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Sustainable Finance in Practice: Mobilising Capital & Building Careers in Impact Investing
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Tue, Apr 28, 2026
5 PM – 7 PM (GMT+1)
Private Location (sign in to display)
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The discussion will focus on real-world challenges in mobilising capital at scale, including financial structures, risk-sharing mechanisms and investment barriers in emerging markets, while also offering insights into career pathways in climate and impact finance.
Food Provided (Drinks provided)
Speakers
Jo Fry, Managing Director, Head of Intermediated Financial Services at British International Investm
Head of Intermediated Financial Services
British International Investment (BII)
Jo Fry joined British International Investment (BII), the UK’s development finance institution, in late 2019 to establish its Intermediated Credit team, focused on expanding lending into BII’s markets through high‑quality financial intermediaries. She built this new team - now known as Intermediated Financial Services – and has a diversified portfolio spanning credit and private equity funds, bank risk‑sharing facilities, and structured debt across Africa, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. Under her leadership, the team has delivered innovative, high‑impact investments in climate finance and financial inclusion, with a strong emphasis on mobilising commercial capital into BII’s markets.
Previously, Jo worked for GE Capital where she was Managing Director and Head of Investors, Capital Markets. Before joining GE Capital, Jo worked for Lloyds Banking Group as a Director in their Structured Securitisation team. She started her career at Dresdner Kleinwort in their Debt Principal Finance and Securitisation team.
Jo has an MSc in Public Health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (University of London) and a BA in Human Sciences from the University of Oxford.
Shivani Arora, Senior Vice President, Social Finance, at Citi
Senior Vice President, Social Finance
Citi
Shivani Arora is a Senior Vice President at Citi, in the Social Finance team within the Corporate Bank’s Public Sector Banking business. She leads the team’s efforts across Asia, delivering commercially viable debt financing solutions that expand access to essential services in emerging markets. Citi Social Finance works across businesses, products, and geographies to support sectors such as financial inclusion, food and agriculture, healthcare, water and sanitation, education, affordable housing and infrastructure. To-date, the bank has mobilized over $10 billion in financing across 50+ countries, impacting more than 15 million underserved households. Shivani holds a Bachelor of Science in Business and Finance from Carnegie Mellon University, with a double major in Information Systems.
Ana Nadal, Director at Cygnum Capital
Director
Cygnum Capital
Ana Nadal is a Director at Cygnum Capital, a London-based asset management firm focused on delivering development finance solutions across frontier and emerging markets. She works on structuring and deploying capital into high-impact investments, supporting sectors such as infrastructure, financial institutions and sustainable development initiatives.
Ana is an investment professional with experience originating, structuring and executing transactions across developed and emerging markets, including corporates, financial institutions and sovereigns. Her work focuses on designing investment strategies and vehicles that help channel capital into underserved markets, addressing financing gaps and enabling sustainable economic growth.
Prior to joining Cygnum Capital, Ana worked across leading financial institutions including J.P. Morgan and Ares Management, where she gained experience in credit, private debt and emerging markets investing. She has also worked with development finance institutions such as the Inter-American Development Bank and the World Bank, contributing to initiatives focused on portfolio management and economic development.
Ana holds a Master’s degree in International Economics and Finance from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and International Studies from Manhattanville University.
Borja Garcia Fernandez, Senior Sustainable Finance Specialist, Financial Institutions Group
Senior Sustainable Finance Specialist
Financial Institutions Group
Borja is a Senior Sustainable Finance Specialist in the Global Financial Institution Group where he works with the global and regional teams on certain sustainable finance transactions and initiatives. His focus is expanding IFC sustainable finance efforts beyond climate and gender to include other inclusive, social and sustainability segments. He engages across products and financial intermediary segments—such as banks, microfinance institutions (MFIs), funds, and non-bank financial institutions (NBFIs)—with a particular emphasis on replicable transactions in sustainability linked financing, capital markets and structured finance.
Borja was the Head of Structuring and Latin America & Caribbean (LATAM) at Citi Social Finance, based in London. In this role, he led a team across 19 countries in LATAM and spearheaded global resource mobilization efforts with Development Finance Institutions and impact and institutional investors. His work involved innovative financial structures such as co-financing, risk-sharing programs/guarantees, structured finance and sustainable trade finance. During his tenure at Citi, Borja successfully mobilized over USD 4.5 billion towards emerging markets across Africa, Asia, and LATAM, supporting sectors including financial inclusion, healthcare, education, water and sanitation, and affordable housing.
Prior to Citi, Borja worked at British International Investment (BII), formerly CDC Group, the UK’s Development Finance Institution. At BII, he played a pivotal role in structuring impactful transactions across the financial services sector in Africa and South Asia. He was instrumental in establishing BII’s Financial Institutions debt business and later led their Risk Sharing/Guarantee business, focusing on Structured Credit transactions. His work involved collaboration with financial institutions, special purpose vehicles, and private credit and equity funds. He helped to set up the FI and Intermediated Credit business for BII.
Borja also brings valuable experience on development finance from his roles at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) in London and IDB Invest, the private sector arm of the Inter-American Development Bank, based in Washington DC. In these roles, he structured debt and capital markets transactions across Europe and LATAM. Additionally, he worked at Deutsche Bank in London, further enriching his expertise in financial markets.
Borja has a genuine interest in gender-lens investing and has served on the Board of Directors of 2X Global, representing Citi and the private sector.
Borja holds a Master’s degree in Banking and Finance from AFI (Analistas Financieros Internacionales) in Madrid, Spain. In 2022, he was selected to participate in the Harvard Business School – Accion Program on Strategic Leadership in Inclusive Finance, held in Boston, USA.