Track II: Private Sector Growth
Panel 1: Small Business, Big Impact: Creating an Enabling Environment for SME Growth
Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) represent that largest segment of the formal private sector in most developing countries. As such, they offer an important opportunity for growth, but they also face significant binding constraints. This panel will bring researchers, policymakers, and entrepreneurs together to explore innovative methods of promoting SME growth.
Moderator
Martin Rotemberg is a Visiting Assistant Professor at HKS. He primarily studies the sources of productivity growth ‐ in particular the role of reallocation, both across and within sectors. His dissertation focused on measuring the aggregate effects of government subsidies for small firms in India. He received his Ph.D. in Business Economics from Harvard in 2015.
Speakers
Lucia Sanchez is the Director of the Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) Program at Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA). Besides providing strategic leadership to the program, she coordinates its research network and agenda, and leads the Program’s efforts on project development, fundraising and policy outreach. Prior to joining IPA, she worked on the design and implementation of SME development policies, both at the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) in Vietnam, and at the National Ministry of Industry and the National Bank in Argentina. She holds a Masters degree in Public Administration in International Development (MPA/ID) from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, a graduate degree in Development Economics from FLACSO, and an BA in Sociology (honors) from University of Buenos Aires. Simon Winter is TechnoServe’s Senior Vice President of Development. He is responsible for leading strategy, thought leadership, and business and program development. He is also responsible for managing and incubating innovative programs, including around capital access for SMEs. Previously he was Regional Director for Africa. He joined TechnoServe in 2003.
Simon Winter is TechnoServe’s Senior Vice President of Development. He is responsible for leading strategy, thought leadership, and business and program development. He is also responsible for managing and incubating innovative programs, including around capital access for SMEs. Previously he was Regional Director for Africa. He joined TechnoServe in 2003. Simon was a management consultant with McKinsey and Company (1998–2003) during which he co-led the firm’s international development practice. He worked as an economic planner for the Botswana government, and a development consultant in Southern Africa. He started his career with Barclays Bank plc in the UK, Cote d’Ivoire and Australia. Simon is currently a Senior Fellow at the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government at Harvard’s Kennedy School, and taking a six month sabbatical from TechnoServe. He is a founding Executive Committee member of the Aspen Network for Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE), a Board Member of Root Capital, a steering committee member of the Initiative for Smallholder Finance, and a member of the Transformation Leaders Network of the World Economic Forum’s New Vision for Agriculture. Simon originates from the UK and holds a PhD in economics from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, 1998, which focused on the development of the manufacturing sector in Zimbabwe.
Alan Martinez leads the account management team of EFL. He has partnered with chief executives and other senior leaders of the top banks providing access to capital for underserved entrepreneurs and consumers across North America, Europe, Africa, Asia and Latin America. After starting his lending career at ShoreBank in Chicago, he joined ShoreBank International where he founded the company’s credit scoring practice and led micro and SME finance programs across the globe.Alan earned a BA in Philosophy from the University of Texas and a Master’s degree in Public Policy from Harvard University.
CJ Fonzi leads Dalberg Group’s efforts to identify, innovate, and support new business lines that increase Dalberg’s overall contribution to inclusive and sustainable growth. CJ’s mandate is to develop a range complementary business models that thrive as commercial enterprises while addressing the challenges facing the world’s most vulnerable people. CJ stepped into this role after four years with Dalberg Global Development Advisors initially in South Africa and most recently as a Senior Project Manager in New York. As a consultant, CJ primarily focused on Impact investing, SME finance and support, digital financial services, and impact measurement. CJ joined Dalberg from the Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN) where he served as Manager of the Impact Reporting and Investment Standards (IRIS). In this role CJ led the development of the IRIS 2.0 standards, worked closely with 30 impact investors to collect their social performance data, and authored the first IRIS data report Data Driven. CJ Served on the Obama Administration’s Council of Experts for the 2016 Global Entrepreneurship summit, and was member of the steering committee for the Aspen Network for Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE) in South Africa. Last year, CJ coauthored the SSIR article “Metrics 3.0: A New vision for Shared Metrics”. He holds an MBA from Cornell University with a concentration in Sustainable Global Enterprise and a BS with high honors from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Information Technology.
Panel 2: Successful Cases in Know-how Acquisition and Industrial Transformation
The panel will discuss successful cases of transformation and industrialization. How public institutions can facilitate the process and the impact of financial institutions on transformation and industrialization.
