water, Biodiversity—West Africa and Madagascar at KFW Development Bank
Dr. Jochen Harnisch is Head of Division “Agriculture, Water, Biodiversity—West Africa and Madagascar” at KFW Development Bank. He joined KFW in 2008 and served as its sustainability officer and climate change policy coordinator. Since 1999, Dr. Harnisch has been part of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) – winner of the Nobel Peace Prize of 2007 – in various functions, most recently as "Coordinating Lead Author" of the Chapter “Investment and Finance” of its Working Group III on Mitigation.

Tanja Havemann

Co-founder and Director of Clarmondial
Tanja Havemann is a Director and Founder of Clarmondial, an investment advisory company focused on catalysing financing to sustainable natural resource management in emerging markets. Tanja has a technical background in environmental science, economics, law and finance. Tanja is Danish and was born and raised in Tanzania and Kenya.

Adrien Henry

Investment Director of Moringa Fund
Adrien Henry has in-depth experience in investing and managing private environmental business. He started with Ernst & Young developing and auditing triple bottom line business plans. Then he worked for ten years with the Suez group, including setting up and managing group’s corporate venture and later managing group’s French organic recycling activities. He graduated in economics and management at HEC Paris and in economics of environment and natural resources at AgroParisTech.

David Howlett

Senior Policy Advisor and Head of Policy at Global Resilience Partnership
David is seconded from the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID). He has over thirty 35 years’ experience in development in Africa, Asia and the Pacific with an academic background in chemistry, soil sciences, agriculture and environmental management and has published widely. David has worked for the last 14 years for DFID on different policy and research roles. He designed and commissioned DFID’s Building Resilience and Adaptation to Climate Extreme Disasters (BRACED) programme which has many synergies with the work of GRP. He managed DFID’s support to IFAD’s Adaptation for Smallholder Agriculture Programme (ASAP) and led on climate smart agriculture for DFID and UK Government, and co-convened the Investment Action Group of the Global Alliance for Climate Smart Agriculture. David’s extensive experience on policy and development will be invaluable in his new role as GRP’s Senior Policy Adviser where he will head GRP’s programme and work on Policy and Influence.

Chris Isaac

Director, Investments and Business Development at AgDevCo
Chris Isaac was one of AgDevCo’s founding directors and its first full-time employee. He has been working on development finance issues in Africa for the past 14 years, with two extended periods living overseas. Chris’s experience includes working in infrastructure project development at InfraCo Africa, as an economic adviser for the UK’s Department for International Development, and an adviser and speechwriter to the Minister of Finance in the Namibian government. His career started as a corporate finance specialist with Arthur Andersen in London, after completing the prestigious Arthur Andersen university scholarship programme. Chris has economics degrees from University College, Oxford (BA Hons) and the London School of Economics (MSc) and holds an advanced qualification in investment appraisal.

Dr. Andy Jarvis

Decision and Policy Analysis Research Area Director at International Center for Tropical Agriculture
Dr. Andy Jarvis is the Director of the Decision and Policy Analysis Area in the International Centre for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) and is a Flagship Leader on the CGIAR Research Program for Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), based in Cali, Colombia. Dr. Jarvis has 10 years experience of cutting edge scientific research in developing countries to support the goals of alleviating poverty and protecting essential ecosystem services of importance to humanity. His research has focused on the use of spatial analysis and environmental modeling to address issues such as agricultural biodiversity conservation, adaptation to climate change, and maintenance of ecosystem services. Over the past ten years Dr. Jarvis has published over 70 articles, book chapters or books, with over 30 of these in peer-reviewed articles published in international journals.

Mary Joseph

Director of Partnerships and External Relations at FarmDrive
Mary Joseph is the Director of Partnerships and External Relations at FarmDrive. She holds a B.A. in Sociology and Business Management from Columbia University and has led strategy, operations and communications at companies that drive social change across Africa. She serves on the Young Professionals Advisory Board of the International Institute for Rural Reconstruction, and has a personal and professional passion for increasing economic empowerment in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Abyd Karmali

Managing Director, Climate Finance at Bank of America Merrill Lynch
Abyd Karmali is Managing Director, Climate Finance at Bank of America Merrill Lynch based in London and is point person for the bank’s USD 10 billion Catalytic Finance Initiative. Mr. Karmali is also part of the team that oversees the bank’s broader financial commitment to mobilize USD 125 billion for low-carbon investment opportunities by 2025. He has worked for 25 years on climate policy, carbon markets, and new approaches to climate finance. Before joining the financial sector in 2007, he worked in management and policy consulting where he advised dozens of companies on their climate strategy and also with the UN Environment Programme in Paris where he served as Energy and Climate Change Programme officer. In 2013 Mr. Karmali was selected to serve as one of two inaugural private sector representatives to the Board of the Green Climate Fund and has advisory roles with the Global Innovation Lab on Climate Finance, and the finance committee of the Sustainable energy for ALL initiative.

