Fenix International, a next-generation energy company operating across Africa, adds a former Wall Street Director turned social entrepreneur to its core leadership team.
Joshua Romisher joins the energy and financial services company as Chief Financial Officer. Before joining Fenix, Josh served as VP of Corporate Finance at Off Grid Electric, where he became a well-respected energy finance expert. In his most recent position at Off Grid Electric, Romisher played a critical role in raising innovative debt and equity financing for the solar home system company.
Thrilled to announce solar finance expert and social entrepreneur Josh Romisher is joining Fenix as CFO. Excited to have Josh on board to bring #energyaccess and #financialinclusion to millions more households! https://t.co/vNrPcHeZvK pic.twitter.com/EOvHD1Frvr
— Fenix International (@fenixintl) January 9, 2018
As a serial entrepreneur with a long-standing interest in building life-changing businesses, he will play a key role in Fenix’s mission to deliver solar home systems and other life-changing products to tens of millions of customers across Africa.
A Stanford School of Business graduate and Chartered Financial Analyst, Romisher’s previous experience includes serving as a Director at Credit Suisse Securities in New York and San Francisco, where he specialized in debt capital markets, specifically in structured products. At Credit Suisse, Joshua was ranked amongst the top ten practitioners in the Institutional Structured Products Group.
His early entrepreneurial activities saw him leading business development and capital raising for an innovative solar irrigation company in Western India, as well as founding and growing a boutique investment bank in NYC.
As CFO at Fenix, Romisher will lead development of new financial products, create credit scores for unbanked customers, build finance capability and structure innovative debt facilities to support rapid growth. He will also work very closely alongside Fenix’s CTO, Jit Bhattacharya, to create an industry-leading digital finance platform, utilizing artificial intelligence and machine learning to unlock financial inclusion for Fenix’s customers.
Lyndsay Handler, CEO of Fenix International, said: “Josh’s passion for affordable, life-changing energy solutions and building great teams makes him a great fit for Fenix. He is joining Fenix at the beginning of a very exciting and ambitious growth phase, following our recent announcement of the agreed acquisition by one of the world’s largest independent utility companies, ENGIE.
“Bringing energy to tens of millions of off-grid homes across Africa requires visionary and out-of-the-box financing solutions. With Josh’s unique finance experience from Wall Street to Silicon Valley, India and Africa, Fenix aims to deliver the most inclusive energy solution in Africa and to unlock a wider world of financing for our customers.”[related-posts]
Joshua Romisher, commenting in his new capacity as CFO at Fenix International, said: “We’re at an incredibly exciting and pivotal moment in the evolution of the solar home system industry. Through tremendous hard work and innovation, the industry has been able to reach nearly one million installations.
“Over 600 million Africans, however, are still currently living off the grid. To reach the vast numbers of people who remain without clean, reliable and affordable access to power we must think differently. Fenix’s technology & brand combined with its partnership with ENGIE provide the ideal platform to reach these households, unlocking massive social, environmental and economic benefits. I am thrilled to join an incredible, Africa-based team committed to the fearless pursuit of this audacious yet achievable goal.”