Camille Accad is a financial expert who works with several subsidiaries and assists with capital markets transactions. Read about Camille’s experience volunteering with AV Ventures, a subsidiary of ACDI/VOCA, below and learn more about how to volunteer with ACDI/VOCA.
The volunteer assignment with ACDI/VOCA was a great opportunity to learn and provide real value to an organization. For a period of three months last summer, I joined the teams at AV Ventures and AV Ventures’ West African Fund. AV Ventures is ACDI/VOCA’s investment management subsidiary, which oversees three for-profit funds, including the West African Fund, based in Ghana. This assignment gave me the opportunity to work with a team based in Africa as well as with its U.S. counterpart, ACDI/VOCA, in the exciting field of impact investing. If you are interested in supporting catalytic financing in emerging markets with a group of talented and compassionate professionals, look no further.
My primary contributions to AV Ventures were streamlining the portfolio monitoring process and supporting the capital-raising initiatives, with the objective of scaling the fund’s ability to provide innovative financial solutions. After meeting the U.S.- and Ghana-based teams, the level of responsibility entrusted to me unlocked my ability to provide tangible support and add real value to ACDI/VOCA.
During my assignment, I enjoyed building the portfolio monitoring workbook for the West African Fund, providing AV Ventures with a consolidated tool that is comprehensive and standardized. This tool reduces the risk of errors and is easily usable for future investments.
For impact reports on capital-raising initiatives I conducted research on impact reporting best practices and produced an outline for the West African Fund. I also helped gather market intelligence on the competitive and investor mapping landscape, which provided me with a strong understanding of the impact investing and venture capital space in Africa.
Other tasks, such as performing an analysis on the effects of a hedge on an investment, gave me the opportunity to apply financial analysis skills and modelling tools. Meeting with the team on a weekly basis was particularly valuable, as we discussed deal pipelines, portfolio updates, and capital-raising activities in depth.
Working with an organization providing catalytic financing to early-stage companies in Africa was extremely relevant for my progression. Today, I am about to embark on the next phase of my career by joining the capital markets group of a microfinance management institution providing financial services to low-income customers around the world.
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