Maria Teresa Zappia

Ms. Maria Teresa Zappia is a Chief Impact & Blended Finance Officer at BlueOrchard Finance AG.
She joined BlueOrchard in 2008 to manage the investment team.
As of 2012, she was appointed Chief Investment Officer and is now responsible for the top-down part of the investment process at BlueOrchard together with the Portfolio Management Team that she heads.
She has worked in the emerging markets finance sector for over 20 years.
She has worked for several development banks and financial institutions (European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Asian Development Bank, Overseas Development Institute, and OECD Development Center) based both in the field (Africa, South East Asia, and Central Asia) and in head-office.
Before joining BlueOrchard, she worked as Senior Banker in the Group for Small Business which was EBRD’s microfinance and SME finance team, and managed a portfolio of microfinance/SME credit lines with local commercial banks and MFIs across the Balkans, Central Europe, and Central Asia.
She holds a Master of Philosophy in Development Studies from the University of Sussex (Distinction), and a Degree in Economics (BA & MA equivalent, 1st Class Honors) from the University of Florence (Italy).