Andia Chakava

Co-Founder & Managing Partner at Afrishela and Investment Director at Graça Machel Trust

Panellist

Andia Chakava has over 20 years’ experience in fund management and over 14 years of driving the women economic advancement Agenda. Andia has established herself as a global thought leader in gender lens investing and is one of the first female fund managers in the Africa region and has made considerable contributions towards promoting the social and economic inclusion of women in Africa through the development and structuring of fit for purpose funds having set up two fund management companies in East Africa.

At Graca Machel Trust ( GMT ) in her role as Investment Director, she leads their access to finance initiatives and is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of a $30 million ( still raising ) Pan African gender lens impact investment blended finance vehicle called Afrishela to invest in ‘missing middle’ enterprises in East and Southern Africa.

Andia sits on the board of East African Educational Publishers ( family owned business ) and is an independent director at Sterling Investment Bank. She has over 20 years of senior leadership experience working comfortably across interdisciplinary and multi-cultural teams. Andia has experience in providing both financial and non-financial support to early stage growth enterprises where she advocates for the need of responsive capital, pioneers innovative financial instruments and sources diverse pools of capital globally in order to serve the needs of underserved and underfunded market segments.