About Us

Danyal Sattar, formerly the Head of Social Investment at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, joined Big Issue Invest in December of 2018. He has more than 25 years’ experience in the social and ethical investment, charitable and impact investment sectors and sits on a range of expert and advisory panels.

Lars has over 15 years experience in direct investment and investment management. He started his career in Berlin with BDO in the Corporate Finance Team before moving to London to work for SISU Capital, sourcing and managing direct Private Equity investments. Lars worked in the Middle East managing investments into education and healthcare before joining BII as an Investment Director.

Sasha is an impact management specialist and social entrepreneur with a background in investment banking. As an impact & ESG consultant, Sasha has advised over 50 organisations, including fast-growth early-stage businesses, corporates, charities and investors. She founded Blubel, an award-winning social enterprise, where she led the development of an innovative tech product from an idea to full market launch. Blubel received funding from the European Space Agency, Department for Transport as well as private investors. She has extensive experience in leading complex time-sensitive projects and data-driven research. Sasha holds an Economics and Management degree from the University of Oxford.

Holger.Westphely@BigIssueInvest.com

Holger Westphely, Head of Lending, has over 20 years of experience working in the social impact sector, first as a co-founder of Eastside People, a consultancy to social organisations, and then in social investment with CAF Venturesome. Before this he spent five years working in the wealth management division of Schroders PLC, managing HNWI portfolios. Holger joined Big Issue Invest as Head of Lending in 2022, where he looks after all social investment from BII’s balance sheet.

James has a background in corporate finance having spent over 10 years advising on stock market flotations and helping large companies with debt financing. In 2015 he moved to the social investment sector where he worked as an Investment Director at Numbers for Good, a social finance intermediary specialising in assisting social enterprises of all sizes prepare the materials that they needed in order to secure social investment. Numbers for Good closed in 2019 and now he’s looking to use the skills and enthusiasm for social investment he built up over that time here at Big Issue Invest. Outside work, James has a busy time with his family including his two boys.

Swiddle joined the BII lending team and brings a wealth of experience from the private sector. Swiddle has over 15 years of experience across the corporate banking and financial services sectors in the UK, US, Philippines and India markets including JP Morgan Chase (12 years) and Legal and General. She is highly adept in financial operations, financial systems, credit and loan processes, lending operations, underwriting and management. Swiddle works with our Finance and Operations team and leads on the loan management and data reporting. After a successful career in the private sector this is Swiddle’s first role in the UK social investment sector.

Mark has a 35+ year career in financial services, specifically in Investment Management, Investor & Fund Services, and Trust and Corporate Services. l estate sector. In 2018 Mark decided to pursue a portfolio career, retaining a non-executive role with MUFG and advising Private Equity funds on strategic M&A in the fund and corporate services sector. As a consequence of this advisory work, Mark was appointed group CEO of Equiom, a fund owned international private client Trust and Corporate Services business headquartered in Jersey.

Sara is an experienced social investor, having led the investment teams at Social and Sustainable Capital and the Social Investment Business. Sara also spent over a decade structuring debt and quasi-equity solutions to support private equity backed management buyouts across Europe.

Sandeep was an international banker, who, after leading large global banking businesses in three continents, retired in his mid-40s to pursue his personal interests. He has since co-founded www.safeinindia.org, and is its current CEO. He is also an active board-member of a number of social enterprises in the UK and Europe and enjoys helping them grow/restructure. Sandeep is a graduate of IIT Roorkee and IIM Ahmedabad, India.

Martin works for purpose-driven companies and is also a NED at Recovery Focus and is an Advisor at Ashoka. He worked for Steve Jobs at Apple, launching and heading iTunes Pan EU and at Disney he ran the music business, the digital transformation which resulted in the precursor to Disney+ and worked with Miley Cyrus, High School Musical and Marvel. As the founder of Ceviche & Andina which he has now exited, he introduced Europe to sustainable Peruvian food, won GQ’s Innovator of the Year Award, Entrepreneur of the Year by the UK Chamber of Commerce and became a best selling author. For many years he has also guided and advised several charities and social enterprises particularly those working with climate change, improving mental health, young people’s opportunities and alleviating poverty.

Shaheen Verjee is the Director of Strategic Partnerships at Women’s World Banking, the NGO that serves the 1 billion women who are underserved by the formal financial sector. She is based in London, UK, and is responsible for leading the team that develops and maintains strategic relationships with corporations and foundations to support women’s financial inclusion and economic empowerment.
Previously she was the Director of External Relations at CFA UK, working with firms across the investment management industry to improve their access to investment education and create industry-leading best practices in areas such as DEI and sustainability. She has built 3 of the leading global qualifications in sustainable investment in ESG, Climate and Impact.
She started her career as a Fund Manager at Cazenove Capital Management, running portfolios for high net worth private clients and established the discretionary fund management business for Intermediaries. After her MBA she founded nu Sourcing, a start-up bringing sustainable, high quality and new technologies to the European fashion, sportswear and corporate wear market. She has served as a trustee on the board of FOCUS Humanitarian Assistance and is currently Chair of Ismaili Civic UK and a non-executive board member of Big Issue Invest.
She is a CFA Charterholder and holds a Law degree from the London School of Economics and an MBA from INSEAD.

John is Director of a globally recognised programme at one of the world’s premier business schools. He is also an educator, trainer and co-author of a series of books on Private Equity that have been adopted by global business schools, institutions and academia. John is a partner level Corporate Financier in global professional service businesses for 20+ years and has raised over £1.5bn of private equity with realised cash profits exceeding £2bn. John is also a Trustee of The Big Issue Invest Trust.

Danyal Sattar, formerly the Head of Social Investment at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, joined Big Issue Invest in December of 2018. He has more than 25 years’ experience in the social and ethical investment, charitable and impact investment sectors and sits on a range of expert and advisory panels.

Danyal Sattar, formerly the Head of Social Investment at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, joined Big Issue Invest in December of 2018. He has more than 25 years’ experience in the social and ethical investment, charitable and impact investment sectors and sits on a range of expert and advisory panels.

Sweta is a Senior Private Markets Investments leader with over 15 years’ experience in managing portfolios of both growth and income driven strategies, and raising capital for these strategies. Shi is currently Head of Multi-Vintage Portfolios at Barclays Private Bank

Mark has a 35+ year career in financial services, specifically in Investment Management, Investor & Fund Services, and Trust and Corporate Services. l estate sector. In 2018 Mark decided to pursue a portfolio career, retaining a non-executive role with MUFG and advising Private Equity funds on strategic M&A in the fund and corporate services sector. As a consequence of this advisory work, Mark was appointed group CEO of Equiom, a fund owned international private client Trust and Corporate Services business headquartered in Jersey.