TORONTO: UN Capital Development Fund Announces Preeti Sinha As Executive Secretary

TORONTO: The UN Capital Development Fund
(UNCDF) has announced Preeti Sinha as its Executive Secretary, who said focus
will be on providing micro-finance assistance to women, youth, small and
medium-sized enterprises in under-served communities.

Ms Sinha
commenced her tenure as UNCDF Executive Secretary, the highest leadership rank
in the institution, on Monday.

Established
in 1966, the New York-headquarted organisation provides micro-finance access to
least developed countries (LDCs), with the mandate to unlock the full potential
of public and private finance.

She will
“oversee the organisation’s efforts to deliver scalable impact in order to
make the international financial architecture work for the world”s frontier
and pre-frontier markets; with a specific emphasis on supporting sustainable
development for women, youth, small and medium-sized enterprises, smallholder
farmers, and other traditionally underserved communities.”

In a
statement, Ms Sinha said her goal would be to make “C” in UNCDF
(capital) to be “highly catalytic in mobilising manifold the public and
private finance for the LDCs it serves and in developing a new era of
engagement with capital markets in 2021 and onwards.”

Ms Sinha
succeeds Judith Karl, who retired in February after concluding her 30-year
career in the United Nations, the agency said.

UNDP
Administrator Achim Steiner welcomed Sinha. “UNCDF’s support for the
world’s Least Developed Countries is critical, and I look forward to continuing
the strong partnership between our organisations into the future,” he said
in the statement.

Ms Sinha
will lead UNCDF’s work to harness the untapped growth potential of the LDCs, to
enable and empower communities, local governments and small businesses to
address the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic while building more
resilient and inclusive economies, the agency said.

As
Executive Secretary, Ms Sinha will “oversee UNCDF’s ‘last mile” finance
models that unlock public and private resources, especially at the domestic
level, to reduce poverty and support local economic development.”

Ms Sinha
has three decades of global experience across investment and development
finance during which she managed institutional public and private development
capital.

The UNCDF
statement said Sinha served as CEO and President of FFD Financing for
Development LLC, a specialist development finance firm in Geneva, focusing on
resource mobilisation, donor relations, innovative capital markets,
partnerships, strategy, business development, and impact investment advisory to
finance the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Previously,
Ms Sinha managed the YES Global Institute, a practising private sector
think-tank for socio-economic development in New Delhi, building the impact
investment ecosystem in India, the agency said, adding that she also served in
senior resource mobilisation roles at the African Development Bank.

Ms Sinha
graduated from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government Executive Education
program in Public Financial Management.

She holds
a Master’s in Global Leadership from the World Economic Forum and a Master’s in
Public and Private Management (MPPM)/MBA from the Yale School of Management
(SOM).

She is an
alumnus of Dartmouth College, where she completed her Bachelor of Arts in
Economics and Computer Science.

UNCDF
“makes public and private finance work for the world’s 46 least developed
countries (LDCs) to harness their untapped growth potential.”

Its
programmes “help to empower women, and are designed to catalyse larger
capital flows from the private sector, national Governments and development
partners, for maximum impact towards the internationally agreed developments
goals.”