Amanda Cotterman

SME Ventures Head at IFC

Presenter

Amanda is an experienced investor and operator of emerging markets businesses. She currently leads the International Finance Corporation’s private equity business in frontier markets heading the SME Ventures Program, a US$400M investment platform across Central America, Africa, Central Asia, South and Southeast Asia. Before IFC, Amanda ran a private credit fund investing in early-stage venture capital-backed businesses in East Africa. She has also advised numerous start-ups, SMEs, and growth-stage companies in the region across a wide range of industries on operational improvements. Before that she was an entrepreneur in the Kenya early childhood education market pioneering full day childcare services for professional and middle-class Kenyan consumers.

Prior to her work in East Africa, Amanda was part of the Asia-Pacific Investment Banking Technology team and Equity Capital Markets team at Morgan Stanley in Hong Kong. She has also worked with governments and multinational companies as a consultant in Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America and worked at McKinsey and Co. in Dubai.

Amanda is an American national but has spent her entire professional career outside the US. She graduated from Wellesley College with degrees in Economics and Chinese Studies and received her MBA from Harvard Business School. She was also a Luce Scholar and Fulbright Fellow in Shanghai, China.