CDC, the UK’s development finance institution that will soon be renamed British International Investment (BII), has appointed four new managing directors.
The appointments have been made as CDC/BII enters its new five year strategy period in which it will prioritise investment in clean infrastructure and climate finance projects.
Amal-Lee Amin, CDC’s Climate Change Director, becomes MD and Head of Climate. Dr Amin has led cross-firm initiatives to align investment strategies with the goals of the Paris Agreement. She has also positioned CDC/BII as a leader among the development finance community on climate finance, particularly the agenda for accelerating private investment for climate adaptation and resilience.
Chris Chijiutomi, Director, Head of Infrastructure Equity, becomes MD and Head of Infrastructure Equity, Africa and Pakistan. Mr Chijiutomi has led CDC’s Infrastructure Equity team since 2018 and in that capacity has been responsible for some of the company’s most important relationships and transactions. He sits on the boards of Globeleq and Gridworks, CDC’s key investments in Africa power. He also provided overall leadership and supervision of CDC’s joint venture with DP World in the creation of a platform to invest in ports and logistics assets in Africa.
Yasemin Saltuk Lamy, Deputy CIO, Head of Asset Allocation and Capital Solutions becomes MD and Head of Asset Allocation and Capital Solutions. Under Ms Lamy’s leadership since 2018, CDC’s Catalyst portfolio has doubled in size, reaching $1 billion of commitments and helping more than 40 million people. In 2020, she stewarded CDC’s COVID-19 response, which was awarded Real World Impact Initiative of the Year by the UN Principles for Responsible Investment.
Abhinav Sinha, Director and Head of Technology and Telecoms, Equity, becomes MD and Head of Technology and Telecoms. Since joining CDC in 2018, Mr Sinha has been responsible for leading his teams on some of the most significant investments at CDC/BII. These have included Liquid Telecom, the largest independent fibre and cloud service provider in Africa, the mobile partnership with Vodacom in Ethiopia and setting up Kelix bio, the cross-border pharmaceutical manufacturing platform.
Nick O’Donohoe, Chief Executive at CDC/BII, said: “Each of our four new Managing Directors have demonstrated outstanding performance, skill and dedication to our values. They will play a key role in delivering BII’s strategy over the new five year strategic period.”
