For Professional Investors Only

Unlocking Private Equity Opportunities in Emerging Markets - Investors' Lunch

7th May 2025Keynote / PanelZurich

Growth drives Impact!

Join us for an exclusive discussion on the evolving landscape of private equity in Emerging Markets and find out how this nascent frontier holds immense transformative potential for capturing growth opportunities.

Gain valuable insights into achieving investments that are financially sound, socially responsible, and environmentally sustainable.

responsAbility’s Fund Investments Team draws on more than 20 years of experience in emerging markets PE fund investment and, since 2022, manages the Swiss Investment Fund for Emerging Markets (SIFEM), one of the largest impact mandates globally.

Event Highlights:

  • Expert panel discussion featuring top EM fund managers

  • Keynote on opportunities and trends in Private Equity in Emerging Markets

  • Connect with active practitioners, top investment professionals and industry peers

Reasons to attend:

  • Hear from leading fund managers about real-world opportunities and strategies in emerging markets

  • Understand how a fund investments approach reduces risk, enhances returns, and grants access to investment opportunities typically unavailable to individual investors

  • Explore why the public sector has invested in this space for decades and how it offers institutional investors a compelling way to achieve impact at scale

  • Gain insights into our unique and scalable investment and impact process

Who should attend:

This event is exclusively for professional investors*, with a special focus on portfolio managers, fund selectors, chief investment officers and sustainable investment specialists. However, it is open to all professional investors interested in the topic.

*By registering for this event, you confirm that in a capacity as a client of financial services, you would qualify either (i) as a professional client pursuant to Art. 4 par. 3 or Art. 5 par. 1 of the Swiss Financial Services Act of 15 June 2018 (as amended from time to time), or (ii) as an institutional client pursuant to Art. 4 par. 4 or Art. 5 par. 3 of the Swiss Financial Services Act of 15 June 2018 (as amended from time to time).

Register today to gain insights from active practitioners and our seasoned investment and impact professionals. We are looking forward to seeing you soon!

Event Details

Wednesday, 7th May 2025
10:00 - 13:00 UTC+00:00
responsAbility Investments AG Zollstrasse 17 8005 Zurich Switzerland

Event Program

Column 1Column 2
11:00Registration opens
11:30Introduction
11:40Private Equity Opportunities in Emerging Markets
12:00Meet the fund managers: Brief self-introductions
12:20Expert fund manager panel discussion and Q&A
13:15Standing Lunch
14:00End of event

Meet the Speakers

Profile photo of speaker Yalin Karadogan

Yalin Karadogan

Partner, LeapFrog Investments

A strong believer in the role private equity can play to create social and climate impact, Yalin joined LeapFrog as Partner and Global Head of Investor Solutions in 2022. Yalin is a veteran of the private equity industry, most recently as Partner, Fundraising and Investor Relations, for global private equity firm Cinven in London with responsibility for investors in Europe, Middle East, and Asia-Pacific. He was instrumental in delivering Cinven’s EUR 7bn Fund VI and EUR 10bn Fund VII, both significantly oversubscribed, and helped define overall firm co-investment strategy and new strategic offerings for LPs. Prior to leading EMEA fundraising, Yalin was in the deal team at Cinven, where he was a member of the Business Services sector team and led the regional team for Emerging Europe. He previously spent eight years with J.P. Morgan Partners, in New York and London, completing a number of buyout, growth equity, venture capital, and debt investments in a variety of sectors across Western and Eastern Europe, as well as the USA. Yalin holds a BA in Mathematics & Economics, summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, from Lafayette College, USA. Yalin is a co-Founder of Turkey Mozaik Foundation, a UK-based organisation with a mission to promote and support local civil society organisations in Turkey, his homeland. He is also on the Advisory Board of Yeşilist, leading Turkish green and sustainable living platform.

Profile photo of speaker Raj Pai

Raj Pai

Managing Partner, GEF Capital Partners

Raj is the Co-Founder & Managing Partner at GEF Capital Partners.

Profile photo of speaker Genevieve Sangudi

Genevieve Sangudi

Partner, Alterra Capital Partners

Genevieve is an emerging markets private equity investment executive with over 20 years of leadership experience in finance and operations. She has led and managed investments in over 40 countries across numerous sectors including healthcare, agribusiness, logistics, telecoms, oil & gas, consumer & retail and financial services. She is also an experienced Board Director having served on the boards of over 15 public and private companies throughout her career.

