Bernadette Blom
Founding Partner, FOUNT; Director, BIX Capital
Bernadette is Founding Partner of FOUNT and Director of BIX Capital. She has around 25 years structured finance and strategic advisory experience of which around 20 years hands on experience in impact investing.
Within FOUNT, Bernadette has been leading several strategic advisory assignments focusing on designing, implementing and evaluating various impact investment initiatives in different sectors and geographies. Bernadette has set-up several impact investment funds and is Director of BIX Capital. BIX offers impact receivable finance to SME’s active in impact products ( primarily clean cook stoves) in Sub Sahara Africa that target underserved populations to improve livelihoods for mainly women and children.
On International Women’s day Bernadette was nominated as one of the ‘Top 50 women in sustainable finance 2022’ in the Netherlands. Bernadette is Director and IC member of the Good Fashion Fund and has worked with different type of clients and investors in various countries in Africa, Asia, CEE and Latin America. Before establishing FOUNT, Bernadette was partner at Goodwell a Dutch based impact investment firm, worked at Accenture, BTMU investment banking (London) and ABN AMRO Bank’s investment banking division (Amsterdam).
Day 0
October 10
Sessions by Bernadette Blom
Day 1
October 11
Sessions by Bernadette Blom
Day 2
October 12
Sessions by Bernadette Blom
1:45 pm-2:45 pm
Breakout Room A
Fearless Leadership: Women Building a Better World
Women are the driving force behind the clean cooking transition – feeding their families, working in sales, leading enterprises, implementing policy and structuring finance. They spark innovation despite all odds, they persist in the face of obstacles and insist on building a better future for all.
For too long the conversation around gender and clean cooking has focused on women as victims – suffering the disproportionate impacts of poor health and safety – or merely as passive beneficiaries, receiving improved solutions delivered by well-meaning donors. But this historic narrative does not reflect reality.
Accelerating access to clean cooking is a critical tool for empowering women and advancing gender equality. Women are essential to the widespread adoption and use of clean cooking solutions. Their agency as household decision makers and consumers should not be underestimated. Their involvement as employees & entrepreneurs helps businesses thrive. Their leadership in policy and finance is essential to achieving progress at scale.
This session will delve into the stories and experiences of women working across the clean cooking ecosystem – as policy makers, entrepreneurs and investors – discussing the unique issues impacting women and how we can ensure that women have equal opportunities to lead, participate in and benefit from a just and inclusive energy transition.
Speakers
Bernadette Blom
Founding Partner, FOUNT; Director, BIX Capital
Sheila Oparaocha
Director, ENERGIA
Kalinda Magloire
CEO, SWITCH
Rejoice Ntiriwaa Ossei-Bremang
Science Communicator and Researcher, Cape Coast Technical University
Faith Wandera-Odongo
Senior Deputy Director of Renewable Energy, Kenya Ministry of Energy
Day 3
October 13
Sessions by Bernadette Blom
Day 4
October 14
Sessions by Bernadette Blom
Sessions by Bernadette Blom
Sessions by Bernadette Blom
Sessions by Bernadette Blom
1:45 pm-2:45 pm
Breakout Room A
Fearless Leadership: Women Building a Better World
Women are the driving force behind the clean cooking transition – feeding their families, working in sales, leading enterprises, implementing policy and structuring finance. They spark innovation despite all odds, they persist in the face of obstacles and insist on building a better future for all.
For too long the conversation around gender and clean cooking has focused on women as victims – suffering the disproportionate impacts of poor health and safety – or merely as passive beneficiaries, receiving improved solutions delivered by well-meaning donors. But this historic narrative does not reflect reality.
Accelerating access to clean cooking is a critical tool for empowering women and advancing gender equality. Women are essential to the widespread adoption and use of clean cooking solutions. Their agency as household decision makers and consumers should not be underestimated. Their involvement as employees & entrepreneurs helps businesses thrive. Their leadership in policy and finance is essential to achieving progress at scale.
This session will delve into the stories and experiences of women working across the clean cooking ecosystem – as policy makers, entrepreneurs and investors – discussing the unique issues impacting women and how we can ensure that women have equal opportunities to lead, participate in and benefit from a just and inclusive energy transition.
Speakers
Bernadette Blom
Founding Partner, FOUNT; Director, BIX Capital
Sheila Oparaocha
Director, ENERGIA
Kalinda Magloire
CEO, SWITCH
Rejoice Ntiriwaa Ossei-Bremang
Science Communicator and Researcher, Cape Coast Technical University
Faith Wandera-Odongo
Senior Deputy Director of Renewable Energy, Kenya Ministry of Energy