Who we are

EDFI Association


Mission

EDFI member institutions are focused on the development of private sector enterprises and operate in developing countries and emerging economies. They are mandated by their governments to contribute to the SDGs by creating jobs, boosting growth, fighting poverty and climate change. Although EDFI members have slightly different mandates and strategies, they are guided by a common ambition: “To improve people’s lives – for current and future generations – in countries where the need is the strongest, through the engine of private sector growth.”

    Vision shared by European DFIs
    A world where the private sector offers people in low- and middle-income countries opportunities for decent work and improved lives, and where private investment flows are aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Climate Agreement.

    Mission of the EDFI Association
    To promote the joint interests of the members, inform policy, and drive innovation in industry standards.

    Core values of our industry

    • Responsible
    • Sustainable
    • Impact-driven
    • Trusted
    • Transparent

    History

    DFIs emerged right after WW2. CDC was established in 1948, DEG in 1962, IFU in 1967, and FMO in 1970. Gradually, more and more countries considered ways to support private sector investments in developing countries and subsequently decided to set up their own DFI.

    Seven European DFIs agreed in 1992 to establish the Association of European Development Finance Institutions (EDFI) to strengthen cooperation and to facilitate knowledge sharing and learning. Other institutions progressively joined the Association, which today represents 15 members. EDFI remains open to new members. Please visit the members section for more information on the eligibility criteria.

    EDFI aims to play an important role in helping members respond to the new development paradigm by stepping up its communications and adding more resources. EDFI has also established a new Management Company in 2016, which already manages ElectriFI and AgriFI,  EU-funded facilities to support renewable energy and sustainable agriculture.

    Governance

    EDFI asbl is a non-profit association, registered in 1992 within Belgium. Its legal bodies are defined in its bylaws. The EDFI supreme body is the General Meeting, which convenes once a year. Extraordinary General Meetings are convened by the Board of Directors whenever deemed necessary or upon request of one fifth of its Members.

    The Association is managed by a Board of Directors consisting of up to seven directors, elected by the General Meeting among the representatives appointed by the Members, by a simple majority, for a two-year term. They are eligible for re-election at the end of their first term for a total of four consecutive years. The Board of Directors elects the Chairperson among the directors or it may nominate an individual to be elected both as a Director and as a Chairperson, also for a renewable two-year term. The current Chairperson is serving in an individual capacity and has been elected by the General Meeting.

    The General Manager, nominated and revoked by the General Meeting, is responsible for EDFI daily management and reports to the Board of Directors. The Board has set up Networking Groups for the exchange of experience and information. Seven formal Networking Groups that meet once or twice per year. The groups are:

    • Environment and Social Standards
    • Development effects
    • Technical Assistance
    • Corporate governance
    • Communications
    • HR
    • Legal

    EU Transparency Register 410540760-32

    Board members

    Luuk Zonneveld

    Chairman

    Luuk Zonneveld
    Chairman

    Mr. Zonneveld is Chief Executive Officer of the Belgian Investment  Company  for  Developing Countries (BIO) since December 2012.

    He has worked in development since the 1980s, in particular in the promotion and financing of the private sector.

    From 2008 to 2012, he was Managing Director of the Belgian non-profit organisation Vredeseilanden. Previously, he was one of the architects of the success of Fairtrade labeling, as Managing Director of its global umbrella Fairtrade International in Bonn from 2001 to 2007.

    After graduating in psychology, sociology and economics in France and the Netherlands, he started his career as a journalist. Zonneveld later held various positions in the international trade business and within NGOs and organisations active in North-South Cooperation such as Oxfam, in the Netherlands, Germany and Cuba.

    Antonella Baldino

    Chief International Development Finance Officer at CDP S.p.A

    Antonella Baldino
    Chief International Development Finance Officer at CDP S.p.A

    Ms. Baldino holds an Honours Degree in economics from Sapienza University in Rome and an M.A. degree in International Economics from the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva.

