Who we are

The Luxembourg Microfinance and Development Fund (LMDF), is a Luxembourg social investment fund, which was created in 2009. The creation took place thanks to a Luxembourg commitment aimed at contributing to the reduction of poverty through microfinance around the world.

LMDF invests in emerging microfinance institutions that work hard to provide a better life for micro-entrepreneurs.

We help these promising institutions to become solid partners for micro-entrepreneurs who need a reliable and fair supply of basic financial services: microcredit, a safe place to keep their money, money transfer and micro-insurance.

Teams and governance

Raymond Schadeck

Raymond Schadeck

Chairman

Long and distinguished career at Ernst & Young, engaged in different associations, with several commitments in the social and philanthropic area.

Christina Pinto

Christina Pinto

Christina Pinto works for the Ministry of Finance, with a professional experience of more than 20 years in the financial sector and prudential regulation. She holds a Master’s degree in economic science.

Patrick Losch

Patrick Losch

Patrick is an independent investor and a forester. He is socially and environmentally committed to Luxembourg NGOs as a director in the respective boards.

Michel Maquil

Michel Maquil

Independent Director

Geneviève HENGEN

Geneviève HENGEN

Geneviève HENGEN is Deputy Director in the Department of Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid at the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs (MAEE). Holder of a master’s degree in development management, she has more than 10 years of professional experience in the field of development cooperation, having worked in the field and at headquarters.

Natacha Oskian

Natacha Oskian

Natacha Oskian is Business Development and MarCom Director at Allen & Overy’s Luxembourg office, leads the Fintech team and is an active member of the Allen & Overy Global Private Equity group. She has more than 10 years’ experience as an external and internal auditor and is an active member of the LPEA, ALFI, ABBL and LHoFT working groups.

Olivier Goemans

Olivier Goemans

Olivier Goemans is involved in the financial industry for more than 30 years, building experiences in developing, launching and managing financial products and services. He joined Banque Internationale à Luxembourg in 2004, heading different positions, and is currently in charge of Investment Management ESG coordination. He graduated from Université Libre de Bruxelles with a MSc in Business Economics

Monica Tiuba

Monica Tiuba

Monica is an independent director.

Dzemal Tomic

Dzemal Tomic

Banque et Caisse d’Epargne de l’Etat. Dzemal is deputy head of institutional relationship management and head of business coordination division. He has more than 15 years’ experience in the investment funds business for which he assumes a significant role within the bank.

Kaspar Wansleben

Kaspar Wansleben

Director Asset Servicing

Kaspar Wansleben is the Director Asset Servicing at LMDF. Before joining LMDF, Kaspar has been involved in microfinance since 2006 as a member of the credit committee of the finance program of MFIs: LUXMINT, managed by ADA. He also worked at the International Labour Organisation (2002) and at PlanetRating (2004). Kaspar is a visiting lecturer at the University of Luxembourg on social entrepreneurship and was a board member of MFX Solutions Inc, the provider of currency risk solutions to the microfinance sector for 5 years.

Kaspar Wansleben is chartered accountant of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales and joined KPMG in 2005 where he was specialised during 6 years in the industrial and financial sectors as advisor in finance and auditor. He is a visiting lecturer at the Luxembourg University on social entrepreneurship. In 2022, Kaspar was nominated as a member of the Luxembourg High Council for Sustainable Development. He graduated in Business and Finance from the Euromed in Marseille and the University of Bremen. He is of German nationality and has lived in many Asian countries.

Cynthia Léon Herrera

Cynthia Léon Herrera

Adviser

Cynthia holds university degrees in business administration, from ULATINA and an MBA in Finance from ULACIT in Costa Rica. She has dedicated the last 18-years to project analysis, implementation of technical assistance, and social impact investments. She worked extensively as a consultant for the Multilateral Investment Fund and the IADB´s Social Entrepreneurial Program, as well as for the Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Centre (CATIE).

Cynthia previously worked as an Investment Officer at Omtrix, Inc. for a period of 8 years, where she was part of the team that designed and structured the Higher Education Finance Fund (HEFF) and was later responsible for the implementing the fund´s technical assistance program. She also did substantial work in energy efficiency and renewable energy with E+Co, where she worked as an Investment Officer for Latin America and the Caribbean for a period of 6 years.

Alejandro Vazquez Ortega

Alejandro Vazquez Ortega

Manager Servicing Risk and Finance

Alejandro is Manager Servicing Risk and Finance at the LMDF and has more than 7 years of experience in Corporate and Project finance. Prior to joining the Fund in 2021, he acted as the Head of Corporate, Project finance and Treasury at Vallair Solutions S.à.r.l., where he also acted as interim deputy CFO for a couple of years. During this period, he managed the investment processes and raised more than USD 100m for CAPEX and Project finance Investments through different finance structures. Prior to having completed his MBA at the HEC Paris business school, Alejandro held several positions managing research and innovation projects working with Akzo Nobel, in the U.K. and Dupont Coatings, in Mexico.

He has a MSc in Chemical Engineering from the Loughborough University and holds a certificate on “Challenges on Global Poverty” from M.I.T. From 2013 to 2014, he acted as co-president of the HEC Net Impact Club. Alejandro has successfully passed his Level III CFA exam. He is fluent in Spanish, French and English.

Jennifer Popescu-Urbain

Jennifer Popescu-Urbain

Manager Distribution

Prior to joining the Fund, Jennifer worked since 2010 at ADA asbl as executive secretary. She has also worked (2007-2010) in the field of international Radio / Television as an administrative assistant in the first place, and then as an assistant to the antenna / support.

Graduated in tourism in 2007, Jennifer is multilingual and speaks seven languages, including French, Luxembourgish, German, English, Portuguese, Spanish and Romanian.

Chiara Pescatori

Chiara Pescatori

Manager Investment Servicing

Chiara is Manager Investment Servicing at LMDF and has been working in the microfinance sector for over 15 years. Her experience in financial inclusion spans different markets and financial service providers. She has worked few year as a independent consultant and advises financial services providers on customer-centric design, ESG, client protection and social performance. Chiara has experience in facilitation of decision-making and strategic reflections, organization design, and business modeling.

Prior, Chiara worked for more that 10 year at MFR (MicroFinanza Rating), where she successfully managed social business activities, including the various certification schemes (Smart Campaign Certification, GSMA Mobile Money Certification, etc.). At MFR, Chiara evaluated and advised more than 100 financial companies in different markets and regulatory environments.