Management

Prior to co-founding Symbiotics, Roland worked for BlueOrchard Finance as their CFO for three years, as well as for PricewaterhouseCoopers in Geneva in management consulting, for McKesson in San Francisco in corporate finance, and for UBS Switzerland in institutional asset management. He holds a master’s degree in International Relations from the Graduate Institute (IHEID) in Geneva and a master’s degree in Social Sciences from the University of Chicago.

Yvan joined Symbiotics in 2005. Prior to this, he worked for BlueOrchard Finance where he was the chief operations officer. Before this, he was a microfinance consultant in Peru and a small enterprise consultant in Western Africa and worked as a fund accountant at Capital International in Geneva. Yvan holds a degree in Business Administration from the University of Geneva and a master’s degree in Social Policy and Planning from the London School of Economics.

From 1995 to 2005, Sébastien worked for Arthur Andersen and Ernst & Young as a TAS Senior Director (Transaction Advisory Services). He became CEO of PlaNet Finance in June 2005. He is also a co-founder of FinanCités and Planet Guarantee. From 2009 to end 2015, Sébastien managed PlaNIS that he then merged with ResponsAbility. At responsibility he was in charge of the debt investments portfolio Eastern Europe, Middle East, Caucasus and Central Asia. He was also part of the management committee of ResponsAbility.
From 2016 to May 2018, Sébastien joined Oxus as a CEO. Sébastien holds a diploma from the French Business School EDHEC and from the DESCF. He is a teacher at Sciences PO Paris and EDHEC Business School.

Formerly, Christophe worked for sixteen years for UBS in Lausanne, Geneva, Zurich and in New York in positions ranging from credit and recovery management, risk management and structured lending to client-facing activities in the Sub-Saharan African market. Christophe holds an MBA from NYU Stern School of Business, a diploma of advanced studies (DAS) in commodity trading from the University of Geneva and a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Applied Sciences, Lausanne.

Vincent joined Symbiotics in 2007 first serving as an investment analyst covering Latin America and E. Europe and later for W. Africa. Previously, he worked for Nestlé, as a supply chain and operational project manager in S. America and E. Europe, as a logistician with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) supporting operations in Angola, Sudan and Russia and as a business consultant for IBM. Vincent holds a master’s degree in Industrial Engineering from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich.

Alexandre Prautzsch has in-depth experience in investment matters as well as client relations. He started his career as a financial analyst at one of the major private banks in Geneva, covering several different markets and managing country and thematic funds. He also headed the equity research department, developed valuation models that included ESG criteria’s and designed the Bank’s advisory concept.He later moved to the private client side where he acquired and serviced Swiss and European clients. He developed and implemented specific offers for such clients and served for several duties, including Head of Private Banking at a smaller bank.He then decided to refocus on impact investing and joined Symbiotics in 2018.

Mariano has worked with financial institutions as a banker for over 20 years. Formerly, he worked as an independent microfinance and SME consultant. He also worked as a regional coordinator for Latin America at ProCredit Holding. Before this, he held various positions including senior manager and risk & credit officer within commercial banks such as Euro Hypo and Banco Santander. Mariano holds a law degree from the Autonomous University of Madrid, Spain and is a member of the Madrid Chamber of Lawyers.

Before joining Symbiotics in 2006, Jérôme worked for Deloitte & Touche as a Financial Institutions Auditor and for Société Générale Investment Banking as a Regional Risk Project Manager in Hong Kong. He subsequently worked for three years as the Director of Initiative Development Ghana, a microfinance NGO, delivering credit savings and training services to urban poor in its capital, Accra. Jérôme holds an MBA from the ESSEC Business School in Paris.