Geetha Tharmaratnam is an investment executive with 19+ years of experience in Private Equity, venture capital, development finance, impact investing and insurance in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Europe. She has had a focus on Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), gender lens-investing, healthcare and financial services.
Geetha is the CEO of Aequalitas Capital Partners and leads the impact investment practice. She advises investors, intermediaries, international development actors and companies interested in creating and implementing impact investment and Sustainable Development Goals related financing products.
Aequalitas Capital Partners offers advisory services in impact investment and Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) to organisations seeking to deploy capital or receive capital for growth and impact. They advise leaders in businesses, investment funds and capital owners along the spectrum of philanthropy, impact investing and private sector development. Aequalitas Capital Partners combine professionals from different backgrounds, with experience and extensive knowledge including healthcare, education, agriculture, financial services and gender-lens investing.
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Most recently, as senior investment advisor to the UN Economic Commission for Africa, she developed a fund-of-funds to invest in female African Investors. The Africa Women’s Leadership Fund launched in February 2020, with commitments from 3 African governments and several private investors.
Previously Partner – Africa & Head of Impact for LGT Impact, she was a member of Global Investment Committee and deal partner. Geetha was a founding partner of T5 Africa Capital Partners. She worked in the global Portfolio Management team and in the USD 1 Billion global impact health fund of the Abraaj Group. Earlier, Geetha was a principle in the CIO Office at Aureos Capital, the preeminent SME PE firm originally owned by the British and Norwegian DFIs (CDC and Norfund). Prior to that, she worked in Corporate Finance at Alea Group.
Geetha is an advisor to Capria Ventures, an accelerator for impact fund managers. She is on the Investment Committee of Aleyo Capital, a USD 50 Million Botswana Investment Fund and on the Board of Okavango Capital Partners, a fund addressing environmental sustainability and conservation. She is a trustee of the Royal African Society and an Eisenhower Fellow.
Previously, she served on the WEF Global Agenda Council on Sustainable Development, The WEF-OECD Working Group on Redesigning Development Finance, the AVCA Sustainability Committee, PRI and EMPEA working groups.
She has lived and worked in Malawi, Zambia, Botswana, the US and the UK. She has worked on investments across 23 countries in Africa, and portfolios in Asia, Latin America and Europe.
Geetha invests in early stage businesses in Africa as a venture capital investor.
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