Nationality: Zimbabwean

Functional expertise: Government Financial Policy; international donor policy and strategy; financial sector business strategy and product development; private sector, donor and government institutional capacity building and strategy; and donor project design, management and evaluation.

Industry expertise: Financial sector, microfinance, small enterprise, donor projects.

Qualifications: MSc Economics (University of Toronto), BA Psychology (McGill University).

Languages: English and French (fluent), Spanish (working knowledge).

Ms. Chidzero is an independent consultant working through Edge Development Strategists, incorporated in Mauritius. She has fifteen years experience in private sector development, specifically financial sector, microfinance and SME development throughout Africa. She was formally a Senior Associated with ICC, a Southern African management consulting firm headquartered in Zimbabwe. She developed the company’s consulting and training services in microfinance and general financial sector development for clients including the World Bank, DFID, UNDP, USAID, EU, and GTZ in Southern and Eastern Africa. She left ICC in October 2004 to start her own company. She is currently providing consulting services to FinMark Trust, South African NGOs whose mandate is making financial markets work for the poor, as well as DFID on pro-poor financial sector development in Africa. She sits on the board of AfriCap, a microfinance equity fund based in Senegal. She was the Africa Regional Advisor, for five years, for the Special Unit on Microfinance, SUM, of the United Nations. Prior to joining ICC, Ms. Chidzero worked as a Private Sector Development Specialist for the World Bank in Washington DC, and was part of the team that launched the Consultative Group to Assist the Poorest, a multi-donor microfinance facility. At the World Bank she led numerous microfinance and SME strategy assignments, and provided training and technical assistance to a range of donor, private, and government clients.

RECENT CONSULTING ASSIGNMENTS

Current activities:

· Consulting services to FinMark Trust, a DFID funded project in South Africa on making financial markets work for the poor. Consulting services includes:

P Providing technical support for developing conducive policies and regulatory environments that will encourage greater access of low-income households to financial services.

P Running surveys to profile demand for financial services, FinScope, in various African countries.

P Providing technical support to financial sector providers in SACU in developing new strategies to provide profitable financial services to SMEs and low- income households.

P Facilitating discussions with key stakeholders in Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland and Namibia to identify opportunities for FinMark Trust to support the development of pro-poor financial sector growth.

P Identifying and conducting research to inform policy and support financial sector innovation.

· Contracted by DFID to advise them on developing pro-poor financial sector policies in Africa. This included defining and proposing a set of headline indicators of financial access for consideration by a World Bank/DFID/ FinMark Trust working group.

Previous financial institutional capacity building assignments include:

· Course instructor, on two occasions, for the World Bank Institute’s Virtual Training on Microfinance for non-specialist. The first course was for participants in Tanzania and Ethiopia, and the second, participants in Kenya, Uganda, Ghana and Zambia. 2003 and 2002

· Workshop on Microfinance Performance Measures and Benchmarking for microfinance providers in Zambia. 2001

· Workshop on Market Research and Product Design for microfinance providers in Zambia. 2001

· Workshop on Internal Controls and Fraud in Microfinance for Southern and Eastern African financial service providers.2001.

RECENT CONSULTING ASSIGNMENTS (cont’d)

· Other workshops, training events, and consulting support on financial management, business planning and strategy, market research and product design for financial institutions serving low-income households in Southern Africa. Over the period 1998-2002

Previous international donor strategy assignments include:

· Design of the World Bank Eritrea Community development project microfinance component. 2002

· Design of USAID Zimbabwe project on microenterprise and microfinance – LEAD. 2000

· UNDP microfinance strategies for Kenya, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Botswana, Namibia, Swaziland. Work carried out under a retainer with UNCDF/SUM over the period 1997-2004.

· Analysis and recommendations on a matching grant facility for microfinance capacity building in Uganda. USAID. 2001

· Analysis and design of a challenge grant facility to fund private provision of microfinance technical assistance in Zimbabwe. World Bank/Afcap. 2000

· Analysis and design of a microfinance strategy for the European-Union’s Zimbabwe office. 1999

· Strategy for the Soros Foundation Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa to support microfinance and microenterprise development. 1999

· Assessment of the impact of the Lesotho conflict on SMEs and development of recommendations to support microfinance. World Bank 1999

· Workshop on microfinance in Lesotho to define government, donor and microfinance provider strategies for the development of microfinance. World Bank. 2000

· Two-day issues-analysis workshop for the Preparatory Committee of the Africa Microcredit Summit to identify the theme and main issues the Summit should address. 2000

· Co-director for the Africa Region Business Services Development workshop sponsored by DFID and ILO. 1998.

Previous sector studies include:

· Analysis of the Zimbabwe’s financial sector to assess the level of development in microfinance. GTZ. 1999

· A study on linkages between water and sanitation sector with microfinance in Africa. World Bank. 2001

Previous evaluations include:

· Performance evaluation of Empretec Zimbabwe, a business development services (BDS) provider, and prepared the project document for a third phase of funding. 2000

· Performance evaluation of the UNDP MicroStart microfinance project in Kenya. 2002

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Oct. 2004 – present

Edge Development Strategists, Mauritius, based in Johannesburg, South Africa. Regional consulting assignments on financial sector development.

Aug. 1998 – Sep. 2004

International Capital Corporation (ICC) Private Limited, based in Johannesburg, South Africa, Senior Associate Consultant. ICC is a Southern African consulting firm that provides consulting services to the donor community, the public sector, private sector companies, and financial institutions to promote private sector-led economic growth.  ICC is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Growth Companies.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE (cont’d)

Oct. 1997 – Aug. 1998

Independent Consultant, Harare, Zimbabwe Undertook a number of assignments in microenterprise and small business development: developed the business plan for the Southern Africa Microfinance Capacity-building Facility for SIDA and Opportunity International; developed the business plan for the Zimbabwe Association of Microfinance Institutions; delivered the Consultative Group to Assist the Poorest’s (CGAP) Financial and Accounting Training for Microfinance in Zimbabwe; delivered technical assistance in microfinance under the USAID Zimbabwe Enterprise Development Project; led the INDER study on Microfinance in Mozambique sponsored by UNDP-SIDA-World Bank; and managed the World Bank Southern and Eastern Africa workshop on microfinance.

Aug. 1993 – Aug. 1997

Private Sector Development Specialist, World Bank, Washington D.C., U.S.A. Employed in the Private Sector Development Department of the World Bank. Specialised in micro, small and medium enterprise development, mostly in Africa. Conducted financial appraisals of microfinance institutions, organised and conducted training programmes for practitioners, donors and governments on microfinance best practice standards. Led the World Bank’s policy dialogue with the Central Bank of West Africa on a regulatory and supervisory framework for microfinance institutions.

May 1991- July 1993

United Nations Development Programme, New York, U.S.A. Designed and implemented small business development programmes in Africa and Latin America. Managed UNDP funded technical assistance to governments on foreign investment policy in Africa.

Sept. 1986 - May 1991

OECD, Paris, France, and Marwais Steel Company, San Francisco, U.S.A. Worked on various private sector development initiatives for Africa.

EDUCATION

Aug. 1984 - June 1986	Masters in Economics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
Aug. 1979 - June 1983	Bachelor in Psychology, McGill University, Montreal, Canada
Aug. 1973 - June 1979	International Baccalaureate, International School of Geneva, Switzerland

BOARD MEMBERSHIP

· AfriCap Equity Fund

· Former member of the FinMark Trust Reference Group

· Former Board member of the Pridwin Boys Preparatory School, Johannesburg