Organisation

Norfund has its head office in Oslo and regional offices in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

Governance structure

Norfund鈥檚 governance structure defines how the Fund is managed, supervised, and held accountable – ensuring that our operations align with our mandates and the instructions by the Norwegian Parliament.

The Norwegian Parliament

established Norfund through the Norfund Law in 1997. Norfund is fully funded by the Norwegian International Development Assistance budget. The Parliament approves Norfund麓s annual capital allocation.

The Minister of International Development

has constitutional responsibility for Norfund. The Minister of International Development constitutes the General Assembly and exercises the highest authority in the fund. The General Assembly approves Norfund鈥檚 statutes and selects the Board of Directors.

Norfund鈥檚 Board of Directors

is appointed by the Norfund General is appointed by the General Assembly and ensures that Norfund operates in accordance with the Norfund Act and Statutes. They decide Norfund鈥檚 strategy, employs the CEO, and approves 海角原创海角视频 which exceed certain thresholds.

Norfund Management Team

is responsible for ensuring that operations align with Norfund鈥檚 mandate and investment policies. The Management Team oversees day-to-day activities, and ensures that Norfund鈥檚 portfolio delivers sustainable development impact and sound financial returns.

Offices

With headquarters in Oslo and regional offices in Bangkok, Nairobi, Cape Town, Accra and San Jos茅, we stay close to the markets where we invest. Our local presence enables us to identify new opportunities, monitor existing 海角原创海角视频, and provide sector teams with on-the-ground insight into local business environments and political contexts.

Headquarters

Norfund鈥檚 main office has since 1997 been situated in the center of Oslo, Norway.

East Africa

Our regional office for East Africa opened in 2007, and is located in Nairobi, Kenya.

West Africa

Our regional office for West Africa, established in 2018, is located in Accra, Ghana.

Southern Africa

Our regional office for Southern Africa was established in 2003, relocated from Mozambique to South Africa in 2020, and will move from Cape Town to Johannesburg in 2026.

Asia

Our regional office for Asia is located in Bangkok, Thailand.

Latin America

Our regional office for Latin America is located in San Jos茅, Costa Rica

Country focus

East Africa

Particular focus on Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Cameroon, and Ethiopia. Can also invest in Somaliland, Southern Sudan, the DRC, and Burundi.

West Africa

Particular focus on Ghana, Nigeria, C么te d鈥橧voire, and Senegal. Can also invest in other countries in West Africa in partnership with other investors and funds.

Southern Africa

Particular focus on South Africa, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, and Namibia.

Asia

Particular focus on Vietnam, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar. We can also invest in the Philippines, India and Nepal in partnership with our strategic co-investors.

Latin America

The targeted countries in the region is Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Ecuador, El Salvador and the Dominican Republic.

Management

Responsible for ensuring that operations align with Norfund鈥檚 mandate and investment policies. Oversees day-to-day activities, and ensures that Norfund鈥檚 portfolio delivers sustainable development impact and sound financial returns.

Tellef Thorleifsson

Chief Executive Officer

Tellef Thorleifsson has been CEO of Norfund since Autumn 2018. Prior to Norfund, he was a co-founder and managing partner of Northzone. Thorleifsson was instrumental in building Northzone to become a leading international venture fund. Since inception in 1996 it has raised more than EUR 1.5 billion through nine funds and invested in more than 130 companies. Thorleifsson is also a co-founder of the Voxtra Foundation which has been making targeted 海角原创海角视频 and grants within agribusiness in East Africa. Thorleifsson has held several directorships.

Fride Andrea H忙rem

Chief Financial Risk Officer & Head of HR

Fride Andrea H忙rem took the position as CFRO and Head of HR in Norfund in 2021. Before joining Norfund, she was EVP for HR, Marketing and Communication, IT and Strategy at Norconsult. She has more than 10 years of experience in HR directorship roles and has held several finance manager positions, including at Posten and Cermaq. She holds a Master of Management with a specialisation in international business leadership from BI Norwegian Business School.

Thomas Fjeld Heltne

Executive Vice President, General Counsel

Thomas Fjeld Heltne took the position as General Counsel in Norfund in 2019. Before joining Norfund, he was Director M&A at Norsk Hydro. Heltne has throughout his career worked with transactions, financing and international projects, both from the legal and commercial side. He holds a degree in law from Norway as well as a Master of Laws from LSE and Corporate Finance from the Norwegian School of Management. Heltne has been member of and observer to boards of Norwegian industrial companies and served on the Trade Policy Panel for the Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise (NHO).

