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
-
Stephanie EderStephanie is an Investment Officer in the Blended Finance Team at IDB Invest. In the course of her career of more than ten years in the IDB Group, she has participated in structuring projects for investment funds with financial institutions and has analyzed investment projects for financial institutions. Before joining the IDB Group, she was an auditor at Deloitte & Leitner in Vienna, Austria. She earned a master’s degree in international relations and international economics from Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (USA) and a master’s degree in international business from the University of Applied Sciences Kufstein (Austria).
-
Stephanie OuedaStephanie is the head of gender and diversity at IDB Invest, based in Washington, D.C. At IDB Invest, our goal is to improve lives. As Head of Gender and Diversity, Stephanie's role is to ensure that all operations have a positive impact in leading to a more gender-balanced society. Mainly, she focuses on the empowerment of women, although the role also covers the empowerment of men in the Caribbean. Under her leadership, this area of the organization now works on programs to include other underrepresented groups and increase other dimensions of diversity in order to work towards a more inclusive society. For example, the inclusion of people of African descent, LGBT +, indigenous people and people with disabilities. Stephanie has two master's degrees, one in economics and one in political science from the University of Montreal and the Sorbonne University, respectively.
-
Stephen ThomasStephen leads the Financial Institutions Team for the Caribbean region at IDB Invest, which he joined in 2019. He is responsible for originating and structuring financing transactions for financial intermediaries that have an impact on development, by increasing access to financing, fostering women’s empowerment and supporting climate change mitigation programs, among others. Before joining the IDB Group, Stephen led teams focused on equity brokerage, investment advisory and wealth management for First Citizens in Trinidad and Tobago, St. Lucia and Barbados. He previously worked as Debt Capital Markets Head of Citicorp Merchant Bank Limited, covering clients across the wider English-speaking Caribbean region. Stephen earned a master’s degree in business administration (MBA) from the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University, Washington D.C. (USA) and an undergraduate degree in economics from the University of the West Indies.
-
Su Hyun KimSu Hyun Kim is a Sustainable MSME Consultant at the Advisory Service Division (ADV) of IDB Invest. She works on advisory projects that provides guidance and action plans for IDB Invest client companies to transform their operations and value chain into a sustainable one. She also works in knowledge product creation related to sustainable value chain, circular economy, silver economy, sustainability indicators, and other topics. Prior to joining IDB Invest, Su Hyun held positions related to technical assistance and advisory projects in the World Bank and IDB. She holds a Masters of Public Affairs from Cornell University and a Master of Business Administration from Columbia Business School.
-
Sumiko AndradeSumiko Andrade is a Corporate Affairs and Transparency Officer in the Risk Department at IDB Invest. Before taking on this role, she worked in the Office of Evaluation and Oversight at the IDB Group, where she primarily focused on evaluations related to the private sector. Her experience includes work in impact investment funds, origination, analysis, and assessment of transactions in Latin America and the Caribbean. Previously, she collaborated with the Inter-American Development Bank on initiatives from the Social Protection and Health Division in Mexico and Central America. Sumiko holds a Master's in Public Policy from Harvard University and an MBA from the Barcelona Executive Business School.
-
Sung Nam ChoiSung Nam Choi is a professional in IT projects for development. Before joining IDB Invest, he worked as a principal manager in the National Information Society Agency (NIA) of the Republic of Korea. He led IT projects for developing countries such as national digital agenda, broadband masterplan, e-government systems & applications, and digital inclusion policy. In addition, he conducted IT advisory services and managed IT training programs collaborating with international organizations like International Telecommunication Union (ITU), Asia-Pacific Telecommunity (APT), Asian Development Bank (ADB), African Development Bank (AfDB), and Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). Furthermore, he has 7 years of field experience in Nicaragua and Costa Rica. He launched the first virtual Spanish IT education platform (CEABAD, https://ceabad.com/, located in Nicaragua) for policymakers, experts, and college students in Latin America. He coordinated over 30 MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) including digital business, e-commerce, Fintech, Internet of Things, Cloud Computing, Artificial Intelligence, and Blockchain technology through this platform. He also served as the representative of the Office of KOICA (Korea International Cooperation Agency) in Costa Rica. He studied a Ph.D. in Public Administration at Korea University, earned a master’s degree in Public Administration from Yonsei University (Korea), and completed the Executive Education Program of Digital Transformation in Government at Harvard Kennedy School (USA).
