Latin America Leadership Program

Speakers' Bios

CÉSAR BUENADICHA is the head of the Discovery Unit at the IDB Lab, leading the work of the laboratory in the identification and co-creation of high-impact innovations and ventures in Latin America and the Caribbean. In his previous work at the IDB, César worked as an advisor to the Manager of the Department of the Social Sector and as a specialist at the IDB Lab, promoting different programs of public-private collaboration, social inclusion and digital innovation in different countries of the region. César holds a PhD in Economics from UNED (Spain) with a doctoral thesis “Analysis of scalability in development projects”, and has a degree in Law and in Economic and Business Sciences from the University of Comillas (ICADE E-3, in Spain ). For ten years, César worked in Honduras, El Salvador and Bolivia in productive development and employment programs with Spanish and Dutch cooperation. He previously dedicated several professional years to the private sector as a lawyer for the international firm Clifford Chance in Madrid.

Christine TERNENT is the Lead Specialist at the Innovation Lab of the IDB Group –IDB Lab -- in Colombia. She works on topics of Innovation for Inclusion, leveraging technologies to generate exponential impact through non-reimbursable financing of projects and startups, generating and disseminating knowledge and building networks. Christine leads IDB Lab’s Social Impact Bond (SIB) and Outcome Fund (OF) Program in Colombia as an innovative financial mechanism to tie payment of government social programs to outcomes, while involving impact investors to upfront working capital, particularly in formal employment for difficult- to-place populations. She also leads IDB Lab’s SIB Facility to gather and disseminate new learning on pay for success initiatives in Latin America and the Caribbean and promoted the implementation of 5 pay-for-success scoping studies in Haiti, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and the Dominican Republic. Christine was supervising editor for the publication by Ecorys: Social Impact Bonds in Latin America: IDB Lab's Pioneering Work in the Region: Lessons Learnt. She was also Fellow of Practice at the Government Outcomes Lab at Oxford in 2020.

Jean-Emmanuel DESMORNES is the Private Sector Consultant at the Innovation Lab of the IDB Group – IDB Lab – in Haiti. Jean Emmanuel holds an MBA from EDHEC (France) with a specialization in Finance and Global Business. He previously worked in Financial Auditing and Project Management Consulting in the Private Sector and at the World Bank respectively. Jean Emmanuel has 10 years of experience working across various industries while maintaining a strong focus on Private Sector Development supporting business sustainability, trade and competitiveness, investment promotion and inclusive growth. Jean-Emmanuel currently leads the recently approved project, the Haiti Impact Facility (HIF), which aims to achieve greater efficiency and impact in the delivery of IDB development assistance and Haitian government-funded services, particularly for vulnerable populations.

Adrien DEWALQUE is a Private Sector Development consultant at the Innovation Lab of the IDB Group – IDB Lab – in Haiti. He previously worked as PoliticalAdvisor for the Walloon Minister of Economy where he was specialized in Private Sector development, Digital and Creative Industries. He holds a master’s degree in Law from the Catholic University of Louvain (Belgium) and is an MBA’24 Candidate at IESE (Spain). Adrien co-authored the article "Legal tech beyond the buzzword, a new opportunity for inclusion?" published in the ALIFDO Winter Gazette, 2022, and the article "Vouchers, a clear and accessible tool to support MSMEs" published as a blog for IDB Group.