Alexandre Lazarow Director Cathay Innovation #challengerbanks

Alexandre Lazarow Director Cathay Innovation: Alex has worked at the intersection of investing, innovation, and economic development across the public, private, and social sectors for more than a decade. He is a venture capitalist with Cathay Innovation, a global investment firm, with over $3.0 billion in assets, and offices across the world. He is also an Adjunct Professor with the Middlebury Institute for International Studies MBA program, where he teaches entrepreneurship. Previously, Alex worked with Omidyar Network, a global early stage investing platform that has invested over a billion dollars in hundreds of startups. Alex has experience in strategy consulting with McKinsey & Co., financial regulation with the Bank of Canada, and M&A investment banking with the Royal Bank of Canada. He is a Kauffman Fellow, CFA Charterholder, and CFR Term Member. He earned an MBA from Harvard Business School and a B.Comm from the University of Manitoba.

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Arjuna Costa Managing Partner Flourish Ventures #fintechinvesting

Arjuna Costa Managing Partner Flourish Ventures  Arjuna is driven by a deep compassion for vulnerable populations across the globe, and partners with entrepreneurs using innovative technologies to enhance their customers’ financial well-being. As a managing partner, he co-manages Flourish, with a primary focus on venture investing across emerging markets in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Before Flourish, Arjuna was a partner at Omidyar Network, where he built a global portfolio of early-stage, inclusive fintech companies. Prior to that, Arjuna developed a deep understanding of the potential to radically alter traditional “brick-and-mortar” economics through mobile money solutions for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Before that, he invested equity and debt in consumer finance companies in emerging markets at The Rohatyn Group, a multi-billion dollar emerging markets investment firm. In 2003, Arjuna cofounded a $120-million private equity fund focused on the turnaround of distressed commercial banks in Africa. The fund grew out of advising governments on the restructuring and privatization of its banking sector. Arjuna began his career at Lehman Brothers, where he spent five years financing power plants and airports globally. Arjuna earned an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA in computer science from Columbia University.

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