Student Affiliate Program

Are you interested in global finance, sovereign and public investment, or private equity? Perhaps you are intrigued by the role of governments and markets in financing national development? Or… are you pursuing a career in finance and interested in exploring where and how the public and private sectors meet?

In December 2017, we launched a Student Affiliate Program open exclusively to Fletcher students. This program offers the opportunity to engage with a global community of scholars and practitioners, contribute research, and support both self-initiated and institutional programming on sovereign and public investment. Are you doing research on project finance, development finance, sustainability, social investment, or political risk? Join us to explore some the outer reaches of your research and interests.


Missed the 2021-2022 SovereigNET Info Session? Click below to watch the recording.


Why should you be a Student Affiliate?


Ayan Abshir
MIB

As a Somali American, I have seen that one the key issues impacting growth in Somalia is a lack of funding for development in the country, more particularly in infrastructure, which is an issue in continental Africa overall. This has fueled my passion for development finance, & identifying investment opportunities for sustainable infrastructure development in Africa and understanding the role private market and FDI play in sparking capital mobilization in Africa. Through the SovereigNet affiliate program as well as my position as the Research Assistant for VentureLift Africa, I will be able to identify how private investments can come together with institutional partners on the domestic level (like SWF) in order to develop and improve green infrastructure in Africa.

Sourav Panda
MALD

1.7 billion people are excluded from the folds of formal financial systems. Most of them are from emerging economies. I worked at the largest bank in India, helping small farmers and agri-enterprises access capital. I could witness the limitations of branch-banking in bringing about social equity from very close quarters. My goal is to make funds affordable and accessible for farmers and social enterprises in the emergent markets. As an affiliate of SovereigNet, I plan to study opportunities of allocating the capital from SWFs in socially responsible ways. I also seek to dig deeper into the use of innovative financing strategies by these funds to help countries achieve SDGs.