Valeria Budinich

Valeria Budinich

For over two decades, Valeria Budinich has designed and implemented innovative business development programs spanning 22 countries around the world. In 2003, Valeria joined Ashoka, a leading community of social entrepreneurs to launch the Full Economic Citizenship (FEC) Initiative. Through FEC Valeria is creating a movement around Hybrid Value Chains (HVCs) — commercial partnerships that leverage the critical strengths among business and citizen sector organizations. By advancing HVCs, Valeria is helping business create new markets that did not exist before due to important elements and players that were missing or because transaction costs were too high.

From 1986 to 1996, Valeria worked for Appropriate Technology International (ATI), a global non-profit foundation specializing in providing technical and financial assistance to small and medium-sized enterprises in rural areas. As its Chief Operating Officer, she played a lead role in the development field by applying the value chain concept to transform small producers’ economies. From 1997 to 1998, she served as founding Vice-President for Latin America at Endeavor, a global organization specializing in linking entrepreneurs in emerging economies to venture capital investors in the US. Valeria launched Endeavor's first field operations in Chile and was part of the core team that designed Endeavor's search and selection process to identify high yield investment opportunities.

From 1999 to 2001, she served as VP for New Initiatives at BDA, a California-based consulting firm specializing in business process redesign and technology innovations for private sector clients worldwide. At BDA, Valeria developed unique services for small and medium-scale entrepreneurs and launched the first seed capital fund in Chile, financing exclusively enterprises at the start-up level. Since 1995, Valeria has also worked as an advisor to groups including Woman's World Banking, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), UNIFEM and others. Valeria was raised in Chile and trained as an industrial engineer.