Averi Thomas-Moore Email & Phone Number

Chicago, Il, Us

As a key member of the RGMA team, I have taken on a multifaceted role that encompasses product management, client engagement, and customer success. My responsibilities include:- Process & Product Definition: Collaborated with consultants to launch a CRM on Zoho, ensuring seamless integration with our existing systems.- Stakeholder Engagement: Conducted interviews and surveys to gather feedback, which has been instrumental in refining our product offerings.- Product Roadmap: Created and maintained a dynamic backlog of ideas and potential features, ensuring alignment with our strategic goals.- Client Engagement: Played a pivotal role in a multi-million dollar spin-off project, ensuring compliance with State of Illinois diverse business guidelines.- Benchmarking: Conducted comprehensive research on bank supplier diversity programs to identify industry trends and best practices.- Outreach: Managed engagements with industry associations and developed supplier diversity guides to foster inclusivity.- Lead Generation: Designed a funnel for inbound leads, conducted intake calls, and represented RGMA at various conferences, panels, and webinars.

● Redesigned and led a Company Builder program in Nigeria that brings together cohorts of aspiring founders to create fintech startups; the strongest receives $100,000, office space, and hands-on support as part of a partnership between Accion Venture Lab and Mastercard Foundation● Utilized a design thinking approach to fashion Company Builder by speaking with over 30 successful entrepreneurs and professionals with the requisite skills in Nigeria, defining the key barriers preventing potential founders from “starting up”, generated ideas on how best Accion Venture Lab could mitigate the barriers, designed the program as a prototype, and finally tested the prototype with aspiring founders. The resulting initiative consists of recruiting a cohort of professionals with diverse skill sets to collectively conduct user research, generate ideas, form teams around the strongest ideas, develop MVPs, and test them with users over six months after which one team is selected for the continued support ● Recruited 150 applicants for the inaugural cohort of which 15 were selected; prepared program content and facilitated 12 workshops, topics included problem identification/Jobs To Be Done, market sizing, design thinking, team building, user testing, product development, and unit economics; coached each of the six teams as they distilled their ideas into MVPs, structured validation experiments across Nigeria, and used their findings to update their product roadmap and pitch decks; as well as attracted additional resources to Company Builder which included Africa Fintech Foundry hosting us in their facility, 15 professional UX designers and product managers conducting a prototyping workshop for the cohort, and several early-stage investors providing formal and informal feedback to the teams, in addition to in-person support provided by five members of the Venture Lab team

● Conducting focus groups and surveys of over 200 people across demographic groups to understand financial and technical behaviors and test various value propositions ● Developing personas representing different customers types as identified through research ● Analyizing consumer-focused financial services products currently available in Ghana, Africa, and globally including traditional and digital banks, mobile money providers, mobile wallets, MVNOs, payments processors, remittance services, agent banking, multi-platform POS, and lending platforms● Detailing customer value propositions (CVPs) to include product prototypes, customer journeys, costs, distribution channel, partnership requirements, customer acquisition and retention strategies, and regulatory considerations

East Lansing, Mi, Us

Analyzed VGG's tech solutions for the education and power sectors in the context of industry trends and funding priorities of Nigerian, African, and global development funding organizations to identify opportunities to partner with such organizations to increase the impact of the company's offerings

East Legon - Accra, Greater Accra Region, Gh

● Advised five of the incubator’s 12 portfolio companies (Dropifi, Leti Arts, RetailTower, SynCommerce, and Vestracker), which received USD 50,000 – 100,000 in seed capital and are active in the e-commerce, logistics, and interactive media sectors across both Western and African markets, on developing operational processes, reported on progress against KPI and financial targets monthly, and analyzed company data to select stage-appropriate metrics to guide product development and strategic planning as a Relationship Manager. ● Company specific contributions include: guided RetailTower, a feed generation service for e-commerce merchants, through a revision of its pricing strategy, resulting in a 9% increase in its MRR; guided Vestracker, a CRM and tracking SaaS solution for freight forwarders, through an analysis of the Nigerian market, resulting in it developing partnerships with four Nigerian freight forwarding associations; improved Leti Arts’, an interactive media and consulting company, project management process, which lead to a an 20% increase in consulting customers and allowed one founder to focus full-time on the execution of its game development plan● Collaborated with MINC’s outside counsel and accountants to ensure compliance with the Ghanaian Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) Act of 2013, advise portfolio companies on registering new businesses, opening foreign subsidiaries, closing local and overseas entities, and ensure portfolio companies were meeting their tax obligations● Supported the creation of MEST Venture Partners (MVP), a USD 50,000,000 (target) Pan-African early stage technology fund being launched in conjunction with eVentures Africa, by developing a database of over 150 funded technology startups, which fed into a larger analysis of the tech industry across various African markets. Also collaborated with MINC’s Managing Director and placement agents to incorporate findings into the fund’s fundraising and pipeline development strategy

