Our Team

The international scope of ACGF's work directly translates into the organization’s commitment to professionalism and diversity.

ACGF’s staff come from an array of nationalities and backgrounds. In our diversity, we remain committed to the shared values of professionalism, diligence, openness and continuous learning. Commitment to these values encourages ACGF’s team to grow both professionally and personally.

Bernd Leidner

Our business is all about people:
The staff in our very lean head office who create and support our structures, the colleagues in our subsidiary in Afghanistan who work so hard to achieve business volume and ensure portfolio quality, the employees of the partner financial institutions who we closely cooperate with and train and, foremost, the business owners and their employees who are at the center of what we do: Unlocking potential and facilitating growth, jobs and income.

It gives me great joy to shape this work and see its impact.

Bernd Leidner

Chairman

Dirk Josef Thiesen

Our business provides me with the good feeling to act on the right side of business life. Main reasons for my conviction to do the right thing at the right time are:

  • Our contribution to make the world a better place by creating and conserving employment in Afghanistan
  • Our professionalism and long years’ experience in the Afghan finance sector combined with hard work and dedication to our goals
  • The creation of more than 50 jobs within our organization
  • Our ability to work in an international intercultural environment.

The present Covid-19-crisis and the conviction that support of MSMEs in Afghanistan during the crisis is key to a good development of the country in the future. This has even strengthened my deep belief that we are doing the right thing

Dirk Josef Thiesen

Vice-Chairman

Daniel Jobmann

ACGF provides solutions that facilitate Afghan SME’s long-term access to finance.
This is achieved by creating comprehensive structures with strong local presence, allowing ACGF to be at the heartbeat of the local SME and financial sector.
Being part of ACGF means to work in close exchange with my colleagues abroad and to share know-how with them, yet in similar way learn from them every day.

Daniel Jobmann

Manager – Finance & Controlling

Theresa De Sousa

What I like most about my work is the combination of dealing with finance and accounting topics and being part of an intercultural team. The unique working environment of ACGF makes my daily work very interesting and enriching.

Theresa De Sousa

Finance & Administration Officer

Ioana Bejan

At ACGF, I discovered a young and dedicated team of professionals with different cultural and educational backgrounds that inspire me. Coming from an economics background and having worked in the context of development cooperation, I am committed to ACGF’s view of enabling economic development in Afghanistan through unlocking financing. In the operations department, every day comes with new challenges and having been entrusted with various responsibilities motivates me. Of course, the opportunity to travel and learn from this cultural exchange is an additional factor why I enjoy working here.

Ioana Bejan

Head of Transaction Management & Governance

Carmen Michaelis

At ACGF we contribute to economic and social development through the transfer of best practice credit technology, capacity building initiatives and product development in the financial sector. For me, working at ACGF means constantly being presented with new responsibilities, challenges and opportunities to develop while working on inspiring topics such as green finance, agriculture finance and lending to women-entrepreneurs. One of ACGF’s success factors is the strong link with its partner institutions as well as its young, international and fun team, both in Germany as well as in Afghanistan, which I am very proud to be a part of.

Carmen Michaelis

Head of Technical
Assistance

Pavel Guranda

I am attracted by two aspects of our work – development mission and organizational set-up. Having background in Public Policy, I have heard SME development being theorized more often than implemented effectively. Our work allows me to make a first-hand contribution to implementation of SME development strategy. I am, also, appealed by the organizational set-up of ACGF, as through its complexity, it enables an efficient transfer of European best practices into the challenging context of Afghanistan.

Pavel Guranda

Head of Business Development & Communication

Regina Cornejo

Being part of ACGF is professionally enriching and deeply fulfilling. I work in guarantee transactions in cooperation with our partner Institutions and our subsidiary in Afghanistan to achieve a development impact through the access to finance for MSMEs. At ACGF I have the chance to work in a multicultural team and learn on a daily basis from different professionals with very interesting backgrounds and complementing points of view.

Regina Cornejo

Guarantee Transactions & Regulatory Officer

Sally Castillo

Working at ACGF has offered me the opportunity to collaborate with an international team of highly professional and dedicated colleagues, both at the head and local offices. It gives me great satisfaction to be able to contribute to ACGF’s mission of supporting the growth of the MSME sector in Afghanistan. I believe that supporting MSMEs through access to finance has a positive impact on the development and well-being of the country.

Sally Castillo

Risk Officer 

Martina Mosi

Working at ACGF has given me a greater understanding of the importance in supporting MSMEs in an economically challenging country. Through the support of financing, business development and training, I find satisfaction in knowing we are helping people to realize their dreams and contribute to their economic development. ACGF is full of young and dedicated professionals with a diverse cultural background which makes working here interesting.

Martina Mosi

Finance & Controlling Officer 

Juan Padilla

Working at ACGF has provided me with a new perspective of the financial sector. The diversity in cultures and backgrounds of my colleagues has allowed me to develop my profile integrally as the cases and issues we face on a daily basis are tackled from different perspectives. Working at ACGF is both fruitful and satisfying, plus, it makes me happy knowing we work for a good cause and we are helping others.

 

Juan Padilla

Project Assistant

Francisco Urdaneta

Special Project Officer

Francisco Urdaneta

It is a privilege to be involved in creating solutions for a sector as critical as that of MSMEs by improving their access to finance where each credit represents an opportunity to support a job and, in a sense, someone’s livelihood. The challenge is very demanding, but the reward is even greater.

TBD

TBD Position

Regina Cornejo

Being part of ACGF is professionally enriching and deeply fulfilling. I work in guarantee transactions in cooperation with our partner Institutions and our subsidiary in Afghanistan to achieve a development impact through the access to finance for MSMEs. At ACGF I have the chance to work in a multicultural team and learn on a daily basis from different professionals with very interesting backgrounds and complementing points of view.

TBD

Communication Assistant

Kutlu Kocabas

It is a privilege to be involved in creating solutions for a sector as critical as that of MSMEs by improving their access to finance where each credit represents an opportunity to support a job and, in a sense, someone’s livelihood. The challenge is very demanding, but the reward is even greater.

Scroll to Top