Oliver Karius

Oliver  leads the Africa portfolio for LGT Venture Philanthropy, investing and granting funding to social entrepreneurs on the continent.Oliver Karius is a partner at LGT Venture Philanthropy Foundation, which was founded in 2007 by initiative and funds of the Princely Family of Liechtenstein. Its mission is to raise the sustainable quality of life for the less advantaged people especially in the developing world. Applying a venture philanthropy approach, LGT seeks to support both non-profit and for-profit organizations active in the areas of alleviating human suffering, education, and sustainable livelihoods by providing capital, as well as knowledge, strategic support and access to relevant contacts and networks. The aim is to create long-lasting sustainable impact while building the structures to enhance long-term development and self-empowerment. LGT Venture Philanthropy makes use of grants, loans and equity investments up to USD 1 mill to provide missing-middle funding.

Prior to joining LGT, Oliver was Head of Research at Forma Futura Invest AG. Oliver is Managing Director and co-founder of VantagePoint Global (VPG) (www.vantagep.org) dedicated to building the capacity for sustainable investing and development in emerging markets. From 2001-2004, Oliver served as Manager Research Services and Senior Sustainability Analyst at SAM Research for the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) and SAM Group. From 1997-2001, Oliver worked for one of Europe’s oldest and largest

Socially Responsible Investment managers F&C.

Throughout his career, Oliver has focused on the interface between sustainable development and finance and he has specific interests in the application of sustainability in developing countries, biomimicry, whole systems design and sustainable architecture.

Oliver holds a MSc in Environmental Technology, Global Environmental Change and Policy, from Imperial College Centre for Environmental Technology (ICCET), Imperial College, London, and a Diploma in Biology (Dipl. Biol.) from the Ludwig-Maximilians University (LMU) in Munich, Germany.