Discover best practices and trends from the Latin American and Caribbean private sector shared by IDB Invest specialists in agribusiness, development impact, energy, financial institutions, transportation, and more.
Blog authors
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Javier BarsantiniJavier is a Lead Investment Officer, Equity and Mezzanine Finance Investments Team at IDB Invest, which he joined in 2002. He is responsible for developing and implementing investment structures that include venture capital in various economic sectors in Latin America and the Caribbean. He has extensive experience in credit and financial analysis, corporate finance, financial intermediaries and senior loan structuring, mezzanine debt and equity investments. Before joining the IDB Group, he worked for five years in the Audit and Consulting departments of KPMG Uruguay. Javier earned a master’s degree in business administration (MBA) in international business, with a major in accounting and finance, from the University of Birmingham (UK) and a professional degree in business administration and accounting from Universidad de la República (Uruguay).
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Jimena Gomez-MerickelJimena Gomez-Merickel is Lead Credit Risk Officer at IDB Invest. As part of the Project Finance team, she brings credit risk expertise to the structuring and monitoring process of large and complex infrastructure, energy and hospitality projects in Latin America and the Caribbean. Jimena joined the IDB Group in 2008 and previously worked in international development consulting for the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and Abt Associates Inc. With over 15 years of experience, Jimena has a bachelor's degree in industrial engineering from the Universidad de los Andes in Colombia, a Master of Science from the London School of Economics and an MBA from Georgetown University.
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Jimena SerranoJimena Serrano is a gender, diversity and inclusion officer in the IDB Invest Advisory Services team in Washington DC. Since 2015, she has advised IDB Invest clients in promoting practices to ensure equal access to opportunities for men and women in the business world, including leadership positions, value chains, and strategies to meet the needs of underrepresented groups as a market opportunity. She has designed gender programs tied to results in the context of blended finance and was one of the leaders in the design of a business tool based on the Women's Empowerment Principles (known as the WEP tool). Before her arrival at IDB Invest, Jimena worked in the public policy consulting area of The Economist Intelligence Unit; she was also part of the core team that prepared the Report on the Full Participation of Women and Girls for the Gates Foundation and the Clinton Foundation. She is a lawyer from the Universidad de Los Andes in Colombia and has a master's degree in international economics from Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).
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Joan Miquel CarrilloJoan Miquel is a Blended Finance Lead Investment Officer in the Financial Products and Services Division at IDB Invest and is based in Washington DC. Joan Miquel joined IDB Invest in 2017 and since 2018 acts as a focal point in the institution of the Climate Investment Funds (CIF). Joan Miquel participates in the design of blended finance solutions across the region with a focus on infrastructure and energy projects with a climate change mitigation or adaptation component. Prior to joining IDB Invest, Joan Miquel developed his professional career at Isolux Corsán Concesiones in the highway concession sector in Spain and Brazil and at Invall Green Energy in the development of wind farm projects in Spain and Eastern Europe. Joan Miquel has a Master of Science in Civil Engineering from the Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya – Barcelona Tech (Spain) and completed the Executive MBA of the ESADE Business School in Barcelona (Spain).
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Joana PascualJoana is a principal investment officer in infrastructure at BID Invest, where she joined in 2016. She is responsible for the origination and structuring of financing operations in the sectors of transportation, energy, water and sanitation, and social infrastructure. She has led transactions in Mexico, Chile, Guatemala, Belize, Jamaica, Argentina, and Uruguay, among other countries in Latin America. Before joining the IDB Group, Joana worked for the International Finance Corporation (IFC) in Latin America and in French and Portuguese-speaking countries in Africa. Joana holds master's degrees in economics and finance from Columbia University in New York (USA) and from the Paris Institute of Political Studies (Sciences Po) (France). In addition, she has a bachelor's degree in economics from the London School of Economics & Political Science.
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Joanne RileyJoanne Riley is a Development Effectiveness Officer in the Development Effectiveness Division (DVF) of IDB Invest, where she works in the structuring, supervision, and evaluation of projects. Prior to joining the IDB Invest she worked in the Office of the Executive Director for the Caribbean at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the Government of Barbados. With over 25 years’ experience in monitoring and evaluation of projects, she has an MSc in Project Planning and Development from University of Bradford, United Kingdom.
