About the blog

Sergio Navajas

Sergio Navajas is a senior specialist at IDB Lab, the innovation laboratory of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Group. 

He leads initiatives that harness financial innovation—including tokenization, artificial intelligence, and next-generation payments—to expand economic opportunity and strengthen financial inclusion.

With more than 25 years of experience across multilateral and bilateral organizations, academia, and the private sector, he has played a key role in advancing financial inclusion in Latin America and the Caribbean. 

He has led projects, research, and partnerships that have expanded access to finance across the region.

Today, he focuses on frontier areas that connect emerging technologies with people-centered outcomes in developing markets. 

He holds a doctorate in development and finance from The Ohio State University and has worked with USAID, The Ohio State University, and Banco Bisa in Bolivia.

Shari Johnson

Shari Johnson is a Gender, Diversity and Inclusion Officer for the Advisory Services Division at IDB Invest. She supports private sector clients in the Caribbean to maximise their impact and close gender and diversity gaps in the region. As a Caribbean national, Shari also works across the windows of the IDB Group to support the development of th region’s private sector. Prior to joining IDB Invest, Shari was a researcher at the Sir Arthur Lewis Institute for Social and Economic Studies, the LCR Poverty and Equity Global Practice of the World Bank and the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean. Shari holds a degree in Economics from the University of the West Indies, Mona and a Masters in Development Economics from the University of Manchester.

Sigalit Lidai

Sigalit is a Climate Change Consultant at the Advisory Service Division (ADV) of IDB Invest. She is responsible for assessing the Paris Alignment of transactions and estimating climate finance. She designs, develops and executes IDB Invest advisory services to help clients adopt climate resilience and decarbonization measures. Before joining the IDB Invest, Sigalit worked at Start-Up Nation Central, a Tel Aviv-based NGO that connects Israeli tech companies with multinationals and venture capital funds, particularly in the AgFood Tech and Climate Tech. Sigalit holds a degree in Political Sciences from Reichman University, Israel and a Culinary Arts degree from Le Cordon Bleu Peru.

Silja Laakso

Silvia Dangond

Silvia Dangond es consultora en comunicaciones del Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo. En la actualidad se desempeña como editora de contenidos para las redes sociales y campañas digitales de BID Invest. Escribe una columna de opinión cada 15 días para el diario digital Las Dos Orillas. Tiene un Máster en Resolución de Conflictos y Comunicación de George Mason University. Es politóloga, y ha trabajado como periodista y corresponsal para radio, prensa y televisión desde Washington, D.C.

Sindy Joya

Sindy Joya is a Supervision Officer, IDB Invest. She has 12 years of experience in the Salvadoran Financial System, previously working in compensation, finance, and treasury areas. She is currently part of the BID Invest team as a Supervision Officer for the Portfolio of Financial Institutions in Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean. In this role, she manages ongoing relationships with clients and other portfolio-related parties, monitors the Group's exposure, and advances each transaction's progress toward achieving development objectives. She holds a degree in Business Administration from the Central American University José Simeón Cañas (UCA) and a Master's in Finance from Tulane University, New Orleans, USA, and the Francisco Marroquín University of Guatemala. She recently received training focused on sustainable financing from Harvard Business School.

Sofía Ahualli

Sofía Ahualli is a Blended Finance Investment Officer in the Financial Products and Services Division at IDB Invest. She specializes in origination, structuring and execution of blended finance investments, focusing on achieving impactful outcomes in climate mitigation and adaptation, as well as gender, diversity and inclusion. Previously, Sofía worked at the Executive Director's Office for Argentina and Haiti at the IDB. Prior joining the IDB Group, she held various roles in investment, research and credit analysis for a financial service firm, the Argentina Ministry of Economy, and a global asset manager. Sofía holds a master’s degree in quantitative finance from Universidad de Alcala and a bachelor degree in economics from Universidad Católica Argentina.

