
Ms. Sharmila Hardi Prakash is a seasoned global investment professional with over 30 years of experience at the intersection of impact investing, development finance, and risk management. As FMO’s nominee she brings a strong track record of deploying capital at scale across emerging markets while maintaining rigorous oversight of financial, environmental, and reputational risks. She has deep expertise in structuring and managing complex investments across sectors including infrastructure, agribusiness, manufacturing, and real estate. She combines strong investment judgment with a comprehensive understanding of risk management frameworks, including ESG integration, credit risk, and reputational risk mitigation. She is known for aligning financial performance with measurable development impact, particularly in emerging and frontier markets. She spent three decades at the International Finance Corporation (IFC), as Global Head of Banking and Insurance where she led a team delivering over $6 billion in annual investments across a diverse portfolio of financial institutions. She is recognized as a pioneer in gender lens investing, having established and scaled IFC’s global business focused on investing in women-owned and women-led enterprises.