Management Team

Janja is a German citizen who has lived in Nicaragua for 40 years and has worked for over three decades in the forestry sector, primarily in Latin America. She is a Forest Engineer and Industrial Mechanic and holds a master’s degree in environmental management and Auditing with a focus on Climate Change. Her preferred work involves rural and Indigenous communities, particularly in the areas of Community Forest Management and fostering relationships between communities and private companies. She is co-author of the FAO-published guide “Forest Business Development by Communities”. Throughout her professional career, she has worked on these themes for investment banks such as DEG and IFC. In her various roles, she has always been actively involved with the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), where she worked for 11 years and played a key role in the development of FSC International’s Community and Family Forest Program. Janja is well accustomed to working in intercultural environments and is fluent in German, Spanish, and English.

Ilona Biro joined IforD in 2024 as a Business Development Manager. She has 11 years of experience in the financial services industry in Stucturing and Deal Management. Prior to joining the Fund, she was working as an Execution Trader in Azimut Investments focusing on ESG analysis. Previously, Ilona worked with the Securitization and Structured Products desk in Barclays Capital in Luxembourg and in Morgan Stanley Hungary Analytics in Budapest as a Financial Analyst responsible for the products under the offerings of the firm’s US subsidiaries.

She completed her thesis research in Microfinancing and she is an Economist with a Master’s Degree in International Economics and Business. She is also a certified Financial Risk Manager (FRM) since 2022.

Alejandro is Manager Servicing Risk and Finance at FCCF and has more than 7 years of experience in Corporate and Project finance. Prior to joining the Fund in 2021, he acted as the Head of Corporate, Project finance and Treasury at Vallair Solutions S.à.r.l., where he also acted as interim deputy CFO for a couple of years. During this period, he managed the investment processes and raised more than USD 100m for CAPEX and Project finance Investments through different finance structures. Prior to having completed his MBA at the HEC Paris business school, Alejandro held several positions managing research and innovation projects working with Akzo Nobel, in the U.K. and Dupont Coatings, in Mexico.

He has a MSc in Chemical Engineering from the Loughborough University and holds a certificate on “Challenges on Global Poverty” from M.I.T. From 2013 to 2014, he acted as co-president of the HEC Net Impact Club. Alejandro has successfully passed his Level III CFA exam. He is fluent in Spanish, French and English.

Chiara is Manager Investment Servicing at FCCF and has been working in the microfinance sector for over 15 years. Her experience in financial inclusion spans different markets and financial service providers. She has worked few year as a independent consultant and advises financial services providers on customer-centric design, ESG, client protection and social performance. Chiara has experience in facilitation of decision-making and strategic reflections, organization design, and business modeling.

Prior, Chiara worked for more that 10 year at MFR (MicroFinanza Rating), where she successfully managed social business activities, including the various certification schemes (Smart Campaign Certification, GSMA Mobile Money Certification, etc.). At MFR, Chiara evaluated and advised more than 100 financial companies in different markets and regulatory environments.