Profile photo of speaker Babatunde Soyoye

Babatunde Soyoye

Managing Partner, Helios Investment Partners

Managing Partner, Helios Investment Partners and Venture Capital & Private Equity Consultant.

Profile photo of speaker Ralph Keitel

Ralph Keitel

Head of Fund of Fund Investments, responsAbility

Ralph joined responsAbility's in Sept 2022 as Head of Fund of Funds. In this capacity he also acts as the Chief Investment Officer responsible for managing the Swiss Investment Fund for Emerging Markets ("SIFEM"). Before joining responsAbility, Ralph spent 16 years in the Private Equity funds group of the IFC, the private sector arm of the World Bank Group. He was based in Washington DC, Johannesburg and Singapore as Head of PE/Fund operations for various Emerging Market regions. Previously, Ralph spent nearly 5 years with TBG (now part of KfW Group) doing direct Venture Capital (VC) deals and funds in Germany before joining Canada's 2nd largest pension fund, CDPQ in Montréal, where he managed a portfolio of VC funds in North America and Europe. During his 25 years in the Private Equity (PE) funds industry, and working for 3 different institutional investors, Ralph was directly responsible for investments in well over 100 PE funds across all regions of the world. Ralph holds a MA in Economics from the University of Bonn as well as a post-graduate degree in Finance and Management (Dean's Honour List and recipient of the American Express Award for outstanding academic achievements) from McGill University.

Profile photo of speaker Felix Knidlberger

Felix Knidlberger

Principal and co-Head Africa and Latin America, Fund of Funds, responsAbility

Principal / Co-lead with extensive deal experience in private equity (funds and direct) investments in Emerging Markets. Specialized in leading small teams, origination, execution & supervision of investments in LatAm, Mena and Africa. Advisory Board | IC Member. Lead over 25 investment transactions across Africa, Mena and LatAM: e.g. in Kenya, Ivory Coast, Ethiopia, Egypt, Ghana, Senegal, Tanzania, Mauritius, South Africa, Mexico, Central America, Caribbean, Brazil, etc. Screened hundreds of deals with a focus on growth equity investments, VC, Impact finance and Climate. Leads investment teams and performs due diligence, term sheet and legal document negotiations, portfolio allocation. Currently member of several advisory committees in Emerging Markets. CFA degree holder and Master in Finance / Emerging Markets Economics from Johns Hopkins' School of Advanced International Studies. Undergraduate Business degree from European School of Business (Germany) and Universidad Pontificia Comillas, Icade (Spain).

Profile photo of speaker Thomas Walenta

Thomas Walenta

Co-Head for Asia-Pacific and Europe, Fund of Funds, responsAbility

As Fund of Funds Co-Head for Asia-Pacific and Europe at responsAbility Investments AG, Thomas is co-heading a team that originates, structures, negotiates, executes and manages innovative, developmental and profitable private equity fund investments across Asia-Pacific and Europe. This includes the portfolio management of the Swiss Investment Fund for Emerging Markets (SIFEM), which provides long-term financing to small and medium-sized enterprises in developing and emerging countries through local financial intermediaries to reduce poverty while fostering sustainable, inclusive, and resilient economies.

Profile photo of speaker Rochus Mommartz

Rochus Mommartz

CEO, responsAbility

CEO of responsAbility since 2016. Over 30 years of experience in financial sector development, banking and emerging market private debt and equity investments. Member of supervisory boards of financial institutions and funds for 15 years. Established two private equity permanent capital structures for responsAbility. Designed legal framework for the microfinance sector in 8 countries and worked as consultant to governments and regulators in over 40 emerging markets. Studied Economics and Mathematics.

Profile photo of speaker Michael Fiebig

Michael Fiebig

Head of Private Equity, responsAbility

Member of Executive Management in charge of Private Equity, Fund of Funds, and HR. 25 years experience in development finance across over 40 emerging markets, and including 15 years as private equity investor. Built a USD 300 million private equity portfolio across four investment vehicles focusing on microfinance, banking and fintech. Numerous non-executive board positions in financial institutions, funds and industry associations . Studied Business Administration and Economics at the Freie Universität, Berlin.