Runa Alam is the co-founder and CEO of Development Partners International (“DPI”). DPI is a leading private equity firm investing throughout Africa, and manages $1.6 billion in three funds, African Development Partners I (“ADP I”), ADP II and ADP III. ADP I and ADP II are Cambridge benchmarked top quartile Africa funds. The ADP funds have won numerous awards and been commended both for delivering top returns to investors while delivering top levels of ES&G and impact work. DPI is a gender balanced firm and seeks to focus its impact work in three buckets: Gender Balance, Climate Change, and Job Creation and Enhancement.
Runa has more than 35 years of private equity, emerging market management and investment banking experience. She has invested in Africa for 22 years. She serves on the Boards of many African companies. She has contributed to the development of private equity in Africa as a former Chair of AVCA (the African Private Equity Association), Chair of the AVCA Sustainability Committee, and a Vice Chair and Africa Council Member of EMPEA (the Emerging Markets Private Equity Association).
Ms. Alam has contributed to efforts in education and development through her written and pro bono work. She sat on the advisory committees at Princeton and Yale Universities and was formerly an Advisory Council member of MIDA (Mobilizing Institutional Investors to Develop Africa’s Infrastructure), NASP-USAID Investment Partnership, and USAID’s Private Sector Partners Committee. Ms. Alam is serving on a World Economic Forum “Future Challenge” forum on development finance.
Ms. Alam started her career on Wall Street working for Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch. She is a development economist and is a graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Business School. She is a Harry S. Truman Congressional Scholar. She joined CARE’s Board in 2020.