Meet the Team
GBF's leadership, investment professionals and other staff have a blend of skills that reflect GBF’s approach to development. We are based at our headquarters in Washington, D.C., and at offices in Ghana, India, Indonesia, Kenya, and Peru.
Overseeing the staff is a Board of Directors that are active participants in GBF’s planning and development.
GBF’s senior advisory group is composed of experienced leaders in the fields of international development, international finance, and academia. The advisory groups help GBF with its oversight and strategy, continually refining and improving its approach.
Harold Rosen, Executive Director
Harold Rosen is GBF's executive director. In May 2004, Harold founded IFC's Grassroots Business Initiative (GBI), which he managed until 2008, when it was restructured and spun off to become the Grassroots Business Fund (GBF).
Prior to his work with GBI and GBF, Harold worked at with the World Bank Group for over 30 years. He served as an investment officer in IFC's Latin America and Africa Departments; as manager for IFC Financial Planning and Policy; as a member of the task force that started the World Bank Group operations in the former Soviet Union; as manager of IFC’s Asia Department; and as director of IFC’s Central and Southern European Department. He has both funded and managed large IFC investment portfolios and has played a major role in starting IFC’s microfinance and SME activities; this included the creation and management of the Mekong, South Asia and Southeast Europe Small Enterprise Facilities. Harold has helped IFC move into a number of new approaches, geographic markets, products and services. In March 2000, Harold created and served as director of the Small and Medium Enterprise department, a joint IFC/World Bank department. He worked with this group until creating GBI in 2004.
Harold joined the World Bank Group in 1978 through the Young Professionals Program. He holds an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School, as well as bachelor’s and master’s degrees in regional science from the University of Pennsylvania.
Bob Webster, Chief Operating Officer
Bob Webster is the Chief Operating Officer for the Grassroots Business Fund, for which he had previously served as a member of its Portfolio Advisory Committee. Prior to joining GBF, Bob was the Executive Vice President at CDC Development Solutions (CDS), a non-profit organization that supports small business growth for economic opportunity in developing markets. In addition to being on its executive team, he was the manager of CDS’ Access to Finance (A2F) practice, for which he conceived and developed an innovative SME risk capital fund management capacity building initiative for Africa. Further, Bob revised and is delivering the investment manager training course for the Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE) and is currently serving on an SME risk capital industry working group to promote investment capital into this space.
After eight years of commercial lending to small businesses in the United States, Bob managed varied economic development projects in Romania, Macedonia, Vietnam, Egypt, and Bangladesh, including an SME private equity fund. Bob began and managed one of SEAF's more successful funds, SEAF/Macedonia, and later served in an executive capacity at SEAF headquarters. He has technical expertise in SME debt and equity financing, value chain development and competitiveness. Bob has both an MBA in finance and a BA in mathematics from Indiana University. He has also completed the Financial Institutions for Private Sector Development Executive Program at Harvard’s Kennedy School and is working toward a Master’s degree in agricultural economics with the University of London.
Natasha Barantseva, Senior LAC Investment Officer
Natasha joined GBF in 2008 as an Investment Officer for the Latin America region. In this capacity, she is responsible for identifying investment opportunities – businesses with the highest potential for financial sustainability and social impact; structuring appropriate forms of financing and capacity building programs for these businesses; managing existing investments; and building relationships with regional and local GBF partners.
Prior to GBF, Natasha worked for two years at IFC’s Grassroots Business Initiative (precursor of GBF), as a consultant for the Latin America and monitoring & evaluation teams. She worked in Bolivia, Peru, and Colombia, providing hands-on business strengthening support to clients, and building pipeline and partnerships in the region. Before business school, Natasha worked as Program Coordinator at the Rassias Foundation at Dartmouth College, managing foreign language programs, training language instructors, and teaching Spanish and Russian to adults. She also served as Spanish Faculty at Dartmouth.
Natasha earned her B.A. in economics with a specialization in management and marketing at the International University in Moscow, Russia, where she graduated magna cum laude. She also holds an M.A. in liberal arts with a concentration in Latin American Studies from Dartmouth College; and an M.B.A. from McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University.
In her free time, Natasha loves to travel, ski, play tennis, run, and dance salsa; she also enjoys theatre and modern dance, world music and film, and reading.
