David Ross

David is the Founder and Managing Director of Stratera Capital, a blended finance advisory and investment firm.

He has over 25 years experience serving clients including multilaterals such as the World Bank, African Development Bank, David L. Ross

David is the Founder and Managing Director of Stratera Capital, a blended finance advisory and investment firm.

He has over 25 years experience serving clients including multilaterals such as the World Bank, African Development Bank, development agencies from the US, UK, France, Sweden, Germany; financial institution clients including HSBC, AIG, JP Morgan Chase, Credit-Suisse, and Morgan Stanley; and startups, business owners, SMEs, and project developers in Sub-Saharan Africa.

David has completed successful design, development, implementation, assessment of 18 investment funds cumulatively valued at over $850 million USD to catalyze growth in SME businesses in renewable energy, water, and agriculture in Tanzania, Kenya, Rwanda, and across Sub-Saharan Africa. David has served as a transaction advisor to structure and arrange investments for 17 companies in Eastern and Southern Africa with cumulative transaction values of over $285 million in renewable energy, agriculture, and telecommunications sectors originating concessional, equity, debt, and carbon funding.

In academia, David served Carnegie Mellon University Africa for 10 years teaching topics of innovation, entrepreneurship, investment, global sourcing, management, and automation departing as a Distinguished Professor of Practice of IT Entrepreneurship and Founding Manager of CMU-Africa’s Industry innovation Lab. He served as the United States Ambassador to the Open University of Tanzania focusing on workforce development.
David has an undergraduate degree in Information Systems Analysis and Design and International Business from the University of Wisconsin- Madison and an MBA in Finance from NYU- Stern School of Business. He is the Co-Author of “How do we Finance It” published by The German Climate and Technology Initiative and Co-Author of “Connecting the Kigali Entrepreneurial Ecosystem” published by Credit Suisse – Swisscontact.

David served as a Board Member for Access to Finance Rwanda part of the Sector Deepening network and Board Member, Advisor, or Observer to multiple startups in Sub-Saharan Africa. David is a Associate Arbitrator at Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.