Romi Bhatia

Professor Romi Bhatia is a development finance practitioner recognized for his expertise in microfinance, small business development, impact investing, and entrepreneurship over the past 20 years. Romi has deep experience in investment risk due diligence, structuring credit guarantees and managing blended finance transactions and driving economic growth through strategic partnerships. During his 12-year tenure with multiple U.S. government agencies, including the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), the Prosper Africa Executive Secretariat, and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Romi led high-level engagements to catalyze trade and investment between the U.S. and Africa. From 2017-2021, Prof. Bhatia was the Executive Director of The Idea Center at Miami Dade College, overseeing a team of 15 staff and where he raised over $1m for programs to support early-stage entrepreneurs and small and medium businesses from underserved communities in South Florida.

Prof. Bhatia is currently a Venture Partner at Jedar Capital, an emerging Pan-African Venture Capital Fund investing in post-revenue, early-stage African startups building solutions to accelerate digital trade across Africa with a specific focus on logistics, supply-chain, trade enabling infrastructure, B2B financial services, SMB enabling platforms and B2B SaaS. Prof. Bhatia is also an active angel investor with The Syndicate, a Silicon Valley-based angel investor network by Jason Calacanis. Prof. Bhatia was a Fulbright scholar in India with SKS Microfinance (2001) and recipient of the Rockefeller Foundation Global Fellowship on Social Innovation (2015). Prof. Bhatia received his Master of International Affairs (MIA) Degree with a concentration in International Finance and Business from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (2004). Prof. Bhatia has taught courses on microfinance, crowdfunding, blended finance and entrepreneurship at The George Washington University School of Business since 2010.