Allison Basile, Metrics Officer
Manuel Bueno, Investment Analyst & KM Specialist
Manuel joined GBF in September 2010 as an Investment Analyst for the Latin American portfolio and as a Knowledge Management Specialist. He earned a B.Sc. in Economics from the London School of Economics and an M.Phil in Organization and Strategy from Tilburg University (Netherlands). As an Analyst, his work includes screening new projects, conducting due diligence, building client relationships and supervising active projects. His Knowledge Management role entails the research and compilation of knowledge generated throughout GBF’s entire portfolio and the dissemination of lessons learned both internally and externally.
Prior to joining GBF, he was employed as a consultant in financial services strategy and transactions at the Deloitte office in Madrid. He has also worked at a microfinance institution in India and at the Opportunities for the Majority in the Inter-American Development Bank in Washington DC. Since 2007, Manuel has been collaborating as a Staff Writer for NextBillion.net. Recently, he co-authored a book with Profs. Juan Luis Martinez and Maria Carbonell (Instituto de Empresa Business School) about the Latin American Base of the Pyramid.
Outside of work, Manuel is an avid reader and a board game aficionado. He also enjoys taking naps at random times of the weekend and discovering delicious vegetarian restaurants on his travels.
Soha Ehsani, Investment Officer
Soha joined the Grassroots Business Fund (GBF) in July 2009. After working at GBF’s Headquarters in Washington D.C., Soha relocated to his home country to set up GBF's field office in Nairobi, Kenya.
Soha is responsible for identifying potential investment opportunities in East Africa and undertaking due diligence. This includes structuring, negotiation and the execution of investments. He actively supervises existing investments in the region which includes analyzing company performance and compliance, providing direct business support and co-coordinating technical assistance efforts. Soha also seeks partnership opportunities with various organizations in the region.
Prior to GBF, Soha worked at TechnoServe as a consultant to the Young Women in Enterprise Program, a pilot program that scaled 50 micro-enterprises in the informal settlements of Nairobi. He also worked at the Baha’i World Center in Haifa/Akko, Israel. Soha graduated from Babson College with a concentration in entrepreneurship and strategic management. He was awarded the 2009 Paul F. Greene Telecommunications Award for designing a system that links small-scale farmers to markets.
Julia Fisher, Investment Assistant
Julia joined GBF in January 2010, as an operations and investment assistant with the Asia team.
Originally from upstate New York, Julia earned her bachelor’s degree in political science with a minor in psychology from Northeastern University in May 2009. As part of her undergraduate coursework Julia held two semester long cooperative education positions, one as an intern with the Secretary of the State in Massachusetts and the second as an intern with the United Nations for the 2008 General Assembly. Upon graduation Julia interned with the William J. Clinton Foundation before joining GBF.
In her free time Julia enjoys trying new restaurants, reading, cooking, skiing, and exploring DC, as she is new to the city. She also loves to travel and hopes to do a lot more in the years to come. So far Julia has been able to travel throughout Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and Thailand.
Clare Gallagher, Portfolio Analyst
As a portfolio analyst at GBF, Clare supports the investment team working on the Africa portfolio, and helps to coordinate GBF’s fundraising efforts. She also monitors the supervision of GBF’s portfolio as part of the Portfolio Advisory Function.
Originally hailing from Dublin, NH, Clare earned her bachelor’s degree in international politics with a concentration in international development from Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service. Clare has experience interning with the Women’s Foreign Policy Group and the HELP Commission. In her free time, she enjoys baking, watching baseball, and traveling—so far, she’s been to England, Ireland, France, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Luxembourg, Croatia, Ghana, Kenya and Tanzania.
Sahil Gandhi, Senior Investment Analyst
Sahil joined GBF in January 2012 as a Senior Investment Analyst for the Asia team and is currently based in New Delhi, India. He is responsible for reviewing new investment opportunities, conducting due diligence on potential investments and supporting current investees.
Prior to joining GBF, Sahil spent over three years in the development sector in India: first, he ran a solid waste management pilot project in Mumbai and then worked at Dasra where he was responsible for screening new investments and providing hands-on capacity building support to existing portfolio organizations. He started his career at Deloitte Consulting in Chicago, where he specialized in technology implementations in the telecommunications and retail industries. Sahil graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2005.
