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The Growth Lab's "Development Talks" is a series of conversations with policymakers and academics working on economic growth and development in countries, regions, states and cities in the US and around the world. The seminar provides a platform for practitioners and researchers to discuss both economic growth and development and analytical work centered on policy.
Speaker: Javier Díaz Fajardo, President and CEO of Bancóldex
Moderator: Juan Jimenez, Lecturer in Public Policy, HKS
This session will focus on Innovation and Growth at Bancoldex, Colombia's entrepreneurial development and export-import bank.
Whether attending in-person or virtually, please register in advance. Room attendance is limited to the Harvard community. Seating availability is based on a first-come, first-served basis. Boxed lunch will be provided after the event. The Zoom webinar is open to the public.
Speaker Bio: Javier Díaz Fajardo has thirty years of experience in financial markets. His work in this field includes management positions in New York, Washington and Colombia. He has been president of Bancóldex, Colombia's business development bank, since 2019. During this time, he has led the growth of the entity, exceeding $10 billion in total assets, and has transformed the entity's business model, going from being a second-tier bank for commercial banking to one that provides direct credit to Colombian companies with an emphasis on innovation, sustainability and digital transformation.
In October 2023, he was appointed co-president of the Development Banks Club (IDFC), an organization made up of 26 development institutions from around the world. Previously, he was CEO of Renta 4 Global Fiduciaria, an asset management startup (subsidiary of the Spanish bank Renta4). Until 2017 he was Commercial Vice President and Vice President Corporate of the Colombian Stock Exchange, where he designed and completed the initial financing for a2censo, a fintech that allows Colombian micro, small and medium-sized companies to issue bonds to investors through crowdfunding.
Diaz Fajardo holds a Master's degree in International Business from The Fletcher School at Tufts University and a law degree from the Universidad de los Andes in Colombia. In addition, he is a member of the Society of Kauffman Fellows, the main venture capital and entrepreneurship network in Silicon Valley, and is a founding member of the Colombian Institute of Corporate Governance. He has served on 10 boards of directors and taught the class "Financial System: History, Strategy and Leadership" at CESA, Colombia's main business school. He also served as Vice President of Investor Relations at Grupo Aval, Colombia's largest financial group, and was a director of Andes Capital, a Colombian venture capital fund that he co-founded.