Maelis Carraro is the Managing Partner of Catalyst Fund. She has over 15 years of experience working alongside fintech startups, DFIs, and impact investors to pioneer tech and data-enabled solutions that benefit underserved communities in emerging markets. As the co-founder and leader of Catalyst Fund Inclusive Tech Accelerator for the past 7 years, she selected and supported over 60 ventures across 15 emerging markets, working with a team of 15 venture builders to enable their success. Previously, Maelis worked at the IFC, investing in and advising financial institutions in Africa and other emerging markets on digital innovation and responsible financial inclusion, as well as the OECD, Grameen Bank, and impact investor-Global Partnerships. She also co-founded RemitMas, a savings-focused digital remittances startup for Latino immigrants in the US. Maelis holds a dual MBA and Master in International Affairs from Columbia Business School and the School of International and Public Affairs.

Aaron is a Partner at Catalyst Fund. He is an early-stage investor, entrepreneur and strategic advisor, both to startups as they scale and corporates as they transform to gain agility for game-changing innovation. He has a passion for emerging markets, and in the last five years, he has specifically focused on innovation in Africa, working with global brands and local entrepreneurs across diverse industries, from financial services to health to mobile to agriculture, to create value, opportunities and stronger economies.

Karen Serem Waithaka is the Investment Principal at Catalyst Fund. She leads the end-to-end investment processes and contributes to the hands-on post-investment support of the portfolio. Before this, Karen worked as an Investment Director for an impact-first fund, Global Partnerships Social Venture Fund and as Investment Manager for Safaricom's pilot corporate Venture Fund, Spark Fund. She has also worked in the Private Equity space for TBL Mirror Fund. She brings over 15 years of experience in the financial services sector spanning Venture Capital, Private Equity and Corporate Finance. She is passionate about intentional, tangible and sustainable impact investing and working with early-stage founders in the tech-enabled space within the continent.She holds a Master's Degree in Finance, specialising in Funds Management and a BSc in Actuarial Science.

Maxime is the Head of Venture Building & Lead Venture Partner at Catalyst Fund. Maxime leads the venture building support to Catalyst Fund early-stage startups as well as supports the portfolio startups when it comes to investment readiness. Prior to joining Catalyst Fund, Maxime was a Senior Venture Builder with Greentec Capital where he supported 7 African startups in various sectors ( e.g. e-Commerce, Retail, SaaS, Logistics, Agriculture, and Waste management) for nearly 2 years. Before Greentec, Maxime co-led the deployment and running of the GSMA Mobile For Development Ecosystem Accelerator Programme, aimed at building synergies between startups and mobile operators to scale innovative and sustainable mobile services in emerging markets (Africa and Asia Pacific). 35 startups across 3 continents were supported by this programme during his time at GSMA. Most of his previous experience was gained as a consultant within the telecom and tech space in emerging markets including Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia. Maxime holds an MBA from the ESSEC Business School.