Meet the venturesome team

Joanne is responsible for maintaining and developing the relationships with the philanthropic funders who support CAF Venturesome’s funds. Joanne also works with Marketing and Communications to raise awareness of social investment and the support CAF Venturesome can offer to social organisations.

Joanne has a varied background in investment banking, PR, charity fundraising and social enterprise development.

Anne-Helene is our Senior Investment Manager, overseeing the whole Venturesome portfolio with primary responsibility for our Community Led Housing Fund.  She also continues to manage the portfolio of social investments in our now closed, Community Land Trust (CLT) Funds and our active Development Fund. Anne-Helene is on the Grant Committee of a Power to Change Fund entitled “Homes in Community Hands”.

Prior to joining CAF Venturesome, she worked for over 10 years as a management consultant for social enterprises and charities, as well as the public and private sectors.

Hanna manages a portfolio of social investments across all funds, with responsibilities ranging from assessing investment applications to monitoring existing investee performances.

Hanna’s career started  as a corporate lawyer in Sweden, New York and London.  She then moved to a charity providing access to higher education and entrepreneurship opportunities to socially vulnerable, young people in Rwanda. Hanna then co-founded and led an impact investment organisation providing access to capital and extensive support to Rwandan entrepreneurs.  Given her experience, international projects are close to her heart, as well as initiatives focused on social entrepreneurship, women, and young people. 

Nayantara works across the Development Fund and the Community-led Housing Fund, with responsibilities including deal evaluations, due diligence, and portfolio management.

Previously, Nayantara was a portfolio manager for corporate social responsibility investments at Cisco working across skilling, rural entrepreneurship, income generation and agricultural livelihoods in India.

At Social Alpha, an equity-led impact investing organisation established by the Tata Trusts and the Government of India, she supported mission-driven entrepreneurs across MedTech, AssitiveTech and CivicTech sectors.

Nayantara was awarded the International Innovation Corps fellowship at the University of Chicago and has a background in mathematics and economics.

Sara manages a portfolio of social investments across all funds, with responsibilities ranging from assessing investment applications to monitoring existing investee performances.

Sara previously worked as a sovereign credit analyst at Moody’s and Citigroup, mostly analysing developing economies.  Sara has now decided to use her finance analytical skills to support social organisations to do their best to make our planet a better and fairer place.  Sara is particularly interested in organisations working to tackle homelessness, gender equality and international development.

 

 

Anoushka manages a portfolio of social investments across all funds, with responsibilities ranging from assessing investment applications to monitoring existing investee performances.

Anoushka previously worked as a trader at Goldman Sachs, looking at debt products in higher-risk corporates. Prior to that she held a relationship management role for institutional investors. She is focussed on making access to capital easier for women- and minority-led businesses and is particularly interested in organisations working to improve social mobility and education.

Dominique manages a portfolio of social investments across all funds, with responsibilities ranging from assessing investment applications to monitoring existing investee performances. Dominique previously worked in structured credit at Deutsche Bank, giving tailored loans to institutional investors. Dominique has now decided to focus on supporting social organisations in achieving impactful and lasting change.  Dominique is particularly interested in organisations involved in youth development, international development and using sport for change.

Cheryl joined the Venturesome team in 2019 after working in the Grant-Making team at CAF. She looks after all the team’s administrative tasks; especially finance reconciliations and investment committee administration. Cheryl has a Bachelors Degree in Business Administration with Accounts/Finance from The University of Greenwich.

Meri is the Venturesome Team Administrator responsible for secretariat duties across all Venturesome-managed funds. She also provides administrative support to ensure the efficient and smooth running of the team. Meri previously worked as a fundraiser in various charities in Australia and the UK, raising income through appeals, events, grants and corporate sponsorships. Meri is particularly interested in causes that raise aspirations of children and young people, creating opportunities so they can fulfil their potential to create a brighter future.