Organisation and team

Norfund has Norway’s largest specialist team investing in developing countries based in our office in Oslo, but also ensures local presence and expertise through five regional offices in Africa, Latin-America and Asia.

Investment expertise

In 2020, 62 out of 96 employees were working directly on investments, following the projects through all the phases of the investment process. This includes six dedicated personal dealing with Environmental and Social issues (E&S).

Norfund has four sector-based departments: Clean Energy, Financial Institutions, Scalable Enterprises and Green Infrastructure.

Country presence

Thirty Norfund staff members are employed across five regional offices (Nairobi, Cape Town, Accra, San José and Bangkok) to ensure local proximity and knowledge. The regional offices generate investments, monitor existing commitments and provide all the sector-based departments with support.

More about Norfund regional offices at Norfund.no

Impact expertise, financial analysis, organisational development and legal support

The Strategy and Communication department leads strategy development and implementation, analyses development effects and additionality. They also manage stakeholder relations and communication, as well as dialogue with Norfund’s owner, the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The Finance, IT, Risk and HR department is responsible for Norfund’s 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.

Working during the COVID-19 pandemic

In collaboration with the Working Environment Committee, Norfund Management has actively facilitated home offices and digital meeting places to maintain employee well-being and healthy working conditions during the pandemic.

Investing in developing countries during COVID-19

Norfund Academy

As a result of the Norfund competence project that was run across the organisation during the fall of 2019, “Competence development”, “Teams” and “Knowledge sharing” was identified as key building blocks to improving the way we work. Subsequently, the Norfund Academy was established in order to strengthening those building blocks. During the spring of 2020, a Learning Management System was developed and implemented with an overall aim of driving the learning and training agenda in Norfund.

During the first year of operation, Norfund Academy hosted more than 100 training sessions, with external as well as internal content. The current course catalogue contains courses like New Joiner, Cyber Security, E&S training, Project Management, sessions for IT-systems in Norfund and courses arranged together with other European Development Finance Institutions.

Going forward the aim is to develop more content-related courses to strengthening the core competence in Norfund, including regular training on core operating procedures and the Norfund Investment Manual.

Investment committee

Norfund’s Investment Committee (IC) is important, both for quality assurance and for strengthening decision-making. While the CEO/Management Team decide on investments up to USD 4 million, the IC is mandated to decide on investments between USD 4-15 million. The IC also reviews investment proposals exceeding USD 15 million; these proposals are given final approval by the Board of Directors.

The IC is chaired by the CEO, Tellef Thorleifsson and has seven additional members:

Two external members: Per Aage Jacobsen and Kathryn Baker,
Four management team members; Mark Davis, Erik Sandersen, Ellen Cathrine Rasmussen and Thomas Fjeld Heltne
One ESG advisor; Karin Bianca Gullman.

Management

Tellef Thorleifsson

Chief Executive Officer

Cathrine Kaasen Conradi

Chief Financial Risk Officer & Head of HR

Thomas Fjeld Heltne

Executive Vice President, General Counsel

Mark Davis

Executive Vice President

Ylva Lindberg

Executive Vice President, Strategy & Communication

Erik Sandersen

Executive Vice President, Financial Institutions

Ellen Cathrine Rasmussen

Executive Vice President, Scalable Enterprises

Board of Directors

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

Norfund’s Board of Directors ensures that the Fund operates in accordance with the Norfund Act of 1997 and the fund’s statutes. The Board defines Norfund’s strategy and approves individual investments exceeding specified thresholds. Other investment decisions are delegated to the CEO and Investment Committee.

In 2020, the Board decided to appoint a Risk and Audit committee consisting of three Board members with the aim to strengthen risk management. The members are Tove Stuhr Sjøblom, Martin Skancke and Brit Rugland.

In 2020, the Board held a total of 12 board meetings, of which 3 were extraordinary. The Board also travelled to Tanzania to visit a selection of Norfund’s investments.