Finance Catalyst

Janos has 25+ years broad banking experience in emerging markets in Africa, Asia and Latin America in the field of corporate and project finance, financial institutions finance, and restructuring, work-outs, of which 15+ years specialist (renewable) energy structured finance and project development. He has broad experience and an extensive network in the DFI and commercial banking sector at high level. His specialties are financing private and private/public power sector transactions and RE solutions. Janos has a vast network in the (Renewable) Power Sector in Europe, Africa and Asia. Focus of the network of Janos are DFIs, Commercial Banks, Investors, Developers, Financiers, Specialist Advisors (Legal, Technical, E&S, model/tax reviews). Janos has been in lead roles in structuring of complex finance transactions covering pre-financial close development equity investments (USD 2-3 million transactions) and arranging long term DFI project finance (USD 20-200 mezzanine/senior debt million transactions). He has had advisory roles for developers & financiers. His approach is target driven, high quality, accountability, integrity, team work, bringing parties together, looking for opportunities and solutions, taking challenges in difficult markets. Janos has extensive experience with financing the power technologies in the field of thermal LCO/gas, wind, solar, hydro’s and geothermal.

Marc is a seasoned financial expert with more than 26 years of worldwide investment and development banking experience, mostly in the energy sector. Trained and nurtured by ABN Amro, ING Barings and PriceWaterhousCoopers, Marc brings excellent execution skills which were awarded by ING and PwC with responsibility for best practice. As an advisor to EDF, he was involved in Africa’s first wind park in the 90’s. To bring renewable energy to emerging markets he entered the development banking world in 2003. He has been involved in most RE projects on the continent. On behalf of the Atkins-SE4ALL consortium he advised the European Commission in 2013 on ‘an equity instrument for the private market’ which resulted in ElectriFI, a scheme designed to deliver early convertible subordinated debt instruments alongside a technical assistance unit standardising and making bankable project proposals. He works as a part-time expert for GET.invest's Finance Catalysts, and operates out of Amsterdam in the Netherlands.

Jeannetta is an energy, public-private partnership (PPP) and legal consultant based in Kigali, Rwanda. She has over 9 years of experience in advising governments, lenders, donors and private developers on large-scale infrastructure transactions across various sectors and jurisdictions. Jeannetta served as a transaction advisor for Power Africa where she assisted projects and developers across East and Central Africa. She also served as the Lead Transactions Advisor for the PPP unit of the Rwandan Government, where she structured and negotiated over USD 800 million in investments.
In her legal career, Jeannetta spent time as a project finance associate at Shearman & Sterling LLP representing banks, sponsors, Fortune 500 companies and other institutional investors in cross-border transactions, as well as within the legal departments of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and the UN.
Jeannetta holds a Juris Doctorate from Boston University and a Bachelor’s Degree from Wake Forest University in Political Science and Japanese.

Ad is a senior sustainable energy consultant specialised in small- and medium scale renewable energy projects, with an engineering and economics focus. In his 20 years of work in the region, he was engaged by e.g. European utility companies, World Bank and Power Africa. He has a wide experience in project preparation, capacity building and developing lending components of projects, all to accelerate renewable energy investments. Recently Mr. Dankers served as the executive director of Energy Access Partnership, a not-for-profit company that worked to increase energy access in Southern Africa, including the implementation of a rural electrification programme (combined grid extension and solar home systems) that covered a service area of 10,000 people. Mr. Dankers is a citizen of the Netherlands, working out of Johannesburg, South Africa.

Valérie is a seasoned expert on private sector development.
She holds a PhD in International Law and has considerable and renowned experience in advising on international trade to companies, including investment and services in Africa as well as in the Caribbean.
Valérie has wide experience in private sector development and in institutional capacity building for intermediary organisations. She has active knowledge of international, multilateral and regional funding mechanisms available to SMEs and of specialised financial intermediaries for renewable energy projects.
She also has good skills in the area of communication. She is a native French speaker and also speaks English and Spanish.

Michael is based in Johannesburg, South Africa. He has accumulated over 20 years experience in VC and infrastructure finance and focusses his work on assisting RE developers with reaching financial closure. Michael has been instrumental in the financial closure of the first commercially viable (4.6MW) biogas plant in South Africa. He has also acted for the French Development Agency (AFD) assisting in the disbursement of €120m in long-term loans to RE and EE projects (SUNREF I) via three South African banks. Michael has conducted training in RE project finance in Uganda, Tanzania and Zambia for bankers and developers. He has also advised a multitude of RE projects in Southern Africa through his long-standing affiliation with the Private Financing Advisory Network (PFAN). Michael holds an MBA in Finance from Erasmus University in the Netherlands.

Daniele operates out of Cortona, Italy. He is an economist with a wealth of experience in sustainable energy and energy access, mostly focusing on market uptake and policy aspects, serving private sector as well as institutional clients. He acquired profound expertise in RE project investment feasibility analysis, business planning, due diligence, finance structuring and facilitation, technology transfer, export management, and M&E. He has worked on solar, biomass, biofuel, waste-to-energy, and energy efficiency projects. He advised on rural electrification planning and uses and linkages between sustainable agriculture and renewable energy. Daniele designed and supported rural energy development in 13 countries in Africa and has been collaborating with the PFAN network since its early days: scouting ventures, coaching clean tech entrepreneurs, inducting financiers and taking part in pipeline selection panels. He holds a PhD in Agricultural Economics & Policy, a Masters degree in Environmental Policy (Tufts University) and a BSc degree in Economics.

