Grameen

Whitney Gantt has been working with Grameen Foundation since January 2008 and is responsible for developing and executing the strategy for mobile programs in LAC as well as overseeing program management and implementation, business development, and monitoring and evaluation (M&E) for ICT initiatives in the region.  Prior to her current role, Whitney led the Community Knowledge Worker (CKW) pilot in Uganda and subsequently spent two years working with the Uganda team to scale the model. During this time she was responsible for strategy and partnerships, M&E, and program management for the project. Whitney also served as Interim Country Director for Uganda, helping to incorporate the local office and hire the scaling team. Whitney holds a Bachelor’s degree in Cultural Anthropology and a Master in International Public Affairs. Before joining Grameen Foundation, Whitney worked in the public and non-profit sectors in human rights, education, and national resource management in the US and abroad.

John Angel works as Tech Manager for LAC. John has worked for 12 years with tech companies including Startups, Telecommunication (Telecom Colombia) and Software corporations (Aranda Software and Microsoft) primarily as a software developer and project manager. He has a bachelors degree in Electronics Engineering a masters degree in Project Management and is a PMI-certified Project Management Professional (PMP). John will be working closely with Luke, Eric and the AppLab Uganda tech team as well as AppLab Indonesia. In his own words “In my free time I enjoy hanging out with my wife, family and friends, playing and learning sports and cooking (but hey I’m not an expert in none of those…), I’m really happy and I feel honored to have my first opportunity out of the corporate world, especially with an org like Grameen Foundation"

As a Colombian truly interested in environmental and social improvement, Gabriel has been able to contribute in the developing world in both aspects, always pursuing multifaceted endeavours.
With a BSc in Business Administration and after a successful career within Citigroup Colombia performing as Credit Risk Analyst for the Corporate Bank, and as Senior Analyst for the Investment Banking group during four years, Gabriel spun his professional scope pursuing more commendable and fulfilling experiences that led him into his MSc Environment and Sustainable Development from the University College London, UCL.
He then conducted an internship in south India focused in social entrepreneurship for the distribution of renewable energy products in rural and urban areas. This experience consolidated his skills in coordination and implementation of various types of projects, facilitation among multidisciplinary teams and networking at different social levels or within an organization. Gabriel is proficient in Spanish and English, and has conversational French. 

Gerardo Lasso is the ICTI Business Development and Partnership Officer. He has an electronic engineering background and holds an MBA from Vlerick Business School in Belgium. Before joining Grameen he worked in customer relationship management, business development and operations support for an local telecom operator in Colombia and an ICT solutions integrator. Addiitonally he has international experience working with Alcatel-Lucent in Belgium as an intern at the NGO, Children of Kibera Foundation in Kenya, where he had the opportunity to get close to the mobile money initiative M-PESA.  Apart for being passionate about mobile technologies as a mean for social inclusion, Gerardo loves music, playing the guitar and traveling.

Miguel is a native of Medellin, Colombia and is working as the  Agriculture Content Specialist.  He brings more than eight years experience working in agriculture.  Prior to joining the GF team he worked for the Colombian Agency for national education, conducting trainings with smallholder farmers on agricultural best practices.  He has experience working with groups going through the certification process and is excited to contribute this experience to the team.  When asked why he is excited to be working with Grameen Foundation, he says “because I love working with the smallest producers and lending my service to helping them advance, which is at the core of GF's mission.” In his free time, Miguel enjoys riding his motorcycle out to the country, playing sports and is busily preparing with his wife for the arrival of their 1st child due in August.

 Alejandro is the Tech Operations and Support Intern.  He is studying International Business at Eafit, a local university with a strong reputation for business. Alejandro is excited about joining GF when we’re just initiating our mobile program so that he can grow with GF from the beginning. In his own words “I'm 18 years old, I'm born and raised in Medellín, Colombia, so I'm proudly Paisa (what people from this department are called). I've always wanted to be a pilot, but I realized that I'm good for business so I choose this. At this moment my goal is to continue working and to improve myself at Grameen Foundation and at the same time continue studying.”

Juan Alvarez is a native from Cali, Colombia, and is working at Grameen Foundation as the Techincal Accounts Officer. He brings more than 9 years experience working across multiple IT projects as a Project Leader or as Consultant in areas such as: mobile software deployment for large sales force, P.O.S Solutions, ERP implementations, and providing support and training to users. He holds a Business Management degree from the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Cali. He is happily married with two beautiful children. In his free time he likes biking, trekking, hitting the road, reading, drawing and swimming.

Ramiro Cadavid is from Medellín where he graduated with honors in Economics, focusing on development, finance and statistics. After he finished his undergraduate studies he moved to Barcelona, Spain where he obtained his Masters degree in Economics and Finance and strengthened his knowledge of microeconomics and statistics. Throughout his career Ramiro has worked in research and consulting focused on topics that include microeconomics, development, impact evaluation, telecommunications and statistics.  During his free time, Ramiro enjoys mountain biking.

Maria is a native of Medellin, Colombia. She currently works for Grameen Foundation as the Program & Administrative Assistant providing support to the team and overseeing the accounting and business management of the office.  She graduated undergraduate from EAFIT University with a degree in International Business.  During her time at EAFIT she spent a semester studying abroad through an exchange program with IECS University in Strasbourg, France.  Following graduation, Maria worked for an advertising agency in Medellin where she provided all around business and administrative support to the team.  Maria then moved to Madrid, Spain where she pursued her Masters Degree in International Cooperation and Project Development from the Insitituto de Investigacion Ortega y Gasset.  In her free time, she likes to go the gym, watch soccer games, go to cinema and read.