-
Susana del GranadoSusana del Granado is an environmental and social officer at IDB Invest based Panama, responsible for evaluating environmental and social impacts and risks of loans, proposing mitigation measures consistent with international best practices, and supervising project performance. Susana holds a Ph.D. in Natural Resource Management and Environmental Policy from the State University of New York at the School of Environmental Sciences and Forestry (SUNY-ESF) in United States. She also holds a Master of Science from SUNY-ESF and a Master of Public Administration from Syracuse University at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs (United States). She has a degree in biology from the Universidad Mayor de San Andrés in Bolivia. As environmental and social coordinator at the Inter-American Corporation for Infrastructure Financing (CIFI), she has evaluated environmental and social risk in highway, hydroelectric, solar, and port projects in Latin America and the Caribbean. As a senior researcher at the think tank for Advanced Studies in Development (INESAD) she focused on research projects in environmental and ecological economics. She worked as an associate researcher at the Institute of Ecology of La Paz-Bolivia, leading research on adaptation to climate change in Aymara-peasant communities and at the School of Development Studies (CIDES) of the Universidad Mayor de San Andrés, leading historical comparative studies on non-renewable resource management.
-
Susana MarínSusana Marín is a Fund Manager at IDB Invest, where she joined in 2019. In her role, Susana is crucial in managing financial resources, enhancing donor relations and securing major contributions from international funds. She has effectively managed multiple donor-funded technical cooperations, demonstrating her expertise in fund management and commitment to meeting donor expectations. Her leadership in impact reporting to donors and strategic evaluations significantly advances transparency and decision-making within the institution. At IDB Invest, Susana contributes to major project oversight and process enhancements, contributing to the institution's strategic direction and commitment to international standards of cooperation. Susana holds a Master of Applied Leadership & Management from the Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University. She also earned a Bachelor of Finance from Universidad EAFIT in Medellín, Colombia. Fluent in Spanish and English, Susana is dedicated to using her strategic insights and leadership skills to foster global economic and social dialogues.
-
Sustainable Business TeamLike the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), our commitment is to economic growth and social inclusion; that is central to our identity as part of the IDB Group. But our focus is on the private sector. As the private-sector arm of the IDB Group, we know the region. We work where our clients are and can provide them with customized financing solutions and expert advice tailored to their specific industry and market. IDB Invest is owned by its 48 member countries, 26 of which are in the Latin American and Caribbean region. Each country’s voting power is proportional to the number of IDB Invest shares it holds.
-
Suzanne JohnsonSuzanne Ferlic Johnson serves as Senior Advisor to the UN Global Compact Sustainable Ocean Business Platform and its work to advance a more productive and sustainable ocean. She is also head of the Lloyd's Register Foundation's Sustainability Program. She has wide ranging experience in the energy sector, having previously worked for energy and water companies in government and regulatory affairs, investor relations and finance. Her energy sector experience also includes investment management, where she was responsible for utilities debt for Schroder Investment Management. Suzanne has served as special assistant to Ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick, former United States Ambassador to the United Nations at the American Enterprise Institute.
-
Sylvia DohnertDr. Sylvia Dohnert is a Private Sector Lead Specialist at the Competitiveness, Technology and Innovation Division of the Inter-American Development Bank. Her main role has been to lead Compete Caribbean, a multi-donor effort that since 2010 has contributed to increasing productivity and firms’ contribution to economic growth in the Caribbean region by supporting business climate reforms, cluster and value chain initiatives, and innovation and technology adoption by the private sector in traditional and emerging new sectors. Jointly financed by the Inter-American Development Bank, the United Kingdom’s Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office, the Caribbean Development Bank and the Government of Canada, Compete Caribbean has since 2010 supported more than 160 projects across its 13 beneficiary countries. Outside of Compete Caribbean and as an IDB specialist, Dr. Dohnert has also contributed to the design of public sector programs to stimulate private sector development in the LAC region. She has co-edited the book: “Are we there yet?:The Path towards Sustainable Private Sector Development in the Caribbean“ (2024), and the monograph: “Exploring firm-level productivity and innovation in developing countries: The perspective of Caribbean Small States” (2017). Dr. Dohnert holds a Ph.D. in Economic Development and Regional Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
-
Terence GallagherTerence Gallagher is a British national, based in Washington. He began his career as an investment banker at Citigroup, where he spent 9 years supporting emerging market governments and corporates access the international capital markets, working from London, New York and São Paulo. Since 1999, he has dedicated himself to Microfinance, initially working as a consultant for diverse organizations such as Accion International, Development Alternatives Incorporated, and PlaNet Finance. He joined the IFC in 2008 in Rio de Janeiro where he spent 10 years as a Specialist for Micro and Small Enterprise Finance, responsible for investments in Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa. As of April 2018, Terence moved to Washington to join IDB Invest as head of Financial Inclusion. He has a Masters degrees in Economics from the University of Cambridge, UK.
