About

As an entrepreneur and investor, I care about access to financial services in all its forms. I have founded, led or invested in banks and fintechs dedicated to inclusive finance in more than 30 countries across Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caucasus.

An engineer by training who also studied philosophy at the Sorbonne, I co-founded PlaNet Finance with Jacques Attali and Muhammad Yunus, then founded MicroCred, which became Baobab, one of the leaders in digital finance for micro and small businesses in Africa and China. Today I lead Gojo & Company, a Tokyo-based investment holding company, where I invest in a group of banks and financial institutions, mainly in emerging markets.

At Gojo, a Tokyo-based investment holding company, I am Managing Partner. I oversee group governance, strategy, portfolio supervision and expansion in Asia, Central Asia, the Caucasus and beyond.

Gojo supports institutions in India, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Myanmar, Georgia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. I chair the boards of Humo Bank in Tajikistan and MIFIDA in Myanmar.

PlaNet Finance

In 1996, on a beach in Mar del Plata, Argentina, I asked myself how new technologies and finance could serve those the system leaves out. A few months later, I reached out to Jacques Attali and wrote the first business plan for PlaNet Bank, the project that would become PlaNet Finance. I co-founded and ran it, with Muhammad Yunus chairing our advisory board.

Revenue grew from $500,000 to $10 million between 1998 and 2005, with operations opened in more than 30 countries: advisory, rating and asset management. The organisation now focuses on France and is called Positiv. In 2012, I suggested to Jacques Attali that we create the Positive Economy Forum, which became the LH Forum with the support of Édouard Philippe, then Mayor of Le Havre; we successfully launched its first edition in Le Havre that same year.

PlaNet FinancePositivmBank PhilippinesLH Forum / Positive Economy Forum