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Brigit Helms
Chief of Party, SPEED Program in Mozambique
Mozambique ... International Trade and Development
Current
DAI
Previous
McKinsey & Company, Unitus, IFC - International Finance Corporation
Education
Stanford University
479
connections
www.linkedin.com/pub/brigit-helms/17/9a2/9b6/
BACKGROUND
SUMMARY
- • More than 25 years experience finding innovative private sector solutions to development problems in over 30 developing countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America
- • Strategic leadership, visioning, and strategic planning with multi-cultural teams
- • Management and operational experience in finance for poor and low-income households and enterprises, business development services, rural development, trade and investment
- • Technical expertise in investment due diligence, financial management and analysis, technical assistance, economic and financial modeling, and ABC costing
- • Full range of public speaking, teaching and capacity-building skills using interactive, experiential learning techniques
- • Policy work on business environment, aid effectiveness and financial inclusion with governments and donors
- • Extensive government and private sector consulting
- • Facility with languages: native English speaker; fluent in Spanish; advanced French conversation and reading; and intermediate Italian and Bahasa Indonesia
Specialties:Strategic consulting on vision and strategy, motivating and buliding teams to deliver, making things happen.
EXPERIENCE
Chief of Party, SPEED Program
DAI
March 2012 – Present (1 year 1 month)Maputo, Mozambique
USAID/Mozambique developed the Support Program for Economic and Enterprise Development (SPEED) to help Mozambique overcome major obstacles to trade and investment. The SPEED Team works with the government and the private sector to strengthen private sector participation in the policy process, identify strategic priorities for reform, build a consensus for these reforms, and then move forward on adopting the reforms and ensuring effective implementation throughout the country.
www.speed-program.com
Senior Expert, financial Inclusion
McKinsey & Company
November 2010 – March 2012 (1 year 5 months)
Supporting McKinsey to build its financial inclusion practice, very exciting opportunity!
CEO
Unitus
2010 – 2010 (less than a year)
Managed a multi-cultural, multi-country team (offices in Bangalore, Nairobi, and Seattle) to develop a new strategy for the organization to extend the boundaries of microfinance. Highlights include:
- • Spearheaded a fully participatory process to define a corporate strategy to fill key market gaps in small enterprise finance and rural branchless banking and built on key corporate capabilities.
- • Turned around morale, strengthened a high-performing team of professionals, and reinforced a management team that crossed both functional and geographic boundaries.
- • Supported communications, marketing, and fundraising efforts.
(Open)21 recommendations, including:
Mark Wensley
Microfinance Program Manager at The MasterCard Foundation
Brigit inspires and is a visionary leader. I learned a lot from Brigit at Unitus about redirecting an entire organization...View
Maggie Dugan
Creativity/Innovation facilitator and trainer
If you want it done, and done well, then put Brigit in charge. I’ve watched her in a number of professional capacities – as...View
19 more recommendations
Head of Advisory Services + Regional Sector Leader
IFC - International Finance Corporation
August 2006 – December 2009 (3 years 5 months)
Head of Advisory Services, Indonesia, March 2008 – December 2009
Managed a large team to deliver IFC’s Advisory Services program in Indonesia (responsible for 60 staff and budget of $9 million per year). Strategic priorities included finding private sector solutions to: expand access to finance, extend the reach of infrastructure, strengthen commodity-based supply chains, and improve the business climate. Highlights include:
• Developed a country strategy for a five year program, together with investment colleagues. Concrete goals are to improve the lives of 40 million Indonesians, facilitate/mobilize more than $15 billion in investments, and reduce Greenhouse Gas emissions by 160 million tons CO2 equivalent.
• Led in all aspects of management, both operational (e.g., technical teams by business lines) and administrative (HR, Finance, Communications, Office Administration, Monitoring and Evaluation).
• Conducted fundraising and promotional activities to support the country strategy, including internal and external liaising with a broad spectrum of stakeholders. Raised $20m over the past 15 months.
• Managed a delicate transition that entailed significant staff turnover, exit of several programs, and launch of new strategy, processes, systems, etc.
Sector Leader, Access to Finance, East Asia and the Pacific, August 2006 – March 2008
Advise and coordinate IFC’s five Advisory Services programs in Access to Finance throughout East Asia and the Pacific. Areas of regional priority include: microfinance, SME banking, housing finance, leasing, mobile phone banking, financial infrastructure and capital markets development.
Lead Microfinance Specialist
CGAP / World Bank
March 1996 – August 2006 (10 years 6 months)
Leadership/Management: Serve on CGAP management team, providing strategic advice, innovation and leadership on a wide range of CGAP activities, including: drafting key strategic documents, finalizing CGAP workplan and budget; drafting CGAP funding proposals for World Bank funding; managing projects valued at more than $15 million, teams and personnel issues; and serving actively on the CGAP publications committee. Frequently invited as a keynote and panel speaker at international conferences. In 2005, authored Access for All: Building Inclusive Financial Systems.
Other areas of expertise:
Financial Institutions – Developing Retail-level Competence
Capacity-building – Strengthening Technical Skills
Savings – Tapping Domestic Funding Markets
Efficiency – Streamlining Operations
Aid Effectiveness – Defining “smart” subsidies for the private sector
Country Program Officer
International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD)
December 1993 – March 1996 (2 years 4 months)
Windward Islands Task Manager: Designed, organized, and participated in IFAD Formulation Mission Dominica and St. Lucia projects ($10 million combined value; $4 million loan amount) to strengthen agricultural value chains for tourism and agribusiness; served as Team Leader for Appraisal Mission; supervised ongoing IFAD operation in St. Vincent; developed IFAD Technical Assistance Grant to the Caribbean Confederation of Credit Unions.
Other projects:
Indigenous peoples research and projects
Project Cycle Re-engineering
International Economist
U.S. Department of Commerce
March 1986 – August 1988 (2 years 6 months)
Central America Coordinator: Promoted trade and investment in Central America; counseled Central American and U.S. small businesses.
Processed Food Project: Designed and researched a 'Profile of Central American Food Processors'; assessed project feasibility based on income-generating criteria.
Economic Policy: Participated in Costa Rican GATT accession negotiations in Geneva and Costa Rica; monitored congressional legislation; drafted testimony for Commerce officials.
Training: Developed and delivered seminars in Spanish on marketing, production strategies, and exporting food products for small businesses in five countries. Created Education Program on U.S. Trade Laws for public and private sector leaders in Central America and the Caribbean.
LANGUAGES
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