A small team, built to
help governments
do hard things.

For Kartik, economic growth is about transforming economies and hence opportunities for people — not simply about increasing a number. He is a field builder and policy entrepreneur who turns growth strategy into exports and jobs.

As Co-Founder of Growth Teams, he has led and supported work with governments in Africa and India, and spearheaded efforts to attract more attention, resources, and talent into the LMIC economic growth space.

He cut his teeth working on these issues from inside governments. Over the past 15 years, he has helped governments to attract foreign investment and remove binding constraints to growth with the World Bank, the Millennium Challenge Corporation, and the Tony Blair Institute in Ethiopia and Sierra Leone. He also led the jobs, investment, and productivity vertical at CEGIS in India.

He has run impact evaluations with J-PAL and IPA in Peru, and holds a BA from Brown University and an MPA/ID from the Harvard Kennedy School.

Jonathan looks at growth through the eyes of the firm. As Co-Founder of Growth Teams, he led its pilot in Rwanda, working with the Rwanda Development Board to kickstart the outsourcing industry, a sector that has since created more than 4,000 formal jobs. He is drawn to the early stage, testing new ideas and turning them into something real.

He learned that view as an investor and a business owner. In India he built Acumen’s education portfolio and helped start Sangam Ventures, the country’s first dedicated cleantech venture fund. In Kigali he advised the Government of Rwanda with the Tony Blair Institute, and at the same time owned and ran a café, with staff to pay and paperwork to file.

He began his career at J-PAL, working on an impact evaluation in rural Bihar, and holds a BA from Tufts University and an MPA/ID from the Harvard Kennedy School. He lives in Cape Town, where he is learning to surf ski.

Chema helps governments choose which industries to back, then stays to help build them. As Co-Founder of Growth Teams, she leads its country work across Africa, advising policymakers and managing teams embedded in government agencies. She also works with the AfCFTA Secretariat’s advisory board on industrialisation through regional value chains.

She does this because she believes Africa’s place in the world depends on what it can make. Countries that build productive capabilities shift the balance of power in their favour, and their people get better jobs and better choices.

Before Growth Teams, she was Head of Industrialisation at the Tony Blair Institute, overseeing industrial policy work in 17 African countries. She was also embedded with the Ethiopian government, advising on job creation and industrial policy. Earlier, she worked on private-sector development at the OECD and structural transformation with the ILO.

An engineer by training, she holds master’s degrees from LSE and Sciences Po Paris. In her free time, she plays the oud.

Investment consulting with Africa Insight Advisors. Monitoring and evaluation with Mercato Metropolitano; philanthropy and partnerships with the Issroff Family Foundation.

Growth-policy research with Harvard's Growth Lab in South Africa, Ethiopia, and the UAE. International-development advisory with Dalberg; economic-policy research with India's Chief Economic Adviser.

Partnerships and government engagement with Fortify Health, a GiveWell-funded, Ambitious Impact–incubated nonprofit working at scale across India’s public-health systems. Applied policy research with the International Management Institute; Don Lavoie Fellowship at the Mercatus Center.

Scaling the impact of women-led enterprises with IMAGO Global Grassroots. Operationalised a $250M World Bank skills-development loan for the Government of India; monitoring and evaluation with Tata STRIVE.