    Since 2018, she has been the Chief International Development Finance Officer at Cassa Depositi e Prestiti S.p.A. and board member of The Marguerite Fund, Credito Sportivo and Fintecna S.p.A. She has been a Director on the Board of Terna S.p.A. since 18 May 2020.

    She joined in 2015 Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, where she held the position of Chief Business Officer until 2018. Previously, she worked for key international financial institutions in the corporate, investment banking and research sectors, focusing on infrastructure, as well as public and development finance.

    At the beginning of her career, Ms. Baldino served as an economist at the World Bank in the Central Western Africa Department and at The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.

    Maria Håkansson

    CEO, Swedfund

    Maria Håkansson
    CEO, Swedfund

    Maria Håkansson is Chief Executive Officer of Swedfund, the Swedish Governments Development Finance Institution. The goal of Swedfund is to fight poverty through the creation of sustainable businesses in developing countries and thereby to contribute to Agenda 2030. Maria Håkansson is a business-oriented executive with experience from finance, mergers & aquisitions, sales, digitalization and new business models. She has a strong track record in building sustainable businesses and a long experience from leading global multi-cultural teams. Before joining Swedfund, Maria gained 20 years’ experience from a variety of senior positions at Ericsson, notably in her last position as Head of Internet of Things.

    Roland Siller Photo by Martina Goyert

    Roland Siller

    CEO, DEG - Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH

    Roland Siller
    CEO, DEG - Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH

    Mr. Siller has been since 15 July 2021 the Chief Executive Officer of DEG — Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH. He previously was a Member of the Management Committee at KfW Development Bank since 2012, in charge of Strategy, Policy and Latin America since 2019. Siller holds a master’s degree in business administration and political science from the University of Erlangen-Nürnberg (Germany) and the Institut d’Etudes Politiques of Strasbourg (France) and completed the Postgraduate Programme of the German Development Institute (DIE). He began his career at KfW in 1993. For two years he was seconded to the French Development Bank AFD. Since 2000 he has held various management positions at KfW Development Bank. Parallel to this, Siller attended the Advanced Management Program at Wharton Business School.

    Nick O’Donohoe

    CEO, British International Investment (BII)

    Nick O’Donohoe
    CEO, British International Investment (BII)

    Mr. O’Donohoe joined BII (previously CDC) as its Chief Executive in June 2017 and is also a member of the BII Board. He was previously a Senior Adviser to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation where he specialised in the use of blended finance models to support the work of the Foundation.

    Prior to taking this role, he co-founded, with Sir Ronald Cohen, Big Society Capital (BSC). He served from 2011 to December 2015 as its Chief Executive Officer. BSC is an independent financial institution established by the UK Government as “the world’s first social investment bank” and is capitalised with unclaimed UK bank accounts and investment by the largest UK banks.

    Previously O’Donohoe worked at JP Morgan, latterly as Global Head of Research. He was a member of the Management Committee of the Investment Bank and the Executive Committee of JP Morgan Chase, as well as the senior sponsor for JP Morgan’s Social Finance  Unit. Nick co-authored “Impact Investments: An Emerging Asset Class”, published by JP Morgan and the Rockefeller Foundation in November 2010. Prior to JP Morgan, he spent fifteen years at Goldman Sachs.

    Nick served as Chairman of the UK Dormant Assets Commission which reported in March 2017. He is also a board member of the Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN) and Deputy Chairman of the Global Steering Group on Impact Investment.

    Sabine Gaber

    Sabine Gaber

    Member of the Executive Board, OeEB

    Sabine Gaber
    Member of the Executive Board, OeEB

    Ms. Gaber has been a Member of the Executive Board of OeEB since January 2018. She joined OeEB in 2009 and served as Managing Director of the Investment Finance department, which provides long-term loans and fund investments to private sector projects in developing countries and emerging markets worldwide.

     

    She studied international business administration in Vienna and Los Angeles. During her 20 years of experience in various commercial banks, she has been responsible for structuring complex international projects both on market as well as on credit risk side.

    Nanno Kleiterp

    Honorary Chair

    Nanno Kleiterp
    Honorary Chair

    Mr. Kleiterp is the Honorary Chairman of EDFI. He is also Chairman of the Board of Directors of the &Green Fund.

