Board
Tony Fernandes (Chairman / Treasurer)
Mr. Tony Fernandes has a Master in Economics from the Gokhale Institute of Economics and Politics of the University of Pune in India (1969-1971) and a Master in Regional Planning from the Institute of Social Studies in The Hague (1974-1976). After finishing High School and Licenciate in Philosophy, San Cugat del Vallés, Spain (1960-1963) he taught at a High School for a year (1964-1965) and was Lecturer in Economics at St. Xavier`s College, Bombay (1971-1973).
After his studies he worked in Cebemo, a Co-financing Organisation (1976-1986) in the Netherlands as country responsible for India and as Coordinator and Policy Responsible of the Asia Department of Cebemo. He then set up an Exchange Programme - Solidarity Policy Action Network in Cebemo where he worked from 1986 -1990 and then for another ten years from 1991-1999 in the Latin American Department of Cebemo and later Bilance as country responsible for Colombia, Ecuador and Bolivia. He then went on to work as Regional Responsible for Credit Programmes in Asia and Latin America in Cordaid, which was a merger between Bilance, Caritas Nederlandica and Memisa from 2000 - 2005. Since 2005, he has been working as a Senior Consultant on a number of assignments such as the Microfinance Asia Fund, the Micro and Small Enterprises Fund in Bolivia and India and the Technical Assistance Fund of Cordaid for Asia and Africa.
Ben Simmes (Secretary
)Mr Bernardus (Ben) Henricus Johannes Simmes, Director of Membership and Investments up to June 30, 2009 and Director of Social and Financial Analysis and Performance and deputy to the Managing Director from July 1, 2009. Mr Simmes is working for Oikocredit since 1996 and has a degree in comparative sociology and economy of the State University of Utrecht, in the Netherlands. Mr Simmes is, or has been Board Member of Kontakt der Kontinenten in Soesterberg, the International Interfaith Investment Group (3iG), Oikocredit International Share Foundation, Fair Trade Organisation in Culemborg. Prior to working for Oikocredit he was employed with CMC as head of the department of Overseas Development Workers, as a staff member of the Kinaiyahan Foundation (ecology organisation) in the Philippines and as development worker in Papua New Guinea.
Aris Alip
Dr. Jaime Aristotle B. Alip is the Founder and Managing Director of the Center for Agriculture and Rural Development Mutually Reinforcing Institutions (CARD MRI), the 2008 Ramon Magsaysay Awardee for Public Service. Started in 1986, CARD MRI is a group of mutually reinforcing institutions composed of the CARD NGO, CARD Bank, CARD Mutual Benefit Association, CARD MRI Development Institute, CARD Business Development Service Foundation Inc., CARD MRI Insurance Agency, and Rural Bank of Sto. Tomas, Inc. As of February 2010, CARD MRI has a total outreach of more than 1,034,808 poor women clients with a total outstanding loan of more than P3.6 Billion. Total asset of CARD MRI is more than P6.3 Billion with a total staff complement of 5,344. Under CARD MBA microinsurance activities, CARD has insured more than 4.8 million individuals. Under Dr. Alip’s leadership CARD MRI was also awarded the Prize for Excellence in Community Economic Development by the Southern New Hampshire University in 2007; People Power People Recognition Award by Former President Corazon C. Aquino in 2005; the Global Excellence for Microfinance by the Grameen Foundation, USA in 2003; and the Flame of Excellence Award given by USAID and Microfinance Coalition for Standards of the Philippines in 2000. Dr. Alip has recently been elected as a member of the International Board of Directors of Oikocredit and sits as an adviser in Grameen Foundation, USA. He is also currently the Immediate Past President of RIMANSI, a regional based association that promotes microinsurance among MFI players in Asia region. He is currently an adjunct faculty of the SCED, Southern New Hampshire University, USA.
David Baguma
Mr. David T. Baguma has been Executive Director for AMFIU since September 2004. Under his leadership enough resources have been mobilized that AMFIU is considered worldwide as a successful vibrant Network in Africa. AMFIU has won competitive awards from EU/ACP for Transparency program and SEEP/Citi Foundation for Networking Strengthening Program. AMFIU has also acquired a permanent home under his vision for sustainability. Before assuming the role of Executive Director, he served on the AMFIU Board for 6 years (1999 – 2004). He is among key instrumental persons in building and shaping the MF industry in Uganda. David has over 15 years experience in Microfinance at designing, implementation and oversight levels. In 1993 he started a MFI in Feed The Children Uganda [FTCU) called Community Banking Program and by the time he left the organization it had active clientele of 15,000 and a portfolio of over one million US dollars in 2004. David holds an MA in Education (Calvin College/Seminary, USA), BA (Political Science/Sociology, Makerere University), Post graduate Diploma in Financial Management (Uganda Mgt Institute), Diploma in SME Management and Development (Galillee College, Israel) and a host of certificates in Microfinance short courses.
Herman Mulder
Herman Mulder (1946) retired in July 2006 from ABN AMRO Bank after 27 years holding leading positions in relationship management (notably energy), defaulted loan restructuring & recovery, project finance, syndicated loans. Since 1995 he was Global Head of Structured Finance and since 1998 Senior Executive Vice President (SEVP),Head of Group Risk Management, Co-chairman of the Group Risk Committee. Since 1998 he lead the ABN AMRO’s global initiatives in Sustainable Development (SD), in which the bank is recognized a sector leader (i.a. Winner of the WEC Gold Medal in 2006 and the FT/IFC Sustainable Bank of the Year in 2007). He was the creator and first chairman of ABN AMRO Group Foundation. In 2002 he was the initiator of the ground-breaking voluntary financial sector-initiative “the Equator Principles for project finance” (now adopted by more than 50 major financial institutions ). He was actively involved in the creation of NFX (a joint platform between the Dutch government and Dutch banks focused on finance for development). In November 2005, he was made a knight in the Royal Order of Oranje-Nassau for his initiatives on sustainable development, the Equator Principles in particular. In the period 2000-2004 he was a non-executive Board Member of the Bank of Asia (Thailand). In mid 2006 he conscientiously chose to retire from ABN AMRO to become an independent advisor to promote the role of the (large and SME) business sector in sustainable development worldwide in many different capacities, ranging from climate issues to social entrepreneurship, from advising & mediation to business development & finance. For more information, please visit: www.hermanmulder.nl
Frans Goossens