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Acumen
40 Worth Street
Suite 303
New York, New York, 1--13
United States

Carlos Ignacio Velasco Castrillon

Co-Founder and CEO, Cacao de Colombia

Carlos Ignacio Velasco is an agripreneur with several years of experience in the coffee and cocoa sectors. He holds an MBA from INSEAD and was awarded INSEAD’s Scholarship for Emerging Country Leadership. While in the National Federation of Coffee Growers of Colombia (FNC), he worked in the offices of Bogota, Tokyo, Amsterdam and New York playing an important role in the development of Colombia’s specialty coffee program. Currently, he manages Cacao de Colombia, working with cocoa farmers in different parts of the country to improve the quality of Colombian cocoa beans and produce fine chocolates Cacao Hunters for domestic and export markets. The purpose of his company is to transform the cacao industry in Colombia.

Emiliano Mroue

Co-Founder and CEO, WARC Group

Emiliano is an entrepreneur and pioneer in conservation agriculture in West Africa. As Founder & CEO of Warc Africa, he sits at the intersection of fighting hunger and leveraging capital markets for conscious economic growth, breaking the status-quo that farmers in Africa will remain small, unproductive and poor, and proving that they can be agents of change, jobs creators and food producers. Previously he was a Corporate Manager at Henkel AG in Germany. He is a CFA Charterholder and an Economist from UTDT, in Argentina.

Otho Kerr

Chief Investment Officer, Acumen

Otho Kerr is the Chief Investment Officer at Acumen. Prior to joining Acumen, he was a founding partner with Encourage Capital, an asset management firm that leverages private capital to generate environmental and social impact as well as compelling investment returns. Otho was the Chief Operating Officer and more recently led an effort to work with native communities to develop carbon offset projects that would positively impact both the environment and the economic condition of landing-owning indigenous communities. Otho has worked in investment banking and asset management for over twenty years, having begun with Goldman Sachs & Co. He began his professional career as an attorney with Simpson Thacher & Bartlett. Otho received a BA from Dartmouth College and a JD from The Harvard Law School. Otho was a co-founder of the Institute for Youth Entrepreneurship in Harlem and a fellow in the Rockefeller Foundation's Next Generation Leadership Program.

Per Heggenes

CEO, IKEA Foundation

Per Heggenes is the CEO of the IKEA Foundation. Per sets and drives the Foundation’s funding and innovation strategies, and is a tireless advocate for children living in some of the world’s poorest communities. Since becoming the Foundation’s first CEO in 2009, Per has presided over the Foundation’s evolution into a global, grant-making philanthropy that funds programmes in more than 35 countries. Per served in the Norwegian Air Force and graduated from the University of Augsburg in Germany with a “Diplom Oekonom” (MBA).

Tamer El-Raghy

Managing Director, Acumen Capital Partners

Tamer has over 20 years of VC & PE, M&A, entrepreneurial and innovation experience in Africa, Middle East, USA and Europe. As the MD of Acumen Capital Partners (ACP), he is leading the Acumen Resilient Agriculture Initiative (ARAF); a $50MM initiative where ACP invests in early growth stage Agribusinesses in East & West Africa that help smallholder farmers become more resilient to climate change. Prior to joining ARAF, Tamer spent two years with responsAbility AG as head of Agriculture PE in Africa. Prior to joining responsAbility, he led Cargill’s growth strategy and M&A activities in Africa for six years. He started his career as a materials engineer. Tamer received an MBA from NYU Stern School of Business (New York), a PhD in Materials Engineering from Drexel University (Philadelphia) and a B.Sc. in Metallurgical Engineering from Cairo University