Leslie Maasdorp, the newly appointed CEO of British International Investment, has four priorities in his new job: climate finance, attracting more private capital, working more closely with other bilateral and multilateral development finance institutions, and more innovation.
Maasdorp took the helm of the U.K. development finance institution — which provides equity, debt, and other investments to address development challenges — in late 2024. He was previously the chief financial officer at the New Development Bank, a multilateral development bank he helped build over nearly a decade.
BII made £1.31 billion in new commitments in 2023, growing its portfolio to £7.3 billion ($9.2 billion), with 60% in Africa, 34% in Asia, and 5% in other regions.
About the author
Adva Saldinger@AdvaSal
Adva Saldinger is a Senior Reporter at Devex where she covers development finance, as well as U.S. foreign aid policy. Adva explores the role the private sector and private capital play in development and authors the weekly Devex Invested newsletter bringing the latest news on the role of business and finance in addressing global challenges. A journalist with more than 10 years of experience, she has worked at several newspapers in the U.S. and lived in both Ghana and South Africa.
