Investment Committee

Francesca has over 15-year experience in the field of inclusive, impact, sustainable and innovative finance in Africa, Asia and Latin America. She has served as Technical advisor for organisations such as the Social Finance Programme within ILO (Switzerland), ADA (Luxembourg), COPEME (Peru) and Humanity & Inclusion (Luxembourg)on issues related to green finance and businesses, economic inclusion of the most vulnerable populations including people with disabilities, women, youth, migrants and refugees. While working for Humanity & Inclusion, along with her Global specialist position, she also managed the Basic Needs, Economic recovery and Economic inclusion Unit with a remote team of six specialists in WASH, Shelter, Food Security, Economic recovery and to Economic inclusion.

She has worked with 10 microfinance networks and more than 30 financial institutions on fostering financial innovation integrating climate and environmental consideration and gender lens. Since May 2021, she has been working as an Expert in Sustainable and Innovative Finance for LuxDev, the Luxembourg’s bilateral development cooperation agency, where she advises projects and programmes implemented by the Agency. She is a member of Technical Assistance Committee of the SSNUP, member of the Steering Committee of the RIF-SEA (Responsible Inclusive Finance – South-East Asia), member of the Investment Committee of the Female Entrepreneurship Fund, mentor of the Catapult Programmes (Africa and South-East Asia organised by the LHoFT), and co-head of the Gender-lens investing Action Group within the European Microfinance Platform.

Sixta is professional with over 20 years of experience in microfinance, impact investing, and social enterprise across Latin America and the Caribbean. She currently serves with an impact investment fund, where she facilitates investments that empower financial institutions and social enterprises to expand services for microentrepreneurs and underserved communities. Previously, Sixta led regional efforts for Central America at a leading rating agency specializing in microfinance institutions. Her career in microfinance and economic development began at a faith-based organization, where she played a key role in empowering and professionalizing church credit programs, driving both their outreach and long-term sustainability. She holds degrees in Accounting and an MBA from UNAN, with certifications in microfinance.

Currently focused on independent advisory, investment committee and non-executive director roles, from 2019 to 2021 Farrington was Head of Portfolio Management for a USD 600 million global structured fund that provides debt finance for social impact initiatives. During the previous 10 years, he built and ran the Latin American regional office of a regulated Swiss multi-fund manager in Mexico City, running a USD 750 million fixed income impact finance portfolio with 82 companies in 13 countries in the region. Prior to this, he was engaged with equity and credit enhancement transactions as Director in the Global Investments group of a leading US micro and small enterprise facilitator, and the startup and management of an innovative emerging market debt rating agency focused on Latin American MSME banks and nonbank finance companies. He started his career in Washington DC specializing in microfinance and social investment at the Inter-American Development Bank, and as a grant maker with the Inter-American Foundation in the Andean region. He holds a BA in Languages and Literature from Amherst College and an MA in Economics and Business through a combined program from The Fletcher School and Harvard Business School. 

Jessica Villanueva is Senior Manager, Sustainable Finance Americas at WWF International. Jessica has more than 20 years of management experience with emphasis on agri-food systems, financial inclusion programs and gender and climate lens investment in Latin America, Africa and Asia. Leadership roles include 2X Global Forum, and Board advisory roles in impact investment funds.  Her experience includes designing and structuring blended finance transactions that utilize different asset classes and technical assistance to achieve inclusive development outcomes, and providing management, financing and technical assistance to agribusinesses and financial intermediaries. Prior to WWF, Jessica worked at MEDA leading technical areas of practice globally (gender, environment and climate change, market systems, and innovative finance). Prior to MEDA, Jessica was working for WWF Peru as Conservation Finance Director. In this position, she was supporting green finance in the Amazon region. Prior to joining WWF, she worked in responsAbility, structuring investment opportunities in agribusiness, with positive social and environmental impacts. Prior to joining responsAbility, she worked in the Inter American Development Bank (IADB Lab), leading and supporting project teams in designing loan and technical cooperation projects to finance rural businesses in Latin America. 

Andrea Mazariegos is a professional with extensive experience in ecosystem facilitation, project coordination, and economic growth promotion in Guatemala. She has led initiatives to enhance collaboration within the business ecosystem, improve access to technical training for youth, and drive sustainable development policies. Andrea’s diverse background spans academia, media management, and finance, supported by certifications from the London School of Economics and MIT. She is also a member of the investor committee at Delta Fund and a board member of CREAMOS, a foundation focused on eradicating gender-based violence in communities near the Guatemala City dump.