Puneet Jhajharia, Investment Officer
Puneet joined GBF in March 2009. Based in New Delhi, India, Puneet sources investments for the South Asia portfolio and seeks partnership opportunities with various organizations in the region. GBF's unique solution toward poverty and mix of social and business work is what drew Puneet to GBF. What Puneet enjoys most about his job is the motivated and intelligent team he works with as well as the idea that he may be able to change the lives of underprivileged people for the better.
Prior to GBF, Puneet worked as a software developer at AXA Financial and as the Vice President of Technology at Goldman Sachs. Puneet earned a bachelor of commerce degree from Calcutta University, a masters degree in Engineering and Computer Science from Cornell University, and his M.B.A. from New York University, where he was a Stern Scholar and awarded membership in the Beta Gamma Sigma club.
Outside of work, Puneet enjoys playing golf, meeting new people, and traveling worldwide, including to Western Europe, Tanzania, through India, and Nepal.
Alycia Kellman, General Counsel & Compliance Officer
Alycia Kellman joined GBF in 2009. As General Counsel, Alycia provides legal support for the entire scope of GBF activities. She helps to structure investment transactions and drafts all grant, investment, consulting, and cooperation agreements to implement GBF deals. Alycia also serves as GBF’s compliance officer.
Prior to GBF, Alycia was the U.S. Director for the Institute for Democracy in Africa (IDASA), a South African nonprofit that runs democracy and governance programs in over twenty countries on the African continent. Alycia also consulted for FINCA International on microfinance regulatory issues in Amman, Jordan and worked as an international project finance attorney at Dewey & LeBoeuf, LLP.
Alycia holds a law degree from Georgetown University, a master’s degree in human rights and democratization from the University of Witwatersrand, and a bachelor’s degree in political science from Yale University. Alycia serves on the boards of the South Africa-Washington Internship Program (SAWIP) and Friends of IDASA. She has lived in Africa, Asia and Europe, and has traveled extensively throughout five continents.
Rebekah McKnight, Operations Officer
Rebekah, GBF's operations officer, joined GBF in July 2008. In this capacity, she works with the operations team on financial management, coordinating travel, and some human resources, and is also in charge of handling all daily operations of the office. Additionally, Rebekah acts as the portfolio analyst for GBF's SME Export Facility (SEF). Prior to working at GBF, Rebekah worked for the U.S. Committee for UNDP, where she played an active role in the operations of the organization and new project planning.
Rebekah graduated in 2008 from American University, where she earned a B.A. in international studies focusing on international development and international environmental politics. During this time, she studied and traveled extensively throughout Cuba, where she was able to learn about creative solutions for developing sustainable communities and gain an appreciation for culture as an impetus for tourism development. After earning her degree, Rebekah looked to continue her work using sustainable business as a tool for development, as well as learning more about the idea that small and medium sized businesses could help create the economic impact needed to push people out of poverty.
In her free time, Rebekah tries to spend as much time outdoors as possible. She enjoys hiking, camping, running, and traveling to new places to experience the cultures and environments of the world. In DC, Rebekah enjoys going to museums, the zoo, the National Mall, festivals and concerts, and can sometimes be seen reading at local coffee shops.
Eric Meissner, Special Initiatives Coordinator
Eric Meissner joined GBF in October 2011. Based in Washington, DC, Eric supports the Chief Investment Officer, Executive Director and GBF staff in the Supervision process of GBF’s investments. GBF’s innovative use of private sector approaches to human development, and the potential to positively influence traditional development paradigms and theories of change, drew Eric to GBF.
Prior to GBF, Eric worked for the U.S. Agency for International Development and development consulting firms since 1999, both in the field and in Washington, DC, in support of efforts to mitigate the effects of disaster and conflict around the world, including the Middle East, Central Asia, Africa and the Balkans. Most recently, Eric was assisting the work of a U.S. Inspector General to research the impact of US-funded reconstruction, stabilization and development programs, and barriers and opportunities to achieving accountability and learning. He has also served as a Knowledge Management advisor to GBF.
Eric earned a B.A. in International Relations and Political Science from Syracuse University, and his M.B.A. from the University of Oxford, where he focused on Social Innovation, Social Finance and Social Entrepreneurship. Outside of work, Eric enjoys time with family and loved ones in the U.S. and Germany after many years overseas.