    Nanno serves on the advisory boards of Forum International and Commonland. He is senior fellow of the World Resources Institute, a global research institute that focuses on critical issues at the intersection of environment and development.

    Kleiterp served on the Management Board of the Dutch Development Bank (FMO) for 21 years, first as Chief Financial Officer and from 2008 to 2016 as Chief Executive Officer. He started his career with FMO in 1987 as an Investment Officer at the SME department. Prior to joining FMO, he gained experience in development finance in the private sector while working for nearly 10 years in Peru, Mexico and Nicaragua.

    Secretariat

    Based in Brussels , the EDFI secretariat consists of a 10-member international team.

    David Kuijper

    General Manager (CEO)

    David Kuijper
    General Manager (CEO)

    David joined EDFI in 2023. Before then, he was since 2018 Manager Public Investment and Blended Finance at FMO – the Dutch Development Bank, based in The Hague. Prior to joining FMO, he worked as Advisor on Financing for Development and on Trust Fund Reform at the World Bank Group in Washington DC.

     

    David started his career as an Advisor in the Dutch Parliament and subsequently joined the Netherlands Foreign Service in 1998.

     

    Before joining the World Bank in 2013, he was Deputy Director Environment, Climate, Water and Energy in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Prior to this, he served as Deputy Ambassador of the Netherlands to Pakistan. From 2006 to 2010, he was the Senior Advisor to the Netherlands Executive Director in the Board of the World Bank. He lived and worked in Ghana between 2001 and 2006, heading the Development Cooperation program at the Netherlands Embassy in Accra. He is an alumnus of the Free University Amsterdam, the Netherlands and University College Dublin, Ireland.

    Laure Blanchard-Brunac

    Director Policy & Partnerships

    Laure Blanchard-Brunac
    Director Policy & Partnerships

    Laure Blanchard-Brunac is the Director of Policy & Partnerships of the Association of European Development Finance Institutions (EDFI). Laure’s main areas of expertise are investment, development finance and EU policy. Prior to her role at EDFI, she worked at the European Bank for Reconstruction Development in various senior functions, and at the European Commission, and French Development Finance Institution PROPARCO. After spending more than 10 years executing debt and equity transactions, Laure has contributed to the implementation of key EU policy initiatives, including EU financial instruments. Laure has also been recently appointed as Investment Committee member of InvestEU, an EU flagship initiative to support sustainable investments in the European Union. Laure holds a postgraduate Grande Ecole degree from HEC Paris.

    Pia Krökel Caruana

    Programme Manager, Knowledge & Innovation

    Pia Krökel Caruana
    Programme Manager, Knowledge & Innovation

    Pia Krökel Caruana is Programme Manager for Knowledge & Innovation of the Association of the European Development Finance Institutions (EDFI). In this role she develops and implements strategic EDFI initiatives and data / knowledge programmes. She ensures coordination on projects of strategic relevance to EDFI member institutions, as well as delivery of fact-based industry perspectives and innovation projects. Before joining EDFI in 2023, she worked as Senior Lawyer and Innovation Manager at Freshfield Bruckhaus Deringer LLP, where she built and led a team specialised in multi-jurisdictional M&A and Foreign Investment analyses. In her innovation role she also managed and marketed legal technology solutions and was an active member of the antitrust practice’s technology group. Prior to this, she worked at Cleary Gottlieb Steen and Hamilton LLP from 2011 to 2015 in various knowledge management functions. Pia holds a joint master’s degree in law, which allowed for studies in Germany, France, and India.