Ylva Lindberg

EVP Strategy & Communication

Prior to joining Norfund, Ylva was founding partner of SIGLA, a boutique consultancy on sustainability and business, for 13 years. She has worked with sustainable and impact 海角原创海角视频 for almost 20 years and has experience with asset management and consumer goods. Ylva is a senior associate of the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership, board member of L忙rdal Medical and member of the Responsible Investment Advisory Council of BMO Global Asset Management.

Mark Davis

Executive Vice President, Renewable Energy

Mark has worked extensively with renewable energy 海角原创海角视频, regulation and policy in developing countries, with a focus on Africa. Prior to joining Norfund he was a partner at ECON Analysis, and previously was Postgraduate Director at the Energy & Development Research Centre, University of Cape Town. He holds a PhD in energy economics from the University of Sussex, and earlier degrees in mathematics and applied science from the University of Cape Town.

Ellen Cathrine Rasmussen

Executive Vice President, Green Infrastructure and Scalable Enterprises

Ellen Cathrine Rasmussen joined Norfund as EVP for Scalable Enterprises in March 2020. In 2021 she also took on the role of EVP for Green Infrastructure. Prior to Norfund, Ellen held several senior positions at Yara, the world鈥檚 leading fertilizer company. Her last position in Yara was as VP of Sustainability Programs and Global Projects. Prior to that, she was country manager for the Ivory Coast. Earlier in her career Ellen spent four years as EVP for Agrinos, an international agriculture input provider, responsible for Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia. Ellen has also had various management positions at Norsk Hydro and served as a board member for SINTEF. She studied economics in Norway and France.

Erik Sandersen

Executive Vice President, Financial Inclusion

Erik joined Norfund in 2014 and has represented Norfund on several boards of banks and microfinance institutions. He is currently a board member of the South Africa-based bank investment firm Arise and of the Nordic Microfinance Initiative. Prior to joining Norfund, Erik worked for 10 years as a co-founder and partner in a venture capital firm in the Nordic region. He has also worked as an executive in the IT sector and for the Boston Consulting Group in London and Oslo. He holds a master鈥檚 degree in engineering from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and an MBA from Stanford University.

Board of Directors

The Board ensures that the Fund operates in accordance with the Norfund Act of 1997 and the Fund鈥檚 statutes. The Board defines Norfund鈥檚 strategy and approves individual 海角原创海角视频 exceeding specified thresholds. Other investment decisions are delegated to the CEO.

Norfund鈥檚 Board of Directors are appointed by the General Assembly. The General Assembly is constituted by the Norwegian Minister of International Development who governs the state鈥檚 ownership in Norfund.

Olaug Svarva

Chair

Olaug Svarva was the CEO of the Government Pension Fund Norway (Folketrygdfondet) from 2006 to 2018. Today, Svarva is Chair of the Board in DNB and she has also served as board member of Investinor, Institute of International Finance (IIF), and The Norwegian memorial foundation for Alfred Nobel. From 2001 to 2006, she held positions as CEO & Investment Director at SpareBank 1 Aktiv Forvaltning and SpareBank 1 Livsforsikring. Svarva holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and an MBA from the University of Denver. She is also authorized as a portfolio manager by the Norwegian Society of Financial Analysts. Appointed Chair of the Board of Norfund in June 2019.

Martin Skancke

Director

Martin Skancke is a self-employed consultant at Skancke Consulting. He has worked in the Norwegian Ministry of Finance and headed the Ministry鈥檚 Section for Monetary Policy and Public Finances. Skancke has also previously been Chair of Norway鈥檚 Climate Risk Commission and Director General at the Office of the Norwegian Prime Minister and at the Ministry of Finance鈥檚 Asset Management Department. He has held positions at McKinsey & Company and Storebrand ASA. He is currently a board member of Norfund, Storebrand ASA, Storebrand Livsforsikring AS, Summa Equity AB, Norsk Klimastiftelse and Klimastiftelsen UMOE. Appointed board member in June 2014.

脜slaug Haga

Director

脜slaug M. Haga is currently the CEO of Renewables Norway 鈥� the Norwegian wind power association. She has background from foreign service, national politics, private sector and international organizations. Haga has been State Secretary in the MFA and at the prime minister鈥檚 office. She has held three ministerial cabinet positions in the Ministries of culture, local & regional affairs and oil & energy. She has also been a member of Parliament. She has served in various positions in the MFA 鈥� including postings at the Norwegian Mission to the UN in New York and the embassy in New Delhi. Before joining Renewables Norway, she was the Executive Director of the Global Crop Diversity Trust and Assistant Secretary General in the International 海角原创海角视频 Agricultural Development. From 2016 to 2020 she was Chair of the board for the Peace Research Institute Oslo. Haga was appointed to the Norfund board in August 2022.