Moderator
Juan Pablo Chauvin is a PhD candidate in Public Policy associated with the Center for International Development and the Taubman Center for State and Local Government at Harvard. His research focuses on Development Economics and Urban Economics, with a focus on the role of productive structures and human capital in the development of cities, regions and countries. In the past he was a Consultant with the German Technical Cooperation Agency (GIZ) in Ecuador where he advised local and provincial governments on economic development policies. He is also an Instructor and Teaching Fellow in Economics and Statistics at the Harvard Kennedy School, and has held teaching positions at Ecuadorian universities. He holds a BA in Economics and a BA in Sociology from Universidad San Francisco de Quito, a Master in Public Policy (Local Development) from FLACSO-Ecuador and a Master in Public Administration in International Development from Harvard
Speakers
Margaret McMillan is a professor of economics at Tufts University and a Research Associate in the NBER’s program on International Trade and Investment. In 2009, she was appointed the Director of the Development Strategies and Governance Division of the International Food Policy Research Institute. McMillan holds a Ph.D. in economics (with distinction) from Columbia University an MPA from Princeton University and B.A. in mathematics and economics (summa cum laude) from Boston University. Before coming to academia, she taught math in the Republic of Mali, managed a project for the World Bank in the United Republic of Tanzania and worked as a financial analyst at Lehman Brothers. McMillan’s research interests lie in the areas of international trade, investment and development. McMillan is the recipient of numerous awards for her research. In 2005, she was named the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation Fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. She is also a recipient of research grants from the National Science Foundation, the Center for Aids Research and the NBER Africa Project. She is currently the principal investigator on a multi-million dollar project funded by the Economic and Social Research Council of the U.K. designed to enhance the understanding of economic growth and structural change in Sub-Saharan Africa. Her work has been featured in the New York Times and the NBER Digest and has been published in a wide range of leading economics journals.
Helen Hai is the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) Goodwill Ambassador for industrialization in Africa. She is the CEO of the Made in Africa Initiative which advises the governments of Ethiopia, Rwanda, and Senegal for industrialization and investment promotion and. Ambassador Hai is Co-Founder of C&H Garments, which is a pioneer Pan-African export-oriented garments manufacturer with presence in Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda and Senegal. Ambassador Hai was trained as an actuary in the United Kingdom with 15 years of international experience in FTSE 100 companies. She served previously as Vice President and Chief Actuary for Zurich Financial Services in China, and a Partner in Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group in London. She has BA in actuarial science and MSc in actuarial management from CASS Business School in London and EMBA from INSEAD and Tsinghua University. Ambassador Hai was named a 2015 Global Young Leader by World Economic Forum and received the 2015 African Business Icon Award. She is on the committee of Global Commission on Business and Sustainable Development.
Obi O. Emekekwue joined Afreximbank in September 2012 as head of the External Communications Unit with the title of Senior Manager. In that position, he has overseen the establishment of a substantive External Communications Unit and has been responsible for designing, managing and implementing the Bank’s communications and outreach strategies. Prior to joining the Bank, he worked for 18 years at the United Nations, most recently serving as a senior Press Officer in the Department of Public Information at the New York Headquarters. His United Nations experience also included stints as Public Information Officer, Media Specialist and Programme Specialist in several agencies, including the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), with tasks spanning such areas as press coverage of the United Nations General Assembly and its Main Committees; management of Africa-focused communications activities at UNDP; overseeing communications activities at the United Nations Country Team in Papua New Guinea; and overseeing the implementation of population development programmes and activities in 11 West African countries at UNFPA. Before his United Nations career, Obi was United Nations and North America Bureau Chief of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), an organization he also served variously as Senior Political Correspondent, Business Correspondent, Editor, Sub-Editor, and Sports Correspondent. Obi completed his Master of Arts in international relations at St. John’s University, New York, with a 4.0 GPA and received a postgraduate certificate in international law and diplomacy from the same institution. He also holds a bachelor’s degree in mass communication from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.
Paula Byer is the Chief Research Officer in the Office of the Prime Minister of Barbados and regional trade specialist with responsibility for implementation of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy in Barbados. Ms. Byer holds a Master of Science of degree in Economic Analysis and Policy and has spent more than 16 years advancing the interests of the Government of Barbados and the Caribbean Community in international trade matters. Her work spanned Caribbean Community negotiations, ACP‐EU and WTO matters and the now suspended CARICOM‐Canada and Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) negotiations. As a member of the Barbados team of negotiators Ms. Byer pursued provisions aimed at industrial advancement and increased investment in the Caribbean. Her current responsibilities include assessing the impact of the regional integration programme on the development prospects of the Caribbean economies. Ms. Byer is a Mason Fellow and Rausing Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government pursuing a Master in Public Administration.