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João Diniz AbudJoão Diniz Abud is an Environmental and Social Lead Officer at IDB Invest in São Paulo, in charge of evaluating environmental and social loan risks, proposing mitigation measures consistent with international best practices, and supervising project performance. He has over 15 years of experience in environmental and social impact studies and assessments for urban developments, infrastructure, mining, wind power, pulp and paper, food production and agribusiness projects in Latin America and Africa. Before joining IDB Invest, he has worked for other multilateral development banks and for some of the major international E&S consultancy companies, where he was responsible for conducting environmental, OHS and social compliance audits across a spectrum of industries. João holds a BSc. (Geography) from the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, and a M.Sc. in Spatial Planning and Environmental Management from the University of Barcelona, Spain.
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Joaquin LennonJoaquin Lennon has been an economist at the International Monetary Fund's Statistics Department since 2022, where he leads projects to improve data standards and transparency of countries' official economic data. Previously, Joaquín worked as an economist at the Strategy and Development Department of IDB Invest during the years 2018 and 2021, where he contributed to the preparation of the IDB Group’s Country Strategies, among other strategic products, and led the implementation of data-driven tools to identify the of the Group's borrowing countries’ development challenges and to better understand which interventions could generate the greatest development impacts through the private sector. Joaquin is a co-author of numerous knowledge products on Latin American and Caribbean economic development. Other previous positions Joaquín has held include researcher in economic and public policy issues at the University of Chicago, market analyst at Euromonitor International, economist in the Chilean Chamber of Construction's economic studies department, and consultant on policy evaluation projects in Chile, his native country. Joaquin has a master's degree in applied research methods from the University of Chicago, a master's degree in public policy from the University of Chile, and a bachelor's in economics from the same university.
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Jorge MárquezJorge holds a Master's degree in Public Policy with a specialization in Finance from Harvard University, a Bachelor's degree in Economics with a special mention from the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM) and a CFA Financial Analyst certification from the CFA Institute. Jorge has more than 20 years of experience in the financial markets as a structurer, investor and advisor. He started working at Banco de México in the Financial System Analysis area and later at Sociedad Hipotecaria Federal (SHF) where he served as Chief Financial Officer and developed the first mortgage securitization trading models. Subsequently, he led Infonavit's Financial Markets area, first in charge of the issuance of more than 30 billion pesos in mortgage securitizations, and shortly after the creation of the Infonavit afore with more than 100 billion pesos under management. Subsequently, he was Deputy General Director of Banobras, participating as a member of the Board of Directors. Since 2014, Jorge has served as co-founder and Managing Partner of Inteligencia Capital, a boutique advisory and investment banking firm specializing in the non-bank and SME sector in which he has supported the non-bank financial sector, mainly sofomes, to develop financially and be able to finance themselves through the stock markets. Jorge participates as a member of the Board of several sofomes.
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José Antonio Cortés BarrientosJosé Antonio Cortés holds a Bachelor's Degree in Actuarial Science with a Master's Degree in Insurance and Risk Management from the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM) and a Master of Science in Economics from the University of Essex. In 2015, he joined FIRA, a development financial institution administered by the Central Bank of Mexico and dedicated to supporting the development of the country's rural, agricultural, livestock, forestry, and fisheries sectors, where he held the position of Deputy General Director of Credit until 2020 and the position of Deputy General Director of Business Promotion at present. As Deputy General Director of Credit, he coordinated the regulation and supervision of loans and guarantees and the operation of Financial Intermediaries. In the position of Deputy General Director of Promotion, he develops programs and products, strengthens business relationships with Financial Intermediaries, companies, and clients, and identifies and adopts elements of innovation. In addition, prior to his work at FIRA, Act. Cortés worked in different public and private institutions in the financial sector and the Central Bank of Mexico. In sum, he has 25 years of experience in the financial system, where he has specialized in agricultural and rural financing.
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José BaigJosé is the editor of IDB Invest's Sustainable Business blog.
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José Claudio Linhares PiresJosé Claudio es economista líder en la Oficina de Evaluación y Supervisión del BID y autor de varias evaluaciones sobre proyectos de desarrollo implementados por el Banco. Antes, fue asesor presidencial en el Banco Nacional de Desarrollo Económico (BNDES), en especial en cuestiones relacionadas con la reestructuración de los sectores de infraestructura en Brasil. También fue investigador del Programa de las Naciones Unidas para el Desarrollo (PNUD) junto con el Departamento Económico del BNDES y economista del Departamento Intersindical de Estadística y Estudios Socioeconómicos (DIEESE) en Brasil. Tiene un doctorado en economía de la Universidad Federal de Río de Janeiro y está especializado en temas relacionados con el desarrollo productivo.