Dr. Yoon Kim

Director of Advisory Services at Four Twenty Seven
Dr. Yoon Kim is an adaptation expert with a decade of experience working with local governments, bilateral donors and multilateral development banks to assess climate risks and identify climate resilience investment opportunities. At Four Twenty Seven, she leads the Advisory Services and works closely with public and private sector entities at different levels to assess climate risks, support adaptation planning, identify adaptation funding and financing mechanisms to implement strategic plans, strengthen climate policy and governance, and build capacity.

Edit Kiss

Director of Business Development and Operations at Althelia Ecosphere
Edit Kiss is Director of Business Development and Operations at Althelia Ecosphere managing the Althelia Climate Fund’s investor relations and investment portfolio as well responsible for its environmental asset monetisation strategy and climate and conservation finance advocacy. Edit has previously worked as an advisor to IUCN Netherlands on REDD+, biodiversity and green commodities, after having spent over seven years in various private sector roles in the area of climate finance and carbon markets at companies across Europe including Eneco Energy Trade, Constellation Energy and Bank of America.

Jay Koh

Founder and Managing Director at The Lightsmith Group
Jay Koh founded The Lightsmith Group in 2016 and has over 25 years of experience in private investment and government including senior roles at Siguler Guff, OPIC, R3 Capital, and The Carlyle Group. Mr. Koh holds a JD from Yale Law School, a masters in management from Oxford, and an AB in economics from Harvard College. He advises the NY Green Bank and the UN Green Climate Fund and is the founder and chair of the Global Adaptation & Resilience Investment Working Group (GARI).

Dr. Prasun Kumar Das

Secretary General of Asia-Pacific Rural and Agricultural Credit Association
Dr. Prasun Kumar Das is the Secretary General of Asia-Pacific Rural and Agricultural Credit Association (APRACA) based in Bangkok. As head of the representative association of central banks, commercial banks, development financial institutions and MFIs in the Asia-Pacific region, he has been instrumental in engaging with national governments, regional organizations (APEC, SAARC, ASEAN) and international agencies to influence policy and elucidate the narratives of financial inclusion, agricultural value chain finance and climate-smart agricultural finance in the Asia-Pacific region. He holds a Doctoral Degree in Agricultural Sciences and MBA with specialization in Financial Management.

Kenneth Lay

Senior Managing Director at The Rock Creek Group
Kenneth Lay is Senior Managing Director of The Rock Creek Group, an asset management firm based in Washington D.C. that manages globally diversified portfolios of alternative investments, and equity investments in emerging markets, for institutional investors. Mr. Lay also works with international institutions, private foundations and NGOs in efforts to develop new approaches to increasing the scale and reducing the cost of financing for global public goods. Before joining Rock Creek at the end of 2010, Mr. Lay served as Treasurer of The World Bank, where he and his colleagues managed more than $100 billion in investments for the World Bank and other international financial institutions. He conceived and led the issuance of the first “global bond.” Before joining the World Bank, Mr. Lay was an enforcement lawyer with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Michael Mathres

President at Mootral
Michael Mathres is the President of Zaluvida’s Mootral division. He has more than 15 years’ experience as an environmental advisor and entrepreneur working with governments, large companies and financiers, inter-governmental institutions, media, celebrities on sustainability, climate change, renewable energy and the global green economy. In 2010 Michael was the Co-Founder of the World Climate Summit, a global conference on business and financial solutions to climate change, in parallel to the UNFCCC Conference of the Parties (COP).

