Keely Stevenson is the Chief Executive Officer in the USA and joined Bamboo as it launched in 2007 to help create the strategy and build the portfolio for Bamboo’s first private equity fund, Oasis Fund. She serves on the firm’s investment management team, oversees US operations and also directs Bamboo’s strategic planning, thought leadership initiatives, communications and impact performance activities.
Keely has worked in the field of social entrepreneurship and finance for over thirteen years with experience on five continents. She joined Bamboo after living in East Africa and working with the Acumen Fund, a social venture capital firm. She supported the establishment of Acumen’s Kenya office and also worked with AtoZ, a producer of anti-malaria mosquito nets, focusing on distribution and pricing strategies in Tanzania. Earlier in her career, she was the first employee hired by the CEO of the Skoll Foundation where she designed grant programs for social entrepreneurs and led the team who created the world’s first online community for social entrepreneurs, Social Edge. She has also served as the Interim Executive Director of a social enterprise in Peru (ProPeru Fund) and a startup professional development program for social entrepreneurs in India (Social-Impact International, now DASRA). She was a consultant on the viability of a UK based risk capital fund for Triodos Bank and economic development strategies for the Royal Bafokeng Nation, one of Africa’s wealthiest kingdoms. She studied politics at UC Berkeley and her passion for business led her to pursue an MBA degree at Oxford University. She is on the board of several companies in Africa, Europe and the Americas.