Sofía Perazzo

Sofia Perazzo, Vice President of Sustainability of Tropicalia and President of Fundación Tropicalia. She leads the sustainability practice and strategies at Tropicalia – a sustainable luxury tourism real estate development in northeast Dominican Republic owned by Cisneros. She works across departments and functions to ensure that Tropicalia’s social and environmental commitments are integrated in business decisions that influence operations, construction, design, community development, environmental, legal and human resources teams. Since 2011, Sofia leads the production of Tropicalia’s annual sustainability report, and supports local stakeholder engagement and communications strategies in the Dominican Republic. She is also President of Fundacion Tropicalia, an NGO she helped establish in 2008 and has been an integral player to its development over the past 15 years. Sofia has a bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Santa Barbara, double majoring in Political Science and Global Studies, concentrating in Latin American Culture and Ideology; a master’s degree from New York University in Global Studies: International Business and Economic Development; a certificate degree from Harvard Business School in Corporate Social Responsibility and is GRI certified.

Sophie Sirtaine

Sophie is the CEO of CGAP, an international partnership housed in the World Bank Group, dedicated to promoting inclusive financial ecosystems that enable a green, resilient, and equitable world for all. Sophie has dedicated her professional career to the development of inclusive and sustainable financial ecosystems around the world, with more than twenty years of experience at the World Bank, where she has held different positions, including Director of Strategy and Operations at the Independent Evaluation Group (IEG) and Director for the Caribbean region. Previously, Sophie worked as an expert in financial sector development and stability in Europe, Latin America, and Asia. Among others, she led various Financial Sector Assessment Programs (FSAPs) in various countries in Europe, Central Asia, and Latin America, and she was the Manager who led the World Bank's response to banking crises in various countries of the European Union during the global financial crisis of 2008-2011. Prior to joining the World Bank, Sophie worked in JP Morgan's Financial Institutions (FIG) team on Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) in Europe, and for Halcrow Fox and Associates' Infrastructure team. Sophie holds a Masters in Economics from the London School of Economics (LSE).

Stacy Swann

Stacy Swann is managing director of IDB Invest's Blended Finance Division. Her background as an investor includes impact, angel, and venture investing, as well as project and corporate finance. From 2015 - 2023, she was CEO of Climate Finance Advisors, a financial advisory and consulting firm focused on supporting investors of various types, including banks, institutional investors, and impact fund managers. She has held senior and executive positions with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the US Department of the Treasury, Enron Corporation, and other organizations. In her personal capacity, she is a co-founder of Resilient Earth Capital. She serves on multiple boards, including the Montgomery County Green Bank and the Green Guarantee Company, and sits on the Climate Panel of the Maryland State Pension Fund. Ms. Swann holds an MBA in finance and development economics from American University, a master's degree from Harvard University, and a bachelor's degree from City University of New York - Hunter College.

Stefan Wright

Stefan es oficial líder de Inversión en Turismo de BID Invest. Ingresó en 2016, y su trabajo se enfoca en la ejecución de transacciones financieras en América Latina y el Caribe. Cuenta con más de diez años de experiencia en el Grupo BID, durante los cuales generó soluciones de deuda y capital innovadoras, estructuró proyectos complejos e integró servicios de asesoría en sus transacciones orientadas al desarrollo sostenible. Antes de ingresar al Grupo BID, Stefan pasó cuatro años como director ejecutivo de Near Shore Solutions Inc. en Jamaica, recaudando capital y brindando servicios de asesoría financiera. Previamente, Stefan pasó siete años en banca de inversión, durante los cuales ejecutó transacciones de deuda y capital, además de prestar servicios de asesoría en fusiones y adquisiciones en Bank of America Securities en Nueva York. Stefan tiene una maestría en administración de empresas (MBA, por sus siglas en inglés) con énfasis en finanzas de la Universidad de Nueva York (EE.UU.), y un título de pregrado en contabilidad de la Universidad de las Indias Occidentales (Jamaica).

Stefano Pereira

Stefano Pereira is Senior Development Impact Advisor at FinDev Canada where he is a contributor the organization’s thought leadership agenda. Prior to joining FinDev Canada, he worked in the Development Effectiveness Division at IDB Invest. His areas of research include private sector development, productivity and green economics and his work has been featured in books, technical papers and academic journals. He holds an M.A. in Economics from the University of Toronto and B.A. in Economics from the University of the West Indies.