    James Brenton

    Sustainable Finance & Impact Advisor

    James Brenton
    Sustainable Finance & Impact Advisor

    Ewa Lubiejewski

    Membership Network Coordinator

    Ewa Lubiejewski
    Membership Network Coordinator

    Katrin Lueke

    Policy Analyst

    Katrin Lueke
    Policy Analyst

    Alina Orrico

    Team Europe Adviser

    Alina Orrico
    Team Europe Adviser
    Phillipe Berger

    Philippe Berger

    Manager Administration & Services

    Philippe Berger
    Manager Administration & Services

    Philippe provides strategic financial management guidance. He leads operational planning, budgeting, and coordinates financial management and reporting as well as coordinates external audit planning. He is also responsible for risk management and policy & governance. Also in charge of human resources, Philippe manages HR development, including recruitment, staff performance and career management. In addition, he oversees procurement, facilities management, administration, supply and logistics management, information and communications, and record management and tackles association secretarial support to general and EDFI board meetings.

     

    Philippe is an expert in strategic financial management, operational planning, budgeting, financial reporting, and risk management and has garnered international experience across both listed companies in the private sector and international organizations within the public. He worked in the United Kingdom at MCG PLC and in Vienna for the Organization for the Security and Cooperation in Europe. His extensive background is complemented by a wide-ranging grasp of organizational operations and has a proven track record in driving positive change. He began his career as an auditor at Price Waterhouse Coopers in Paris.

     

    Philippe holds a master’s degree from Montpellier Business School and is a qualified French chartered accountant with a diplôme d’expertise-comptable.

    Aklesso Barthélémy Tchedou

    Policy Officer

    Aklesso Barthélémy Tchedou
    Policy Officer

    As Policy Officer at the Association of European Development Finance Institutions (EDFI), Aklesso focuses namely on sustainable finance, EU banking, and financial policies and regulations. In addition, he coordinates at EDFI level select EU and international initiatives to bolster entrepreneurship and growth of small- and medium-sized businesses in Africa. Those include the Team Europe Initiative IYBA – called Investing in Young Businesses In Africa and the AforE – the Alliance for Entrepreneurship in Africa.

     

    Prior to joining EDFI, Aklesso was selected in October 2021 as a Blue Book trainee at the European Commission. Assigned to the Office of the Director for Africa in DG INTPA, he quickly immersed himself in the intricate landscape of EU policies, missions, and procedures. In that role, he gained invaluable knowledge and experience in EU development cooperation programming in Sub-Saharan Africa under the NDICI-Global Europe financial instrument.

     

    Before embarking on a new chapter of his professional journey in EU policy in Brussels, he began his career working for four years in Bologna, Italy, as a paralegal focused on both Italian and American nationality and corporate/business immigration laws.

     

    Aklesso received a master’s degree in international development and cooperation from the University of Bologna. As part of his graduate studies, he completed an exchange programme at the Bologna campus of the Johns Hopkins University – School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS Europe). His strong academic background also includes a bachelor’s degree in social sciences and social work earned from the University of Siena, Italy.

     

    James Pieper

    Senior Communications Specialist

    James Pieper
    Senior Communications Specialist

    James leads strategic and tactical communication work for the association. He advises, manages, and executes projects around media relations, publishing, social media, events and web content management. He holds a masters degree in managerial communications from Northwestern University, a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Minnesota, and a music degree from Valley City State University in North Dakota, United States.

     

    Jiri Bedrnicek

    Executive Assistant

    Jiri Bedrnicek
    Executive Assistant

    Originally from the Czech Republic, Jiri handles day-to-day administration work for the association. A language and linguistics expert, the native Czech speaker has also mastered, French, English, Portuguese and Arabic and beginning Kiswahili and Polish. A strong storyteller, language consultant and language data analyst, Bedrnicek applies his passion for language in both the private and public sectors. He most recently worked at Accenture as an executive support analyst for Belgium and France. Before then he was a consultant for language schools and institutions a Czech linguist at Cerence, which provides automotive assistants focussed on machine learning for voice recognition software for the automotive sector. He also was a communication specialist at ICON Communications at Limitless Technology and a Czech language consultant at Appen and TELUS International. Before that he was granted a European Commission bluebook traineeship in the communications directorate general. Before that, he worked as a language data analyst at TransPerfect, a global language services provider. He gained early career experience at the Czech embassy in Rabat, Morocco. Bedrnicek received bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Charles University in Prague and progresses towards a doctorate from INALCO in Paris on research which examines languages, literature and society in Africa.

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