Maelis Carraro

Managing Partner

Catalyst Fund · Paris, Île-de-France, France

Present

Catalyst Fund is a VC fund and venture builder investing for a climate-resilient future in Africa. Our thesis focuses on supporting mission-driven, local and women founders, building climate adaptation and resilience solutions to benefit communities and the planet. We invest in critical adaptation sectors including agritech and food systems, insurtech and climate fintech, cold chain, waste management, sustainable energy and water management. We take an active, hands-on venture-building approach that leverages our experience as founders and operators in emerging markets, supporting startups on tech, product, data, operations, fundraising, marketing, and growth challenges.

Fellow | Climate Change for Vcs

Terra.do

Learning and sharing with a community of investors from across the world to connect, explore, and exchange ideas around investments in climate tech.

Managing Director | Catalyst Fund

BFA · Paris Area, France

Catalyst Fund was a high-impact accelerator backing tech startups that seek to improve the financial health and resilience of underserved communities in Africa. Backed by Gates Foundation, JPMorgan Chase & Co, FCDO, PayPal and Mastercard Foundation, Catalyst Fund supported 61+ founders in building affordable, accessible and appropriate solutions for all and developed innovation ecosystems in emerging markets. We took an embedded finance approach to support startups providing essential services to underserved customers across a range of sectors (financial services, commerce, agriculture, health, energy etc). Since the start, we took an active, hands-on venture-building approach that leveraged our experience as founders and operators in emerging markets, supporting startups on tech, product and data challenges. From 2016 to 2022, we have backed 61 startups across 15 emerging markets that are now serving over 40M individuals and MSMEs. Our unique venture-building support led to >$650M fol…

Director | Impact Ventures

BFA · Paris Area, France

Founded in 2006, BFA is a global consulting firm leveraging finance and technology to innovate solutions for a sustainable and equitable world. We work at the frontiers of applied research and innovation, harnessing data science, economic analyses, financial tools, artificial intelligence, human-centered design, consumer research and lean product development for the development of new business models and products, policy design and implementation, and the building of collaborative ecosystems. As Director of Impact Ventures, I lead the team specialized in supporting early and growth-stage ventures in building and scaling solutions for the underserved in emerging markets. We are a team of venture builders who enjoy exploring, experimenting, inventing, and creating a lasting impact in the world. Our competencies include business modeling, startup acceleration, lean customer insights, agile management, research prints and AI/ML modeling. Notable Programs: - Catalyst Fund (http://catalyst-f…

Deputy Director | Catalyst Fund

BFA

Program Manager, Catalyst Fund

BFA (Bankable Frontier Associates) · Paris Area, France

Upon joining BFA, I focused on innovative business models and cutting-edge technological approaches that can expand the frontiers of banking to bring financial services to excluded communities in a sustainable manner. I run Catalyst Fund, a global accelerator program for early-stage inclusive fintech startups in emerging markets supported by JP Morgan Chase & Co and Gates Foundation. I also managed the OPTIX program, supported by MetLife Foundation, a program helping MFIs future-proofing for the digital age. We helped financial institutions build better portfolios of products and tools for their clients -- via data analytics, lean product design, digital innovation, and behavioral design research -- to improve customers' financial health.

Co-Founder

RemitMas · Greater New York City Area

RemitMas helps immigrants send and save money in their home countries. I co-founded RemitMas with the vision of creating the first digital remittance service focused on savings for Latino families in the US. RemitMas won Columbia’s Social Start-Up Venture Competition. - Responsible for product and business development efforts, including market research, customer discovery, product design, go-to-market strategy in Latin America (Colombia) - Built relationships with strategic partners, banks, technology providers and other partners - Led Fundraising strategy

Advisory, Financial Institutions Group

IFC - International Finance Corporation · Istanbul, Turkey

IFC ( member of the World Bank Group) is the largest global development institution focused exclusively on the private sector in developing countries to create markets. I worked within the Financial Institutions Group on responsible digital finance, consumer protection and frontier market development. • Co-managed a portfolio of financial inclusion projects with 70+ financial service providers globally, totalling $40M • Conducted 10+ due diligence assessments of microfinance institutions and SME banks in Asia, Africa and Eastern Europe, resulting in equity and debt investments up to $30M, including IFC’s first microfinance investment in Myanmar • Structured projects up to $2.5M, in microfinance, digital finance, microinsurance; including market assessment, budgeting, client relationship management, and performance monitoring • Conceptualized, designed and implemented the company's first responsible finance strategy, adopted by all product teams • Designed and implemented Due Diligence…

Impact Associate

Global Partnerships · Nairobi County, Kenya

Global Partnership is a social Impact Investing Fund supporting impact enterprises in Latin America and Africa. • Responsible for spearheading a market scoping of the East African microfinance and social enterprises to inform the Fund's strategy in East Africa •Led appraisals of 20+ MFIs and social enterprises in Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania to evaluate investment opportunities •Supported the Program and Impact team in validating and measuring the financial and social impact of GP's investments in microenterprises.

Business Analyst - Microfinance and Agroforestry

Planetic

Social Business and Social Incubator focused on environmental and social challenges •Led business development research in the agro-forestry sector in Congo and Morocco to launch 2 REDD projects to reduce emissions from deforestation, which attracted venture capital funding •Researched microfinance and micro-insurance product offering/options for the communities involved in the projects

Visiting Researcher

Grameen Bank

•Completed an intensive training on microfinance and micro-insurance schemes •Led consumer insights interviews with borrowers in rural villages to determine product development priorities •Worked in branch offices with loan officers and monitored credit risk committees and loan approvals as a third-party auditor •Participated in the International Dialogue Program with Professor and Nobel-prize winner Muhammad Yunus

Consultant - Climate Change Adaptation

OECD · Paris Area, France

• Wrote and published a working paper on the linkages between microfinance and climate change adaptation including an in-depth analysis of two case studies in Nepal and Bangladesh, presented at international conferences • Provided innovative policy recommendations on how to integrate microfinance within the global climate finance architecture • Wrote a report on the role of the private sector in adaptation to climate change and contributed to other research on the economic aspects of adaptation to climate change • Participated to high level meetings, reviewed, edited and presented papers, supported planning of the team

Research Assistant

CEPS

•Wrote a working paper on the future impacts of climate change across Europe •Contributed to research and to the drafting of a paper on the fiscal implications of climate change adaptation for Europe •Assisted in the research on energy and climate change focussing on EU climate policies under the CLIMAD project