SDG Dialogue Series: Private Equity's Role in Delivering SDGs

Private equity plays a critical role to invest and influence businesses in a manner that creates positive change. They have the unique potential to drive changes at scale and speed which helps accelerate progress holistically across the SDG agenda.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) issued SDG Impact Standards for Private Equity Funds on 9 October 2020. This new set of voluntary standard outlines a common languages and best-practice guidance for private equity, debt and venture capital fund managers to integrate impact management into business, investment practices and decision-making.

In collaboration with the Graduate Institute's Centre for Finance and Development, Prof. Nathan Sussman will give an opening remark to welcome our guest speakers, Ms. Sebnem Sener, Senior SDG Finance Specialist at UNDP SDG-Impact, Mr. Thibaud Ponchon, Investment Director - Private Equity (Asia) at BlueOrchard and Dr. Marc Moser, Head of Impact at Lightrock to discuss the current approaches, good practices and specific challenges and opportunities for Private Equity funds to deliver important outcomes across SDG themes.

About the speakers: 

Dr. Nathan Sussman, Professor of International Economics at the Graduate Institute, Pictet Chair in Finance and Development, Director of Centre for Finance and Development

Nathan Sussman is Professor of International Economics and Director of the Institute's Centre for Finance and Development . He was Associate Professor of Economics in the Department of Economics and in the integrated Philosophy, Economics, and Political Science Programme (PEP) at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He was the Director of the Research Department at the Bank of Israel and a voting member of the Monetary Policy Committee. His fields of expertise are monetary and financial economic history. He has written numerous articles and co-authored a book on emerging markets and financial globalisation. 

Professor Sussman earned his PhD in Economics from the University of California, Berkeley. He was Full Professor and Economics Department Chair at the University of Western Ontario in Canada, and served as Chairman of the Economics Department, Director of the Maurice Falk Institute for Economic Research, and Associate Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences at the Hebrew University

Ms. Sebnem Sener, Senior SDG Finance Specialist at UNDP SDG-Impact 

Sebnem is the Senior SDG Finance Specialist for UNDP SDG Impact. Sebnem has more than 14 years of sustainability, financial sector and strategy development experience in international organizations. In her current role at SDG Impact, she works with private sector players to catalyze private investment towards Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Previously she worked as a Policy Advisor to Her Majesty Queen Máxima of the Netherlands in her capacity as the UN SG’s Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance to support her role in advancing financial inclusion.

Prior to that role, she worked for Finance and Markets Group at the World Bank Group where, over the last three years, she worked in the Financial Inclusion Group and was responsible for providing technical, strategic and operational support/services in financial inclusion and advisory services with international experience in strategy and financial sector development. At the World Bank Group, she also worked on a variety of financial sector development projects, assisted emerging economies and developing markets in preparing prioritized action plans addressing financial sector development and the sequencing of reforms, and advised clients, especially in low income countries, on the implementation of financial sector development programs.

Before joining the World Bank, Sebnem worked for an NGO and conducted several development projects, including many micro finance and SME finance projects

Mr. Thibaud Ponchon, Investment Director Asia – Private Equity at BlueOrchard

Thibaud is an impact investment professional with over 15 years of Private Equity and Private Debt investment experience in Europe and Asia. He is responsible for PE deal sourcing and execution for Asia at BlueOrchard focused on financial inclusion, insurance and technology companies.  He sits at various boards of portfolio companies.

Prior to BlueOrchard, Thibaud worked in a microfinance-focused PE fund focused on South and South East Asia. Prior to that, he was in the leveraged finance team at M&G Investments in London. Thibaud holds an MSc in finance from Lancaster University in the UK and is CFA Charterholder.

Dr. Marc Moser, Head of Impact at Lightrock 

Marc Moser is the Head of Impact at Lightrock. Marc joined LGT Venture Philanthropy in 2014 already in a dedicated role on Impact & ESG and then transitioned to Lightrock in 2018. He oversees Impact & ESG management activities of Lightrock globally, advising and working closely together with regional investment teams across Europe, Latam, India and Africa. 

Marc is also a lecturer at the University of Applied Sciences in Business Administration Zurich where he previously worked as a Research Assistant at the Institute for Strategic Management and was involved in various interdisciplinary and international research projects in the areas of sustainability, economic development and CSR. His doctoral thesis focused on microfinance investments from a stakeholder-oriented strategic management perspective. 

Prior to his academic career, Marc worked for UBS AG and was a co-founder of a local lifestyle portal. Marc earned his doctorate degree in Business Administration at the University of Southern Queensland and has a Master’s degree from the University of Zurich and Stellenbosch University.