Pushing the frontiers of development finance: Beyond financial flows to bankable products

After joining the EIB over 10 years ago, Richard Amor worked on a number of landmark project finance transactions, most notably in Africa, where he focused on projects relating to renewable energy, telecoms, infrastructure and industrial sectors. More recently, Amor was part of the task force within the EIB that was responsible for the creation and design of the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), the joint initiative between the EIB and the European Commission. Through its presence in Africa, the EIB seeks to enable and enhance entrepreneurship and innovation, create new jobs and quality outlets for youth, in addition to promoting the best practice among financial institutions.

Béatrice Delperdange has extensive experience in investment banking and business development, having accumulated it over the time she spent in Tier-1 investment banks. At KOIS Invest, a private equity firm, she works to provide private equity, debt and mezzanine capital to social entrepreneurs in the sectors of healthcare, education and living environment. KOIS Invest also promotes the development of the impact bond mechanism by structuring, placing and managing social impact bonds (SIBs), development impact bonds (DIBs) and humanitarian impact bonds (HIBs). Prior to KOIS, Delperdange was managing director at Deutsche Bank and chief executive officer of a large not-for-profit manufacturing company in Belgium that creates jobs for workers with disabilities.

A financial market professional with in-depth experience ranging across regulation, supervision, banking and microfinance, Thomas Förch advises projects around the world and develops GIZ´s offer of services in the area of “leveraging private sector investments”. Within the GIZ, he previously worked as Head of a SME Finance Project in Myanmar; and as an advisor to Bank Indonesia (Central Bank of Indonesia), among other responsibilities. Prior to joining GIZ, Förch worked in the financial services industry in Switzerland with a focus on investments in emerging markets.

A barrister by trade with over 15 years of experience in the European Commission, Marjeta Jager has worked in a wide range of fields, of which security, energy and transport are inclusive. In her current position, Jager is notably responsible for the European External Investment Plan (EIP), an initiative launched in 2017 and designed to attract more investment, particularly from businesses and private investors in neighbour countries and in Africa. It is expected to leverage €44 billion of investment through an EU input of €4.5 billion. Prior to joining the Commission, Jager worked for over a decade on the accession of Slovenia to the EU for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and was the first Slovenian Ambassador to the EU.