Alexa Mayer-Bosse

Manager, Business Development and Origination Agricultural Re/Insurance at Munich Re
Alexa Mayer-Bosse is responsible for worldwide agriculture insurance business development and origination in Munich Re’s Agro and Weather Risks divisional unit. She graduated from the University of Munich with specialization in business and finance/insurance, and in 1996 began her career with an American IT and consulting company that provided services to the financial sector. In 2000, Alexa Mayer-Bosse joined Munich Re and in 2008 assumed responsibility for expanding and improving Munich Re's risk management solutions in agriculture worldwide. One of her expert areas is innovative product development. She and her family run a small farm to the north of Munich.

Michael Metcalfe

Head of Macro Strategy at State Street Global Markets
Mr. Metcalfe is responsible for FX, interest rate and cross-asset strategy for State Street Global Markets. His main area of expertise lies in developing tools to help analyze the market regime and in integrating measures of investor behaviour and inflation into an investment strategy. His team is consistently voted as providing some of the best capital flow and macro research to institutional investors by industry surveys.

Hillary Miller-Wise

Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Tulaa
Hillary Miller-Wise is founder and Chief Executive Officer of Tulaa, a mobile commerce platform for farmers in Africa. Tulaa was incubated inside of Esoko, a pioneer in mAgriculture where Hillary has served as CEO since 2015. Hillary has spent nearly 20 years in consulting, agriculture development and financial services with firms such as TechnoServe and DAI. She holds an MBA from INSEAD, where she was awarded the Social Entrepreneurship Scholarship.

Andrew Mitchell

Founder Director of the Global Canopy Programme
Andrew W. Mitchell is the Founder Director of the Global Canopy Programme (GCP) in Oxford and Senior Adviser to Ecosphere Plus (E+), an impact investment and marketing company specializing in environmental assets. He is an international thought leader on tropical forests, climate change and financing natural capital. He has extensive field experience in Asia, Africa and Latin America, across a forty-year career spanning scientific research, conservation and finance for forests. He works to demonstrate the scientific, political and business case for safeguarding sustainable forests and landscapes as natural capital that underpins water, food, energy, health and climate security for all.

Dr. Christine Negra

Principal at Versant Vision
Dr. Christine Negra, principal of Versant Vision, is an international consultant, specializing in sustainable agriculture, climate change, and integrated landscape management. A soil scientist with over 25 years of experience as an extension agent, a researcher, and a program director, her work is focused on bringing science into policies and markets. Recent projects include crafting certification criteria for climate bonds in land use and marine systems and development of an Agrobiodiversity Index for use by governments, companies, and investors.

Noelle O’Brien

Chief of Party at Kenya StARCK+ and DAI
Noelle O’Brien is Chief of Party for the Strengthening Adaptation and Resilience to Climate Change in Kenya (StARCK+) programme (2013-2018), funded by the UK Agency for International Development. In addition to coordinating the 11M USD Programme, Ms. O’Brien is leading the Finance Innovation for Climate Change Fund which invests climate finance in smallholder agriculture in 18 Counties in Kenya through four micro-finance banks, where a range of de-risking strategies are being applied. Ms. O’Brien holds Master Degrees in both Environmental Science and Development Management and has over 20 years of experience working in Asia and Africa in a range of Climate, Environment & Resource Management Programmes.

Jérôme Perez

Head of Sustainability at Nestlé Nespresso
Jérôme Perez is Head of Sustainability at Nestlé Nespresso, the worldwide pioneer and reference in premium portioned coffee, and is based in Lausanne, Switzerland. He is responsible for defining and overseeing the implementation of the company’s sustainability strategy, The Positive Cup. Mr. Perez and his team ensure that the company operates in a way that seeks to improve its environmental performance and to positively impact stakeholders throughout the value chain. They also lead projects and dialogues with community leaders, universities, NGOs and farmers to ensure that the company’s approach is creating share value for all of those who have a stake in the overall value chain. Mr. Perez identifies one of the highlights of his current role as the interaction with coffee farmers and the satisfaction of seeing the impact that the AAA Program is having on their lives and the enthusiasm with which they embrace this unique program.

Bas Rüter

Director of Sustainability at Rabobank Group
Bas Rüter is responsible for all sustainability policies, the ethics office and sustainable business development within Rabobank Group. As part of his responsibility he is member of the Ethics Committee, chairman of the supervisory Board of Dutch Greentech Fund and supervisory board member of RaboGroenbank.