Panel 3: Leveraging FDI for Sustained and Equitable Growth
The panel will explore cases across the globe in which FDI successfully fueled sustainable and inclusive growth. Practitioners, policymakers, and academic participants will discuss what made these cases different and how to create an eco-system in which FDI can catalyze growth.
Moderator
Matte Hartog is a Research Fellow at the Center for International Development at Harvard University. His research focuses on the role of knowledge diffusion through external sources in fostering structural change of economies. For new economic activities to develop in countries, cities and firms, an influx of new capabilities is often necessary, which can be obtained through the inflow of organizations (for instance, multinational companies) and people from elsewhere. Matte particularly focuses on economic development in Colombia and Mexico. He graduated from the London School of Economics with a Master’s degree in Local Economic Development and from Utrecht University with a Master’s degree in Human Geography and Planning, and conducted PhD research on economic development in Colombia, Finland, The Netherlands and Sweden.
Speakers
Brigit Helms is the General Manager of the Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF).Prior to joining the MIF, she served as the Director of SPEED, a USAID-funded program in Mozambique seeking to improve the business environment in that country. Before joining SPEED, Dr. Helms was senior expert for financial inclusion at McKinsey and Company, where she worked with banks and telecommunications companies to build new business models to reach low income clients and chief executive officer of Unitus, Inc., a global non-profit dedicated to financial services in East Africa and India.Dr. Helms spent four years with the International Finance Corporation, where she led the organization’s Advisory Services work in Indonesia. She was a founding member of the Consultative Group to Assist the Poorest (CGAP), a global center for financial services. Early in her career, Dr. Helms held positions in the Latin America and Caribbean Division of the International Fund for Agriculture Development and the Caribbean Basin Division of the U.S. Department of Commerce. She holds a Ph.D. in Agriculture and Development Economics from Stanford University and a Masters in International Studies from Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies.
Professor Maggie Kigozi is a fellow of the Africa Leadership Initiative of the Aspen Institute, a trustee of the Shell Foundation and the chairperson of the Africa Scout Foundation. She is a Medical Doctor by training who practiced Medicine in Uganda, Kenya and Zambia. She joined the corporate world in 1994 as Marketing Director of Crown Bottlers (Pepsi) Ltd. In 2000, she was appointed as the Executive Director of Uganda Investment Authority. During her tenure the UIA received 4 billion $ foreign investment and licensed 10 billion $ domestic investment. Following her retirement in 2011, she consulted UNIDO and ITC. Maggie sits on the boards of the Private Sector Foundation and Uganda Manufacturers Association where she chairs the Marketing Committee which hosts the Uganda International Trade Fair. She is a board member of Ugandan National Forestry Authority, Mulago Hospital and CBA Bank. As the president of the Business and Professional Women (BPW) and a member of The Elders forum of Uganda and The Women’s Situation Room, she is engages activities that promote leadership and entrepreneurship for women and youth and ensure peace in the region. Maggie was an ardent sportswoman and represented Uganda in Tennis, Table Tennis, Squash and Motorcycle Racing.
Karl P. Sauvant, Ph.D.
is Resident Senior Fellow at the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment (CCSI), a joint center of Columbia Law School and the Earth Institute at Columbia University; Adjunct Senior Research Scholar and Lecturer-in-Law at Columbia Law School; Fellow, Academy of International Business; and Honorary Fellow, European International Business Academy. Until July 2005, Dr. Sauvant was Director of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development’s (UNCTAD’s) Investment Division (DITE). His responsibilities included managing the Division; promoting international consensus-building in the areas of FDI, technology and enterprise development; providing intellectual leadership for policy-oriented research; and conceptualizing and supervising technical assistance activities in this field. Dr. Sauvant had joined the United Nations in 1973 and, as of 1975, focused his work on matters related to FDI. In 1988, he became responsible for the Organization’s policy analysis work on FDI. In 2001, he became Director of DITE. While at the U.N., he created, in 1991, the prestigious annual World Investment Report, of which he was the lead author until 2004. In 1992, Dr. Sauvant founded the journal Transnational Corporations, serving as its editor until 2005. He provided intellectual leadership and guidance to a series of 25 monographs on key issues related to international investment agreements, which were published in 2004/05 in three volumes, and he edited, together with Dr. John H. Dunning, a 20-volume Library on Transnational Corporations (published by Routledge). His name is associated with a great number of United Nations publications on FDI over his three decades of service in the U.N. Dr. Sauvant received a Ph.D. degree from the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. He is a national of Germany, married to Silvana F. da Silva, a national of Brazil.