Deakin University

The University of Western Australia

Director - Small and Growing Business (SGB) Finance at VisionFund International

Global lead on Regional Economic Development within Rio Tinto with priority focus on catalysing diversified and long-term economic outcomes for host communities at scale.   

Ownership and development of group-wide Regional Economic Development (RED) Framework to maximise economic benefits experienced by regional and host communities. 

Direct technical support to Regional Economic Development strategies and implementation across Africa, Europe, Asia, Australia and North America.

Member of Simandou Regional Economic Development (RED) Panel of Experts

Rio Tinto

Manager - Regional Economic Development, Global Area of Expertise (AoE)

VisionFund International global lead and Project Director for Finance 4 Employment (F4E) – a pilot program that offers larger business loans and business advisory (business coaching) services to small and medium enterprises in low income and remote communities to create and sustain employment opportunities - https://www.visionfund.org/our-focus/loans/f4e

Oversight of growth strategy, fundraising, credit policy, business coaching curriculum, impact measurement, program quality, reporting and communications for F4E in Myanmar, Ghana, Mexico, and Sri Lanka. Led growth of F4E program, disbursing over AUS $17.5 M in two years representing CAGR of over 106% p.a. 

Oversaw growth of F4E portfolio from 350 clients with outstanding portfolio of AUD $1.1 M sustaining 1,400 FTE jobs in 2018, to a total of 1,700 clients sustaining over 12,000 FTE jobs and outstanding portfolio of AUD $7.3M. This included establishing new F4E line of business in Myanmar with VisionFund Myanmar team with over 35 field-based staff.

Lead fundraising engagement with Australian Government (DFAT), World Vision fundraising offices (Australia, Canada, USA), High Net Worth Donors, Advisory Board, Microfinance Institution C-suites, Oxford Development Consultancy and other implementing stakeholders to oversee program implementation. Achieved ‘outstanding’ Partner Performance Assessment scores after DFAT review of project in both 2019 and 2020.  

Member of VFI Global Strategy Development Lead team to develop 2025 strategy. 
Led development of Microfinance Core Project Model development for WV International. 
Member of WVI Climate and Environment Policy Working Group.

VisionFund International

Director - Small and Growing Business (SGB)

Overall technical leadership of the economic development and social impact strategy and direction within Horizon Power’s innovative social enterprise start-up (TechCo) aiming to export and commercialise cutting edge renewable energy microgrid technology for rural and peri-urban electrification in emerging markets.  

Provide leadership and direction to lean and agile squads of up to 8 staff to undertake rapid experiments aimed at de-risking business model/product hypotheses as part of a technology start-up within Horizon Power.

Oversaw and designed assignments with external research and consulting suppliers to validate/disprove hypotheses related to the product/market fit of our technology solutions. 

Led the development of a TechCo-wide Theory of Change and results measurement framework to map out the activities and impacts of TechCo’s business model amongst prospective customer communities, and the ways in which we could measure our contribution to those impacts. 

Led the design, scoping and in-field research mission to understand the impacts and future potential for smart, renewable microgrid projects in rural Indian villages in Uttar Pradesh.

Horizon Power

Economic Development Lead

I led the Social Entrepreneurship and Economic Development (SEED) unit for World Vision Australia (WVA): a team of specialists who provided research, design and technical backstopping to implementation of private sector and community economic development approaches throughout World Vision’s programs internationally. SEED functioned as the global Centre of Expertise for economic development and livelihoods for all of World Vision International - setting technical standards and guidelines for economic development programs. SEED also supported implementation of a grants program portfolio in excess of USD $35 m per annum from donors including DFAT, World Bank, the EU, LIFT Fund and private sector partners.  

I performed overall strategic leadership, staff and budget management, and technical leadership of the SEED unit and WVA’s private sector and economic development programs. 

SEED’s work supported WV implemented projects/ policy across the world focused on:
•	Agricultural value chain and market systems development with smallholder farmers
•	Small business acceleration and incubations services, including SGB financing
•	Youth livelihood and employment pathways
•	Bottom of the Pyramid (BoP) marketing and microfranchising networks
•	Savings, microfinance and financial inclusion 
•	Online learning platforms for capacity development and peer-to-peer support which received three category awards for best eLearning Model at the 2014 LearnX Asia Pacific Awards

Member of VisionFund International's Small and Growing Business (SGB) Finance Advisory Board
Member of World Vision International’s Resilience and Livelihoods Steering Committee
Member of World Vision International Resilience and Livelihoods Strategy Development Committee
Represent World Vision in the Grow Asia Civil Society Council hosted by ASEAN and World Economic Forum

World Vision Australia

Manager, Social Entrepreneurship and Economic Development (SEED) unit

Provided technical support and advice to World Vision programs focused particularly on market and value chain development. Led the research, development and innovation of the Local Value Chain Development project model - a market facilitation approach to assist communities supported by World Vision around the world. Conducted in-country research, analysis, evaluations and training in the areas of market and value chain development.

Economic Development Consultant - Market Development

Markets Analyst

Successfully led business consulting projects covering the following engagements:

o	Development of Marketing/Business Plans & Strategies. 
o	Market/Competitive/Industry Analysis and Independent Market Reports 
o	Feasibility and Demand, Supply Chain Analysis, and Financial Analysis and Forecasting Models 
o	Community and Business Stakeholder Consultation Processes.

Worked on over 30 consulting projects with clients of all sizes (local to global), in a large variety of industries including horticulture, Not-for-Profit, FMCG’s, banking, property development, financial services and mining.

Chris Rowlands