Azer Songnaba
Co-founder and Chief Investment Officer, Cauris
Azer is the Co-founder and Chief Investment officer of Cauris Finance, an Africa-focused impact credit fund that lends growth capital to best-in-class socially impactful African companies.
Azer has over 15 years of investing and banking experience across multiple asset classes, including Fintech debt. Prior to co-founding Cauris, Azer worked at Mastercard where he was responsible for underwriting and managing a portfolio of Fintechs and financial institutions risk exposures in excess of $1.5B. He began his career in New York at Goldman Sachs in the Structured Finance /Investment Banking Division where he originated, structured and distributed over $10B of asset-backed securities in the auto and equipment leasing space. Azer also sits on the Board of Directors of Microstart SA, a microfinance organization in Burkina Faso.
Azer holds a MBA from Columbia Business School and a Master of Science degree in Finance from the University of Florida. He is also a Chartered Financial Analyst. He resides in Burkina Faso, and is fluent in English, French and Moore.
