About Us
Convergence is the global network for blended finance. We generate blended finance data, intelligence, and deal flow to increase private sector investment in developing countries.
Our global membership includes public, private, and philanthropic investors as well as sponsors of transactions and funds. We offer this community a curated, online platform to connect with each other on blended finance transactions in progress, as well as exclusive access to tailored trainings and original knowledge products such as case studies and reports. To accelerate advances in the field, Convergence also provides grants for the design of vehicles that could attract private capital to global development at scale.
We exist because traditional development aid from public and philanthropic sources is just not enough to realize the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which face an annual $2.5 trillion funding gap.
At Convergence we believe that blended finance can disrupt traditional development finance as we know it, by attracting private sector funds to developing countries in volumes never before seen. The money's there, $2.5 trillion represents less than 1% of global finance markets.
By using catalytic capital from public or philanthropic sources to scale-up private sector investment in developing countries, blended finance has the potential to result in as much as a ten-fold increase in investment. In fact, based on our data, blended finance has already mobilized over $140 billion.
We're going to bring this number into the trillions.
Our History
What We Offer
Deal flow & Networking
Online deal & investor matchmaking platform and in-person member convenings
Learning & Capacity Building
Trainings to advance blended finance knowledge
A Global Network
165 public, private & philanthropic member institutions
Data & Intelligence
Original blended finance knowledge and analysis
Market Acceleration
Grants for the design of innovative blended vehicles
Team
Joan M. Larrea
Chief Executive Officer
Christopher Clubb
Managing Director
David Schwartz
Senior Advisor to the CEO, Strategic Partnerships
Heiner W. Skaliks
Senior Advisor, Latin America and Caribbean
Jon Patell
Director, Engineering
Leah Pedersen
Senior Director, Market Acceleration and Design Innovation
Manissa Patel
Chief Financial Officer
Ritesh Thakkar
Senior Advisor, Asia Pacific
Safia Gulamani
Chief Operating Officer
Aakif Merchant
Associate Director, Training and Engagement
Karolyn Xie
Head of Communications (Interim)
Alicia Maitland
Manager, Training and Engagement
Andrew Apampa, CFA
Manager, Content
Ayesha Bery
Manager, Content
Krishna Malhotra
Manager, Market Acceleration and Design Funding
Olive Munene
Manager, Member Engagement
Trang Vandelis
Manager, Market Acceleration and Design Funding
Basil Kandaya
Senior Associate, Africa
Kanwal Rathi, CFA
Senior Associate, Design Funding & Market Acceleration
Nicholas Zelenczuk
Senior Associate, Content
Robin Ivory
Senior Associate, Content
Sneha Thayil
Senior Associate, Training and Engagement
Stephanie Singh
Senior Associate, Finance and Operations
Arusha Latif, CFA
Associate, Market Acceleration and Design Funding
Egwin Fan
Associate, Asia Pacific
Garima Chaulagain
Associate, Communications
Ilsa Weinstein-Wright
Associate, Development Finance Research
Ishwari Sawant
Associate, Content
Kayden Danh
Associate, Admin and Operations
Kerala Woods
Associate, Digital Communications
Mira Minkara
Associate, Training and Engagement
Shriju Dhakal
Associate, Market Acceleration and Design Funding
Thomas An
Associate, Market Acceleration and Design Funding
Vicky Li
Intern, Market Acceleration and Design Funding
Nnamdi Igbokwe, Ph.D.
Director, Knowledge and Thought Leadership (on leave)
Sijia Yi
Head of Communications (on leave)
Catherine You
Manager, Market Acceleration and Design Funding (on leave)
Regina Rossmann
Manager, Training and Engagement (on leave)
Shailie Rimal
Senior Associate, Market Acceleration and Design Funding (on leave)
Governance
Board of Directors
David Creighton
Senior Advisor, BT Global (Chair)
Phil Bennett
Senior Advisor, Endeavor
Rachna Saxena
Partner, Dalberg Advisors
Victoria Sabula
CEO, Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund (AECF)
Will Poole
Managing Partner and Co-Founder, Capria
Funding Committee
Amit Brar
Senior Advisor, Impact Investing, Catholic Relief Services
Bart Van Eyk
Managing Director, VP Capital
Flora Ji
Global Vice President, Nature Based Solutions, Shell
Geoffrey Seeto
Head of Emerging Markets, New Forests Asia (Singapore) PTE LTD.
Jennifer Buckley
Founder and Managing Director, Sweef Capital
Jesse Ang
Independent Director, BPI/ACEN
Kaylene Alvarez
Co-founder, BIDUK Indonesia; Founder & CEO, Athena Global Alliance
Lily Han, CFA
Director, Innovative Finance, Rockefeller Foundation
Paul Currie
Advisor, Office of the CEO, Development Bank of Southern Africa
Ricardo Nogueira
Member, Green Climate Fund's independent Technical Advisory Panel
Sébastien Boyé
Co-CEO, Investisseurs & Partenaires (I&P)
Sergio Gusmão Suchodolski
Executive Vice President VR Investments
Stacy Swann
Former CEO and Founding Partner, Climate Finance Advisors
Tariye Gbadegesin
CEO, ARM-Harith Infrastructure Investment Ltd.
Thelma Ekiyor
Managing Partner, SME.NG
Vipul Bhagat
Senior Advisor, Castalia
Partners and Funders
Convergence was conceived under the World Economic Forum and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's Development Assistant Committee's (OECD-DAC’s) ReDesigning Development Finance Initiative. Convergence was designed and launched by the Global Development Incubator and Dalberg Advisors.
We are funded by
Market builders, key stakeholder committed to building the blended finance ecosystem
Past funders
Partners
Contact Us
Toronto, ON M5C 2V6,
Canada