Washington, Dc, Us

● Developed and administered a comprehensive diagnostic survey of member businesses of the U.S. Department of State’s AWEP initiative, and used the results to design and implement a program to assist members’ access to finance, increase their exports through unitization of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), and increase the effectiveness of the network’s 22 chapters containing 1,600 members across the continent. Program elements included organizing business strategy and technical trainings, engaging financiers and off-takers on member behalf, designing a web-based member database, and personally advising a pilot group of 10 of the most advanced companies● Designed the “Missing Middle of Africa Supply Chain Project,” a program to facilitate supplier development opportunities for African women entrepreneurs that was selected as a Clinton Global Initiative Commitment to Action in conjunction with the U.S. Department of State, USAID, Western Union, Deloitte Consulting, the Women’s President’s Organization, and WEConnect International ● Devised a non-bank finance vehicle and a USAID Development Credit Authority guarantee to increase the availability of working capital for members with SEAF’s Senior Vice President

Washington, Dc, Us

● Directed the ADM initiative, a multifaceted public-private partnership (PPP) between USAID and Western Union which supports innovative African Diaspora-owned small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) through grant funding and technical assistance ● Advised ADM entrepreneurs on setting milestones and key performance indicators, reviewed their proposed use of award monies, and performed on-site due diligence of four awardee businesses in Nigeria. To date 14 of the 17 ADM awardees have met their milestones ● Co-coordinated and screened participants for events in Lagos which provided more than 200 SMEs the opportunity to present to financiers. Such events included a venture capital pitch session hosted by the Tony Elumelu Foundation and two SME Banking Forums sponsored by Bank of Industry and Western Union, during which entrepreneurs presented to panels of Pan-African banks and attended skills workshops● Designed and administered the Libya Diaspora Marketplace Business Plan Competition, which awarded USD 33,000 matched grants and technical assistance to three SMEs owned by members of the Libyan diaspora

Washington, Dc, Us

● Coordinated five rounds of judging for the ADM Business Plan Competition which filtered 496 applications to 17 companies that were each awarded a USD 50,000 matched grant and technical assistance at a three-day event in Washington, D.C. ● Prepared pro-forma liquidation plan memos and budgets for the Southern African Enterprise Development Fund (SAEDF); analyzed exit options for the funds’ assets and portfolio companies, examined SAEDF’s sources and uses of cash, projected quarterly cash flows and identified the major risks to those cash flows in support of the anchor investor’s divestment from the fund

Washington, Dc, Us

• Crafted entry, expansion, government relations strategies, stakeholder analysis, and strategic communications for clients including a Fortune 50 retailer acquiring a major South African firm and a major German telecommunications company expanding its Angolan operations• Researched opportunities in the infrastructure, energy, agribusiness, mining, retail sectors, drafted proposals, authored the ASG Africa Daily Note, and prepared talking points for senior staff’s meetings with potential clients to develop new business for the firm

Washington, Dc, Us

• Illustrated the business case for multinational and leading South African companies to include local SMEs in their value chains by adopting the best practices of US supplier diversity programs for the country in a white paper for the South African Supplier Diversity Council • Advised export-ready South African SMEs in the fancy foods, wine and gift ware industries interested on exporting to the US and introduced them to distributors, facilitated their attendance at trade shows, created a catalogue of their goods and distributed it to potential customers, and managed a blog highlighting best practices, industry trends and business development tools• Assisted in the execution of the CCA Africa Infrastructure Conference, Health Conference, and the Africa Agribusiness Breakfast Series as well as the preparation of the successful USAID Southern Africa Trade Hub proposal

Washington, Us

• Presented to Ghanaian financiers on investment opportunities related to the country’s Millennium Development Authority’s PPP with Chiquita Brands International Inc. that was designed to increase the country’s pineapple exports 50% through increasing local participation throughout the Chiquita’s value chain, as part of a USD 547 million compact • Organized Private Sector Dialogues for Compact countries the Republic of Malawi and the Republic of the Philippines

• Reviewed monthly financial an operational reports for the Women’s Business Center in St. Louis, Senegal and field office in Dakar• Researched additional funding opportunities for a mobile technology engineering program for Ugandan university students that was part of the World Banks’ infoDev program

West Hartford, Ct, Us

• Researched investment opportunities in cleantech and private equity in Africa and presented findings to principals• Analyzed and briefed three principals on performance of various funds • Shadowed five principals during meetings with fund managers and during the fund selection process

• Gained first-hand experience on how an American businesswoman interacted with her Senegalese partners to manage the largest insurance company in Senegal• Witnessed the implementation of a socially responsible, and profitable 5,000 unit housing project • Shadowed Mrs. Sims Wilson in meetings the Prime Minister, U.S. Ambassador, bank executives and various other officials and assisted her as she worked with them to ensure the project progressed on schedule

Us

• Learned how to operate a Bloomberg Terminal and use it in conjunction with Microsoft Excel • Sought out members of the Municipal Bond department to learn about their market• Learned Wall Street valuation methods

Chicago, Illinois, Us

• Supported servicing of financial advisors and managed separate accounts for clients with over $10 million invested • Attended meetings with CEO John Rogers and President Mellody Hobson, as well as other executives to gain insight on how they market products, monitor investments, and investigate opportunities

Bba, International Business, Finance

Education record