Mexico

Based in Mexico City, María Luisa Chavez is responsible for Beneficial Returns’ work in Latin America as the LatAm Manager. Prior to Joining Beneficial Returns, María Luisa co-founded El Buen Socio, providing financial education and loans to rural entrepreneurs with positive social and environmental impact throughout Mexico.

María Luisa received her BA in Economic and Social Administration at Université Paris 1 – La Sorbonne, and, a few years later, a Master’s degree in Creation and Management of Innovative Companies at Universidad de Barcelona along with a postgraduate in NGO Management at ESADE. María Luisa previously worked at Numa México (formerly Venture Institute), an incubator for high-impact entrepreneurs, and ALLVP (formerly Venture Partners), the first institutional seed venture capital fund in Mexico. She sits on the advisory board for Reforestamos México, a 20+ year old non-profit organization focused on regenerating and preserving forests through care and entrepreneurship.

María Luisa is passionate about doing finance differently and putting people at the center of decision making. She also loves dogs, coffee, and travelling with her husband and three-year-old daughter, Inés. She loves hiking and reading, always with a good piece of bakery bread.

Matilde Olazábal is currently CEO of FFHAlcance, a Grameen Foundation-Freedom from Hunger sister organization, and works to promote initiatives that have an impact on improving the quality of life of people living in poverty. Contributing to strengthening human and community development capacities with training and education proposals for community-based institutions’ staff in charge of addressing poverty issues. Matilde has also been negotiating strategic partnerships between FFHAlcance and other international and national development organizations in addition to supporting innovation, the improvement of comprehensive financial services for microfinance institutions, the development of training of trainers and the development of educational products on relevant topics for people living in poverty. A focus of her work has been the design, development, and advance of complementary developmental services to the provision of financial services for the microfinance sector. Directed her team’s participation in due diligence activities for private equity investment in microfinance institutions, focusing on the assessment of rural financial products and complementary services for the poor. Recently she directed the organization’s Latin America Team in the development and operation of an E-Learning Platform to offer Development Sector Front Line Staff training programs to enhance their Key Competencies. Matilde is a member of various Civil Society Organizations’ Boards recognized for its commitment to improving social problems. She holds a Master’s degree in Education from Anahuac University, a Specialization in Social Development and Social Policy from CIDE, a Senior Management Program in Private Equity from IPADE and a Bachelor of Science in Education from Anahuac University.