Skollar 2006/07
Prior to starting her MBA at Oxford, Emma worked for an international conservation NGO based in Belize, designing and launching a range of rural community businesses that supported local livelihoods and biodiversity conservation.
Emma had begun working in Central America a decade previously, initially as a masters student considering the contribution of community-based resource management systems to the challenge of sustainable management. After graduation, she worked for several years as a consultant for a US law firm providing pro bono support to indigenous communities seeking legal recognition of their traditional lands, before opening her own tourism business, and establishing a series of biodiversity-friendly ventures throughout Latin America.
Emma decided to study for an MBA after years working for non profits in order to improve her management, strategy and financial skills, and to gain greater exposure on to the possibilities of social entrepreneurship.
After completing the MBA in 2007, Emma was hired by Environmental Resources Management, one of the world’s largest environmental and social consultancies, as director of the company’s recently established Low Carbon Enterprise Fund. The Low Carbon Enterprise Fund is a global programme of the ERM Foundation, which invests in and supports entrepreneurs and businesses in the developing world that reduce global carbon emissions and support local livelihoods.
Since taking up her position at the Fund, Emma has completed investments across Latin America, Asia and Afrcia, ranging from debt / equity to combined debt-equity, developed a pipeline of businesses with a particular focus on India, China, South America and Sub-Saharan Africa, and conducted due diligence on companies throughout these regions.
At the same time as crafting the Fund’s investment approach and application, she has also led the Fund’s fundraising efforts, designed its marketing strategy, while also assembling and managing the many global ERM consultant teams who have been involved in pro bono technical support