Monica Brand Engel is an investor and entrepreneur, who has spent her career launching funds and products aimed at broadening financial inclusion globally. Engel (neé Brand) spent her formative years in Silicon Valley, starting and building alternative financing companies targeted at near-bankable businesses. Longing to apply lessons learned in emerging markets, she moved to S Africa after graduating Stanford business school, to work in venture capital (with Anthuri) in a nascent ecosystem. From Cape Town, Engel was recruited by Accion as Head of Product + Innovation, to launch new financial services to underserved businesses and consumers globally – including an extended stint in Mexico with Compartamos (re-branded Gentera Bank following its IPO in 2007). This IPO provided the funds and the mandate to launch Accion’s Frontier Investments – its first fintech for inclusion fund and the predecessor to the creation of Quona Capital. Monica manages the Africa / MENA region and investor relations for Quona.