Interim, Head of Root Ventures

• Job Type: Full time; fixed term (10 months)
• Region:
  • Global
• Start Date: Immediately
• Contact: Please apply using the form below

Agriculture is the key to unlocking a better future for billions of people. But while rural families sustain the world, they struggle to sustain themselves. At the same time, they face increasingly urgent challenges, from volatile crop prices to extreme weather.

Root Capital is an impact investor that provides financing and business training to agricultural enterprises in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Since 1999, we have loaned over $2B to more than 800 businesses that are too big for microloans but too small for commercial lenders, and have trained more than twice as many businesses. As these businesses succeed and scale, they become engines of impact for local communities, raising incomes, creating jobs, expanding opportunities for women and young people, preserving nature, and building rural prosperity.

Headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Root Capital has more than 180 employees operating in more than a dozen countries in Latin America, Africa, and Southeast Asia, and has associated offices in Costa Rica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Colombia, Peru, Ghana, and Kenya.

The Interim Head of Root Ventures will help launch Root Capital’s new climate finance facility, Root Ventures. Root Ventures will provide venture debt financing to businesses building climate resilient agricultural communities in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, with a goal to deploy over $100 million in climate finance for over 1 million farmers. Reporting to the Chief Program Officer, the Interim Head will lead Root Venture’s initial investment strategy, developing new lending products, creating foundational operational processes and guidelines, and building an initial portfolio of loans.

Work will focus on climate ventures and financial service providers serving smallholder farmers in East Africa. The role will collaborate with stakeholders across Root Capital, including senior leaders like the Vice President, Investment & Credit Risk and Root Capital board members, and with external partners.

This new role will shape the direction of Root Ventures in its launch year. The successful candidate will bring deep experience in designing and deploying blended finance mechanisms to advance impact objectives in emerging markets, including experience across debt and equity instruments. The successful candidate will be a builder who enjoys working with others to create solutions to systemic challenges. The fixed-term position may transition into a permanent role depending on fundraising outcomes and candidate performance.

The role is focused on fundraising readiness, lending readiness, and pilot transaction execution, with responsibilities expected to evolve as Root Ventures moves from concept validation to first deals and eventual scale.

Purpose:

Lead Root Ventures’ launch phase (50%)

• Lead Root Ventures’ investment strategy, including refining target segments, designing new loan products, and defining the pipeline development strategy, ensuring alignment with Root Ventures’ impact and financial goals.
• Support development of Root Ventures’ risk-return framework (e.g., credit risk appetite, portfolio limits, capital adequacy requirements, and credit governance) under the guidance of Root Capital’s Vice President, Head of Investment & Credit Risk and Chief Financial Officer.
• Develop initial processes and guidelines to guide Root Ventures operations (e.g., loan origination and screening criteria; approach to due diligence, underwriting, and monitoring), working closely with Root Capital’s Vice President, Head of Investment & Credit Risk;
  General Counsel; and other functional leads.
• Lead Root Ventures’ first transactions, including screening, due diligence, financial analysis, structuring, and investment memo preparation for review and approval through the applicable governance process, as well as monitoring of approved loans.

Engagement:
Collaborate with external and internal stakeholders to build Root Ventures’ lending and fundraising pipeline (30%)

• Collaborate with Root Capital’s…