Rafi Menachem, Asia Investment Analyst
Rafi joined GBF in July 2008 as its monitoring and evaluation officer. During Rafi's first three years at GBF, he spearheaded the development and implementation of GBF's social impact framework, Impact Planning, Assessment and Learning (iPAL), across all of GBF's portfolio businesses. Rafi has also been actively involved in the development of several key initiatives in the impact investing space including the Global Impact Investing Ratings System (GIIRS) Emerging Markets Standards Advisory Council and the Impact Reporting & Investing Standards (IRIS). More recently, Rafi has transitioned over to an investment analyst position with the Asia team. He was based in New Delhi, India till January 2012 before relocating to Jakarta, Indonesia to establish GBF's presence in the region. Rafi will be assisting the Asia team will pipeline development, supervision of its current portfolio as well as establishing GBF's Indian new entity and piloting a new investing platform in Indonesia.
Prior to joining GBF, Rafi was a financial analyst for the Emerging Markets sector team at BearingPoint (now Deloitte), where he worked on a $218 million dollar USAID capacity-building contract in Afghanistan. In addition, Rafi interned for the US State Department at the US Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam and at the IFC’s Grassroots Business Initiative.
He earned his B.B.A. in international business and international politics from The George Washington University School of Business, and plans to matriculate for his M.B.A. in the fall of 2012.
Outside of work, Rafi enjoys cycling, SCUBA diving, running, cooking, salsa dancing, playing tennis and learning new languages. He has traveled to over 40 countries including, Cambodia, Croatia, Jordan, India, Indonesia, Rwanda, Tanzania, Thailand, Turkey and Vietnam.
Lilian Mramba, Investment Officer
Lilian joined GBF in February 2011 as an Investment Officer for the Africa regional team. Lilian is responsible for sourcing and screening investment opportunities, conducting due diligence, building client relationships, and supervising existing portfolio companies. Prior to GBF, Lilian was a Business Assurance Manager at Moss Adams LLP where she managed large-scale social responsibility audits for public companies and financial audits for social welfare organizations and governments. As a manager, Lilian designed risk-based audit strategies, supervised staff and fostered client relations. Lilian is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA).
Lilian graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Idaho with B.S in Accounting and Finance, and earned an MBA from Thunderbird School of Global Management where she graduated with honors. During her MBA studies, she interned at the African Development Bank where she assisted with the investment appraisal process for projects across Sub-Saharan Africa. She also provided consulting services to benefit business schools in Africa.
Lilian is a native English and Swahili speaker and has basic knowledge of Spanish and French. She is an avid runner and enjoys exploring different cultures. Originally from Tanzania, Lilian brings a multicultural perspective shaped by her experiences abroad in countries such as the United States, Spain, Tunisia, Kenya, South Africa, France, Portugal, Italy and Belgium.
Christine Phillpotts, Global Portfolio Manager
As the Global Portfolio Manager, Christine sources, evaluates, and structures new investment opportunities, and supervises existing investments. She also assesses key performance drivers and risks across the entire GBF portfolio and fosters relationships with global partners.
Prior to GBF, Christine was an Equity Research Associate at JPMorgan Asset Management, covering stocks in the technology and telecommunication sectors for investment portfolios worth over $100 billion. Prior to that role, she worked in JPMorgan Asset Management’s Fixed Income division where she invested in high yield and investment grade securities. Christine was also involved in the microfinance industry. She was an active member of JPMorgan's microfinance working group and worked in Kenya with Kenya Women Finance Trust, a microfinance organization based in Nairobi.
Christine earned a B.A. in economics and psychology from Columbia University, where she graduated summa cum laude, and an M.B.A from Harvard Business School, where she received first-year honors. She was awarded the Robert Toigo Foundation and Morgan Stanley MBA fellowships. She also holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation.
Christine is fluent in French and has a basic knowledge of Haitian Creole and Spanish. She enjoys discovering new music and traveling - so far she has visited 25 countries across five continents..
Charles Polet, Investment Officer
Jaime Ramirez, Chief Investment Officer
In 2008, Jaime Ramirez joined as part of the founding team of the Grassroots Business Fund (GBF). Jaime is responsible for supervising the investment portfolio for the Latin America and Caribbean (LAC), Asia regions, and Africa.
Jaime has over 10 years experience in operations consulting and investment in developing countries and has helped develop GBF's operations, standards and initiatives. He became familiar with high impact businesses as a business associate for Gone Rural in the Kingdom of Swaziland, where he supported the management team through an assignment with MBAs Without Borders.
