Zak Thompson

Growing up across Ghana, France and the United Kingdom, and holding multiple nationalities, exposed me from an early age to different cultures, perspectives and economic realities. My years in Ghana gave me a connection to Africa and made me aware of both the challenges facing the continent and its enormous untapped potential. I am currently completing a Master in Management and have just finished a gap year working in emerging markets, in Thailand and then in South Africa. These experiences allowed me to apply my financial skills to projects with tangible economic and environmental benefits. In private equity, I worked on opportunities including the development of electric vehicle charging infrastructure in West Africa and an environmentally responsible cashew-processing business seeking to create greater value locally. Seeing how investment can support innovative companies, create jobs and contribute to more sustainable growth strengthened my ambition to pursue a career in impact finance. Rugby has also played an important role in my life, teaching me resilience, collective responsibility and the importance of working towards a shared objective.