Kartik Desai To Join Kois As Partner (Asia)

Kois is pleased to announce that Mr. Kartikeya Nitin Desai is joining us as Partner to lead the firm’s advisory business across the Asian region based out of our offices in Mumbai, India. Kartik is a seasoned development finance leader with 17 years of experience in investment banking, private equity, venture capital and economic policy and is considered a pioneer of impact investing in India. He is currently serving his notice period as Executive Director of Asha Impact, an impact investment and policy advocacy organization for Indian business leaders he has led since 2014. He will join us full-time as of September 1, 2021.                                                                                                                                       

Founder and Managing Partner of Kois Mr. Charles-Antoine Janssen said “We are delighted to welcome Kartik to our leadership team. We are excited by the expertise, relationships and passion he brings to the table, and working with him to grow our business and deepen its impact across our work in India and multiple Asian markets, as we together build a global platform to enable innovative finance for donors, corporates, governments and private funders.”

Said Serena Guarnaschelli, Partner (Kois) “Kartik brings impact investing and advocacy experience across each of our three areas of focus (i) education, skilling, employment, (ii) healthcare and wellness and (iii) climate and sustainability and we are very excited about having him join us in making Kois a global platform for catalyzing blended finance.”

Said Kartik Desai “It has been a privilege to help create Asha Impact, building a portfolio of incredible founders and leading a fantastic team on both the investments and policy side, and I am very thankful to Vikram and Pramod for their continued support. I strongly believe that the blended finance market is at an inflexion point with greater need for outcome-based funding and tri-sector collaboration in a post pandemic world, and couldn’t be more excited to be joining Charles, Francois, Serena and the rest of the Kois team to unlock greater capital for development and apply it to the most pressing existential issues facing humanity.” 

Said Vikram Gandhi and Pramod Bhasin, Founders of Asha Impact “Kartik has played a pivotal role in Asha Impact’s formative years and we thank him for all his efforts in building the institution over the last seven years. We wish him well in his new endeavor as he pursues his passion for driving impact through social finance.”