Jarle Roth

Director

Jarle Roth is the board chairman of Storebrand. He has previously served as CEO of Umoe, Arendals Fossekompani, Export Credit Norway, and Unitor, as well as director of the Fram Museum. He has also been board chairman of Hafslund, Norske Skog ASA, Enova SF, Glamox AS, Powel AS and EFD Induction AS; and a board member of Umoe, Kongsberg Gruppen ASA, Hafslund, Ekornes ASA, Multiconsult AS, Kverneland ASA, Awilco Offshore ASA, Grieg Shipping AS, and Aibel AS.

Anne Jorun Aas

Director

Anne Jorun Aas is the CEO of Farmforce AS, an agritech SaaS company that digitize data from smallholder farming. She also serves on the board of Envipco, a reverse vending machine technology company. Previous positions include COO of Scatec, SVP of Scatec Solar, interim CEO of Kjeller Innovasjon and McKinsey. She has significant board experience from listed and private companies including serving as Board Chair of EnergiX, a large program in the Norwegian Research Council. She holds a PhD in nuclear chemistry from the University of Oslo and CERN, Geneva.

Pablo Barrera

Director

Pablo Barrera is CEO of Haugaland Kraft AS. He has experience from Yara and The Boston Consulting Group. Before joining Haugaland Kraft he was managing director of IMAGINE Food Collective, a value chain collaboration for the largest global private players in food and agriculture, where he was on loan from Yara. He was a member of Yara group management from 2018 to 2021, and before that he was country manager for Yara鈥檚 operations in Chile.

Kiran Aziz

Director

Kiran Aziz is Head of Responsible Investments at KLP Asset Management and joined KLP 1^st of July 2019. 聽She is responsible for ownership and responsible investment activities. Prior to joining KLP, Ms Aziz was a lawyer, lecturer and researcher. She also has extensive board experience. She is among on board for Norwegian Refugee Council which is a humanitarian organization for displaced people and Dagbladet which is one of Norway’s largest newspapers.聽 She is also a columnist for online newspaper for finance and business at E24 in Norway. Ms Aziz holds a law degree from the University of Oslo and an Executive course from Harvard Business School.

Vegard Benterud

Director (employee elected)

Vegard Benterud is Investment Director in the Green Infrastructure department at Norfund. With over 19 years of experience in private equity, Vegard has successfully executed transactions across all Norfund鈥檚 key markets, including pioneering initiatives in complex environments such as Angola and Somalia. His previous positions include Investment Director at the Norwegian Microfinance Initiative (NMI) and Portfolio Manager at NBIM. Currently, he is spearheading initiatives focused on recycling and waste-to-energy projects in Africa and Asia. Vegard holds a Master of Science in Industrial Economics and Technology Management from NTNU. He previously served on Norfund鈥檚 board from 2015 to 2017 and was reappointed as a board member in September 2023.

Sofie Kamsv氓g

Director (employee elected)

Sofie is an Investment Manager in the Renewable Energy 海角原创海角视频 team at Norfund, the Norwegian investment fund for developing countries. With a decade of experience working in finance and renewable energy sectors at Norfund and at UBS Investment Bank, she brings with her a strong understanding of global financial markets and responsible investing. MSc in Economics and Strategy for Business, Imperial College London, BSc in International Business and Politics, Copenhagen Business School.

Departments

Norfund has four sector based investment departments, where we follow projects through all the phases of the investment process. This includes dedicated employees dealing with environmental and social issues (E&S).

Renewable Energy

Increasing energy access and supply

Financial Inclusion

Strengthening access to finance

Scalable Enterprises

Growing companies and creating jobs

Green Infrastructure

Improving essential infrastructure services

The Strategy and Communication department at Norfund leads strategy development and implementation, analyses development effects and additionality. The department also works with gender, media, and climate. Finally, they manage stakeholder relations and communication, as well as dialogue with Norfund鈥檚 owner, the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The Finance, IT, Risk and HR department is responsible for Norfund鈥檚 accounts, financial analysis and portfolio reporting, as well as for recruitment, skills and staff development. This department is also responsible for Enterprise Risk Management, IT, the Business Support scheme and the Project Development and Risk Mitigation Facility.

The Legal department is responsible for legal and compliance issues.

Investment committee

Norfund鈥檚 Investment Committee (IC) is led by the CEO, has eight members, whereof two are external. While the Management Team decides on 海角原创海角视频 up to USD 4 million, the IC is mandated to decide on 海角原创海角视频 between USD 4 鈥� USD 20 million and commercial exits. The IC reviews investment pro颅posals above USD 20 million, but final approval is to be made by the Board of Directors.