Emiel is based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. He has over 20 years experience in the sustainability and renewable energy sector, specifically biomass and bioenergy. He has been working in the field of renewable energy in emerging and developing countries since 2004 and has advised and assisted many businesses. He has been involved in several renewable energy market and feasibility studies and supported international and local businesses getting access to funding and finance. Emiel has field experience in Cape Verde, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria and South Africa. He holds two MSc degrees: one in environmental policy and management and one in physics, both at the University of Amsterdam (UvA). Emiel is founder and shareholder of Partners for Innovation BV.

Kofi Nketsia-Tabiri is a seasoned entrepreneur and advisor in the clean energy sector in Africa, operating from Accra. Kofi is the Founder and Director of XpressGas, a pioneering and transformative LPGas marketing and distribution company, that seeks to make LPGas the cooking fuel of choice to underserved households in both remote and urban communities in Ghana and across Africa. Kofi founded Patient Capital Partners Limited, a boutique SME advisory and project development company. Kofi’s primary focus and passion is to support the development and financing of innovative business models for modern energy fuels and products for underserved communities in Africa. Kofi also advises the Africa Renewable Energy Scale Up Facility (ARESUF), a facility to develop innovative projects in renewable energy and boost electrification in Africa, which is implemented by Micro-Energy International and managed by PROPARCO. Prior to starting Patient Capital Partners and Xpress Gas, Kofi was the Regional Director for E+Co investment operations in Africa where he led the mentoring and financing of over 20 early stage clean energy companies in 8 Africa countries. Kofi is a member of the inaugural CATTO Fellows of the Aspen Institute, a Cordes Fellow of Opportunity International. He has a background in Mechanical Engineering from University of Science and Technology (Ghana) and Corporate and International Finance from Durham Business School of the University of Durham (UK).

Gregor Paterson-Jones is a independent fund establishment expert in the Renewable Energy and Development Finance sectors. He acts as a Board member, investment committee member and advisor with clients including the European Investment Bank, the European Union, the UNCDF, Mergence, The African Development Bank and a number of Sovereign Wealth Funds. With a robust career that spans over 23 years and many proven successes as a principle investor in renewable energy funds and infrastructure investment banking sectors, he now focusses on advising development banks, governments and international organisations on fund establishment and deal execution across several key industries. He was previously managing Director the UK Green Investment Bank, and CEO of Sterling Waterford.

Maurice is a consultant on renewable energy (RE), business development and development aid. He has over 12 years of technical and project management experience in solar PV, hydropower and biomass projects. He is a shareholder in two RE companies and has worked as an expert advisor and consultant to GIZ, KfW, the World Bank, BTC, the Government of Rwanda and other clients. The focus of his work is the development of private sector support programmes and public-private partnership frameworks. Recent country experience includes Madagascar, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Burkina Faso, Namibia, Mozambique, Afghanistan, Tanzania and South Africa. Maurice holds a Masters in Mechanical Engineering (MEng) from Imperial College, London and a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from the Open University, UK.

Peter is based in Helsinki, Finland. He is a seasoned financing professional, specialised in developing countries and transition economies with significant expertise in renewable energy as well as other infrastructure sectors. He has held senior positions with major European banks and project developers and has over 20 years experience of working on multi-disciplinary advisory and financing mandates and of structuring and developing projects. Peter is a Global Coordinator of the Private Financing Advisory Network (PFAN). PFAN is a multilateral public-private partnership which connects Clean Energy projects with investment in developing countries.

John Whelan is a consultant with up-to-date experience in financial modelling of renewable energy projects and working as an entrepreneur. Most recently, John worked as an MBA Intern for Kendall Sustainable Infrastructure (KSI). At KSI, his work focused on financial modelling, and he performed due diligence for a multi-million dollar portfolio of 1-3 MW solar assets. John spent the bulk of his career at Valore, where he developed new products and operational processes to scale the company’s e-commerce business. A core part of John’s work at Valore was performing quantitative analyses for senior management. As part of his work at Spoiler Alert, John evaluated the feasibility of using food waste to generate renewable electricity. John is based in Amsterdam and holds an MBA in Finance and Entrepreneurship from the F.W. Olin School of Business at Babson College, where he was an MBA Fellow, as well as a BA in History, English, and Entrepreneurship from Tufts University.

Hester is a consultant and project management specialist with experience in the renewable energy field. She has five years of experience in monitoring, evaluation, KPI-reporting, process facilitation, project initiation, procurement and project management of complex international ventures. She has worked in various types of private sector companies, ranging from local start-ups to multinationals.

In the renewable energy market, her experience is largely in solar energy and biofuels. As a consultant, Hester researched the relationship between the Brazilian soy- and biodiesel markets to inform a Dutch cattle feed company, and delivered a thoroughly-researched business plan to set up a one-stop-shop for solar energy solutions for Dutch households. In addition, she advised renewable energy clients of a major European utility company on how to reduce their energy footprints.

Recent examples in the field of M&E and reporting include monitoring and evaluation of the implementation of a shared, digital procurement system for the Dutch government, as well as monthly KPI-reporting for the set-up of a new department at Samsung. Hester is based in Amsterdam and holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration (MBA).

Stan is a consultant with experience in the fields of renewable energy and sustainable use of resources. He has conducted renewable energy market studies in sub-Saharan Africa, and analysed renewable energy support programmes and regulations worldwide. Stan has up-to-date research experience in Benin, working on a project to assess the techno-economic feasibility of local manufacturing & installation of small wind turbines, and also develop an action plan for the kick-start of a small wind sector. In addition, he has worked on a study for the Dutch government to identify renewable energy business opportunities in Zimbabwe, focused on the strengths of the Dutch private sector. Stan has a Bachelor's engineering Degree in Technological Innovation Sciences (specialisation track Energy) and a Master's Degree (cum laude) in Innovation Sciences (specialisation track Energy Policy).