Eren Kelekci

Chief Investment Officer, Food and Agriculture at African Development Bank (AfDB)

Speaker

Eren Kelekci has over 15 years of professional experience in the investment industry on a wide range of asset classes, investment strategies/solutions and geographies both in direct and fund investments. Eren joined the African Development Bank in 2018 as Chief Private Sector and Blended Finance, focusing on the origination of transactions in food and agriculture. Prior to joining the Bank, Eren was in charge of a SME Investment Platform dedicated to supporting SMEs across emerging and frontier markets through a range of investment vehicles, advisory solutions and technical assistance mechanisms. Eren’s role included the design, creation and management of the platform and team; establishing joint ventures and building local investment teams; sourcing and executing equity investments; developing strategic partnerships, actively raising funds among institutional investors and acting as Director in 5 Boards and 2 investment committees of investee entities across MENA, Central Asia and South-East Asia. Eren has also occupied general management functions seconded as an acting CEO for financial institutions in Caucasus and Central Asia. Prior to that, he was in charge of the funds/product strategy for Europe at Aviva Investors London, and lecturer at Sciences Po Paris. His past experience includes fund management/investment related roles, financial/product structuring, business development, corporate development and strategic consultancy in different companies as Andersen, AXA Investment Managers, HSBC and Aviva Investors for a wide range of institutional investors across Europe and Asia. He was also involved in education, as Academic Director of the Master in Finance and Strategy with a focus on the Finance Major at SciencesPo Paris.