Marissa Dean

"My deeply-rooted belief is that individuals are capable of driving transformational change. What I really love about my work is that it applies a business strategy mindset to development. I’m most effective thinking at systems level, including understanding ecosystem interactions, developing frameworks, and providing analytics. I enjoy uncovering the nuance and the “black swans” from data and interviews."

Marissa leads Caribou Digital Investments and contributes to the Mastercard Foundation FiDA Partnership on fintechs and other digital financial services institutions, digital commerce, and ecosystems for digital financial services. Her recent research projects have included the use of big data and analytics by FSPs in Kenya and Tanzania, the implications of the platformisation of the internet on economic inclusion, and a toolkit for entrepreneurship ecosystem development diagnostics, with a particular focus on women's entrepreneurship. Marissa has an MBA and a Certificate in Global Business from the Haas School of Business and a BSc from the College of Chemistry, all from the University of California at Berkeley, and an MSc in Public Policy with merit from the University of London, SOAS. Marissa works from Lake Tahoe, US and travels frequently to South Africa.

Email them at: marissa@cariboudigital.net