SNV Netherlands Development Organisation
Repositioning a 26-country organisation's funding model
With traditional donor funding tightening, SNV created a two-year mandate to find what else could fund the mission. I led the feasibility study end to end: peer analysis of Hivos, FHI 360, Oxfam, and Mercy Corps; interviews across country teams and global functions; PwC legal and tax structuring; and risk assessment across seven categories. Three revenue pathways came out of it: carbon finance, inclusive commercial value chain services, and investment-linked advisory.
The Executive Team and Supervisory Board approved the strategic direction; SNV has since approved two of the three and hired two principals to lead them.
Funding diversificationFeasibility studyBoard engagement
Degas · Chief Operating Officer
Making finance work for 46,000 smallholder farmers
Smallholder credit usually fails on repayment, and when it fails, farmers lose access. Degas advanced inputs on credit, repaid in harvested produce. We rebuilt the model around cohort-based risk analysis and AI-based credit scoring linking yield data, climate exposure, and repayment history, with financing terms tied to creditworthiness rather than collateral. We partnered with Ghana's Ministry of Agriculture on farmer outreach, and I pitched our technology for the Ministry's own use.
Recovery rose from 76% to 97% and held above 95% across c.20,000 hectares, keeping credit flowing to 46,000+ farmers.
Smallholder financeFinancial inclusionClimate data
Degas · Chief Operating Officer
Scaling regenerative agriculture with a corporate anchor
Regenerative practices spread when the economics work. An exclusive offtake partnership with Nestlé anchored demand, and we scaled participating farmers from 1,000 to 5,000+ while piloting FarmGPT, an AI agronomic advisory tool funded through a Gates Foundation grant.
5,000+ farmers in regenerative practice, a 100% vendor-audit score, and a working model of corporate-foundation-operator collaboration.
Regenerative agricultureCorporate partnershipsFoundation funding
Impact Terra · Head of Operations
Reaching 60,000 farmers with digital advisory in Myanmar
A VC-backed platform, with investment from the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, delivering agronomic and market information in a frontier context. I ran operations through periods of significant delivery risk, launched Golden Paddy Crop Insights with Wageningen University & Research, and aligned operational, financial, and impact metrics into reporting donors and investors could act on.
60,000+ registered users, a new B2B product line, and continuity maintained through a high-risk operating environment.
Digital agricultureDonor reportingFrontier delivery
SNV Netherlands Development Organisation
Investment governance in service of mission
Deploying reserves is a stewardship question for a development organisation. I identified c.40% of reserves as investable and authored the governance framework for a first EUR 5m listed equity allocation, built around exclusions, SFDR classification, and engagement expectations for the manager. I also developed the parallel framework for a higher-risk impact allocation, which the CFO used as the basis for a deliberate decision to pause. Governance that can say no is governance working.
Board-approved framework, an external asset manager appointed from four bidders, the first EUR 5m deployed, and investment discipline embedded in a mission-led institution.
Investment governanceESGStewardship
