Gender Equality & Women Empowerment pitching competition

Speakers

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  Sacha Haider Principal, Global Ventures
  

  Sacha Haider

  Principal, Global Ventures

  Sacha is a Principal at Global Ventures leading the firm’s Sub-Saharan African Investment Team. Sacha has investment experience across Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, MENA and Asia. Prior to Global Ventures, Sacha was a Private Equity Associate at Colony Capital in Mexico City, for its Pacific Alliance fund. Sacha has also worked for The Abraaj Group’s Sub-Saharan Africa fund based in Kenya. Sacha also has experience at L Catterton in Singapore. Sacha is fluent in Spanish and Urdu, and holds a BA in History and Politics from the University of Warwick.

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  Romulo Navarrete Partnerships Manager LATAM, Seedstars
  

  Romulo Navarrete

  Partnerships Manager LATAM, Seedstars

  Originally from Peru, Romulo has developed an international career from very early on that has allowed him to be knowledgeable in market expansion, sales, operations, strategic planning, and management & recruitment of diverse global teams. He is also keen on the SDGs conversation in relation with the startups scene in emerging markets, particularly in the Edtech, Healthtech, Gender Equality, Reduced Inequalities and Climate Action sectors.

  He studied Business Management at University of South Florida and started a career in Peru at the global leader company in international education, EF Education First. With proven sales experience in his home country, he then moved to Sao Paulo to expand the regional sales for the company in Brazil. Believing in the importance of continuous education and life experiences, he studied a Diploma in Sales Management in ESPM, pursued a Specialization in International Business in Rotterdam University and soon after, became an English teacher volunteer in a rural primary school in Thailand.

  He joined Seedstars soon after going back to Peru and launched the Seedstars Latin America tour in 2016, looking for the most promising entrepreneurs in the region and organizing the Seedstars World competition that connected the startups with investors, mentors and the public/private sector. After a year of travelling to more than 17 ecosystems in Latin America & the Caribbean, he moved to South Africa to start Seedspace, a strategic network of coworking and coliving hubs that is now present in 15 cities. This allowed Seedstars to set a physical footprint in Asia, Africa, Middle East and Latin America, and to actively promote the activities of the company. On his side, this got Romulo experience in launching a completely new business line across different parts of the world, keeping a global strategy adaptable to local markets

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  Jimena Serrano Consultant in Gender Equity and Women's Empowerment, IDB Invest
  

  Jimena Serrano

  Consultant in Gender Equity and Women's Empowerment, IDB Invest

  Jimena is senior advisor in Gender, Diversity and Inclusion at IDB Invest, the private sector branch of the Inter-American Development Bank Group. In her current role, she creates opportunities for women and minorities to maximize the impact of IDB Invest’s investments in Latin America and the Caribbean that enhance clients’ organizational structure and business operations. She co-led, along with the UN Global Compact and UN Women, the creation of the Women’s Empowerment Principles Gap Analysis Tool, which is used globally to assess inclusiveness of corporate policies and practices. She also works closely with the blended finance team to use finance to incentivize inclusion in a financial transaction.

  Prior to joining IDB Invest, Jimena was a senior analyst in the consulting branch of the Economist Intelligence Unit, where she participated in the design of multiple indices, including the WEVentureScope on female entrepreneurship in Latin America and the Caribbean and the Microscope on Microfinance, a global index that measures the regulatory environment for financial inclusion.