Jaime holds a BSc in Physics from Universidad de los Andes in Colombia, an International MBA from EAE Business School and a specialization in Structured Financial Products from Institut d’Estudis Financers in Spain.
Jaime is fluent in English and Spanish and intermediate in French and Italian. Jaime has lived in Colombia, Peru, Spain, the Kingdom of Swaziland and is currently based in the United States.
Alisa Roskach, Investment Analyst
Alisa joined GBF in January 2012 as an Investment Analyst with the Africa team. She is based in Nairobi and assists the team with both pipeline building and supervision of existing investments. Her responsibilities include sourcing for new deals, conducting due diligence, preparing investment decision documents, monitoring compliance and other metrics, and supporting regional partnership efforts.
Prior to GBF Alisa gained financial experience with the Acquisition and Leverage finance team of SGCIB in Hong Kong and Paris as well as with the Metals and Mining M&A team at Morgan Stanley in London. More recently she was a PR Manager at Lamoda.ru, an expanding internet fashion retail start-up in Russia.
Alisa completed a Masters in Management from ESCP Europe Business School in Paris and is currently pursuing a distance degree in International Affairs at the London School of Economics. During her studies Alisa had the chance to study in St Gallen and the Higher School of Economics in Moscow.
Russian but raised in Spain, Alisa is also fluent in French and Italian. Outside of work, Alisa enjoys watching author cinema, playing tennis, dancing, designing, signing, traveling and reading.
Rosie Savio, Executive Assistant
Rosie joined GBF in June 2010 as the Executive Assistant.
Rosie earned her bachelor's degree from The George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs. She majored in International Affairs and pursued a regional concentration in Europe/Eurasia and a functional concentration in Conflict & Security. Additionally, she studied abroad in Granada, Spain and Milan, Italy. While pursuing her undergraduate degree, she interned for the International Child Art Foundation's Art Olympiad and volunteered for the American Red Cross' Measles Initiative. After graduating, she worked for a small international law firm as a legal assistant until joining GBF. She hopes to pursue a career in international development.
In Rosie's free time, she enjoys reading, relaxing in the park and playing bocce with friends. Whenever she can, she visits England and Italy where her family lives.
Shiva Shanker, Investment Analyst
Shiva joined GBF in January 2010 as a financial analyst for the Asia team and is currently based in New Delhi, India. As an analyst, he performs a administrative duties, screens new projects which have been brought to GBF’s attention, conducts due diligence on potential investments and works with investees that have passed GBF’s screening process. Prior to joining GBF, Shiva interned with a subsidiary of Wyndham Worldwide, John Hancock and InterGlobe, an Indian travel conglomerate in Delhi though his most enriching work experience before joining GBF was helping an entrepreneur set up an English language school in Rwanda.
A New Delhi native, Shiva graduated summa cum laude from Babson College with concentrations in Computational Finance and Entrepreneurship in May 2009 where he received the Student Contribution Award and the Sorenson Scholarship for Meritorious Achievement.
Outside of work, Shiva enjoys reading, listening to music, playing golf and squash, and traveling—so far, he’s visited 14 countries on three continents.
Michael Stulman, Communications Officer
Michael joined the GBF team in 2010 as communications officer. He is responsible for leading their communications staff in branding and messaging, as well as media outreach, speaking engagements and activities.
His broadcast and print credits include Al Jazeera- English, BBC Business Daily, Bloomberg, Christian Science Monitor, CNN, Congressional Quarterly, The Daily Beast, Democracy Now!, The Guardian, Los Angeles Times, National Public Radio, Pacifica Radio, Voice of America, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and other media outlets.
Prior to working with GBF, Michael worked with Africa Action to direct policy and communications. He also has experience at the Institute for Policy Studies, Service Employees International Union, and several non-profit organizations in Southern Africa.
Michael’s work in the field of development and human rights has led him to travel extensively in Ghana, Rwanda, South Africa, Uganda and other parts of the world. He holds a B.A. in Sociology from Bluffton University in Ohio and has taken graduate courses at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. In his time away from work, Michael enjoys hosting social engagements and building relationships with people from all around the world with diverse professional backgrounds.
Miguel Tamayo, LAC Investment Analyst
Miguel is fluent in English and Spanish. He enjoys surfing, reading, photography and travel - so far he has visited 15 countries across three continents.
