I&P's July newsletter is now online

"Beyond my duties as Director of Corporate Relations of the Africa/MENA-region in VIGEO I have always fed a passion for Africa.

Already when I was pursuing my studies in Political Science in Sweden, I enrolled in parallel to follow a course of African Studies which had just been created at the time and I was committed to work as a volunteer for the "Nordic Africa Institute" in Uppsala.

My ambition has always been to work in an environment linked with Africa. Thus I began my career as a Project Manager in the ACP countries (Africa, Caribbean and Pacific) in UNI (International Trade Union Federation based in Geneva), where I had the opportunity to achieve many missions in fifteen francophone and anglophone African countries.

After 8 years spent at VIGEO, I am really pleased to witness the emergence of an increasing number of actors who take into account environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors in their investment deals and in particular in SMEs. The positive impact of this approach is multiple. It allows both a decrease of the negative social and environmental impacts and promotion of best practices and opportunities.

This type of investment contributes to the sustainability of the company which can thus access responsible investment markets ; those are increasingly conditioned by CSR criteria. Secondly, the development of social practices promotes productivity, competitiveness and improves services quality. This also contributes to a better resources control and thereby to the environment’s protection. Finally, ESG-sensitive investments foster good corporate governance, which will create better relationships with all stakeholders.

I am delighted to enter I&P Africa Entrepreneurs fund’s investment committee and I sincerely hope to contribute to the development of African businesses while accompanying them on a major issue : responsible financing."