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Advisory Board Chair

JONATHAN FIRST spent 18 years in investment banking in London, Toronto and Johannesburg and 9 years in development finance in Southern Africa after qualifying as a lawyer. Since 2012 Jonathan has focused on climate focused development finance and impact investment in Sub Saharan Africa.

At the Development Bank of Southern Africa, Jonathan developed innovative structured finance solutions and sourced funding for large infrastructure projects in SSA. He led the DBSA’s initiative to create a green bank which culminated in the establishment of the GCF co-funded Climate Finance Facility in 2018. Jonathan is currently the chairperson of Africa’s first Green Outcomes Fund and a senior advisor to Climate Policy Initiative, the secretariat for the Global Innovation Lab for Climate Finance. He was also part of the task team that set up the Impact Investment National Advisory Board in South Africa and a past board member and Advisor to Impact Boards, Emerging Markets.