Marc Sadler

Adviser, Risk and Markets and Global Lead for Clmate Smart Agriculture at the Agriculture Global Practice of the World Bank
Marc Sadler is the Adviser on Risk and Markets and Global Lead for Climate Smart Agriculture of the Agriculture Global Practice of the World Bank. An expert on commodity markets, finance, logistics, trading and risk management, Marc advises governments and corporates on these and related issues. Before the World Bank, Marc was a consultant for the World Bank and FAO in Central Asia, Caucasus and Turkey. Prior to this, he was a commodities trader based out of the Former Soviet Union. He has an M.A. in Jurisprudence from Trinity College, Oxford University.

Peter Stoute-King

Managing Director and Head of Investment Network at Convergence
Peter Stoute-King leads the Investment Network team at Convergence. Prior to joining Convergence, he led business development and engagement for the Global Knowledge Networks team at the World Economic Forum (WEF). Before the WEF, Peter worked as an Investment Officer with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), executing structured and project finance transactions across Latin America and the Caribbean. He has also served as a Vice President in the Emerging Markets Infrastructure M&A team within the London office of Citi, and as an Equity Research Analyst and Business Unit Manager with Goldman Sachs in New York.

Dr. Srini Sundaram

Founder and CEO at Agvesto
Dr. Srini Sundaram, founder and CEO, AGVESTO, is a technology entrepreneur based in London with experience in financial technology, risk, engineering. Coming from a background of living with vulnerable fishermen community in early years of his life, Srini is knowledgeable about the impact extreme events can have on communities lives and the risks they face for daily living. He is deeply passionate about natural resources, climate change, rural empowerment and driven by his desire to help community in need using technology. Srini also co-founded Aire, a financial technology startup based in London, a credit reference agency to help unbanked and underbanked people to qualify for essential financial products. Prior to these ventures he has worked in leading digital finance brands such as Wonga and assisted a leading digital lender in Europe.

Michaël van den Berg

Fund Manager of Triodos Sustainable Trade Fund at Triodos Investment Management
Michaël van den Berg is the fund manager of the Triodos Sustainable Trade Fund, which each year provides debt financing to around 30 agribusinesses and farmer cooperatives in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Michaël brings with him 15 years experience in emerging markets investments, in the fields of SME finance, off-grid renewable energy investments, inclusive finance and sustainable agriculture.

Dr. Jixian Wang

Deputy General Manager of the Institute of Rural Finance and Development at the Agricultural Development Bank of China
Dr. Jixian Wang is Deputy General Manager of the Institute of Rural Finance and Development, Agricultural Development Bank of China. With a Ph.D. degree in Economics, his research interest lies primarily in the field of policy-finance, agricultural finance, and green finance, etc. His work in these domains has been published in more than 30 journals, such as Financial Theory and Practice, Banker, Credit Investigation, Rural Finance in China, and Grain News, etc.

Peter Wheeler

Executive Vice President at The Nature Conservancy
Peter Wheeler joined The Nature Conservancy (TNC) as a London-based Executive Vice President in September 2013. He has a long and distinguished career as an investment banker having been the Head of Wholesale Banking for EMEA and Americas for Standard Chartered and previously a partner and Managing Director at Goldman Sachs, working initially in New York in the 1980s, then based in Hong Kong, where he established and led the firm's Investment Banking business for Asia outside of Japan from 1991 to 1998. He was the firm’s first Chief Representative in Beijing. In his post-banking business life, Peter was a seed investor and Board member of Climate Change Capital until it was sold to Bunge in 2012. He sits on the Board of Rift Valley Corporation, a dynamic African agro-industrial enterprise which owns and operates a diversified portfolio of subsidiary companies across seven operating platforms in three countries in Tanzania, Mozambique and Zimbabwe.

Sylvia Wisniwski

Managing Director at Finance in Motion GmbH
Sylvia Wisniwski serves as a Managing Director at Finance in Motion, Germany, a leading impact asset manager, where she oversees the company’s financing initiatives for conservation, sustainable agriculture and natural resource management. She has more than 25 years of experience in development finance in over 30 countries. Starting her career in German development cooperation (GIZ), she has worked as consultant for international organizations and held various management positions at consulting companies and asset managers. Sylvia holds both an M.A. in Political Science and Sociology and an MBA from Tübingen University as well as an M.A. in International Studies from the University of Miami, Florida.