Our
team

Our senior leadership team unites to tackle sustainability and circular-economy opportunities, leveraging experience from the finance and technology sectors, as well as the UN and World Bank. Our expertise is particularly strong in Asia, with networks spanning Europe, the Middle East, and North America.

Meet the team

Join our team

Since we started, we’ve built a firm with a group of equally diverse talent. What we intend to do with that knowledge is to turn challenges, such as the climate crisis, into opportunities, by practising a new way to invest.
Contact us

We founded SDG Impact Japan to create, invest in, and achieve radical change. All of our investments, all of our energy, are guided by our vision to create a sustainable future for people and the planet

Tokyo office
SDG Impact Japan Inc.
7F Kishimoto Bldg. 2-2-1 Marunouchi, Chiyoda, Tokyo 100-0005, Japan

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© Copyright 2021 SDG Impact Japan

Mamoru Taniya
Chairperson

Mamoru started his career at Salomon Brothers, where he became the youngest Managing Director responsible for the regional trading division for Asia. He is now a leading angel investor and entrepreneur in Japan and has played a key role in shaping the private equity and venture industries in Japan.

He founded Asuka Asset Management, as well as the private equity firm Mercuria. He created many other groundbreaking companies, including Money Design, the first robo- advisory firm in Japan and Lifenet, the first online insurance company.

He received his BA in law from the University of Tokyo

Mari Kogiso
Co-CEO

Mari is an impact investing leader with extensive background in inclusive business, sustainable finance, and social entrepreneurship.

Mari was the global head of diversity and human rights of the Fast Retailing Group. Before, she led the establishment of the Asia Women Impact Fund ($100 million) at the Sasakawa Peace Foundation.

Previously Mari held senior positions at the World Bank Group in Washington DC and Tokyo including the representative of MIGA (the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency) in Tokyo.

Mari holds a BA in Economics from the University of Tokyo and an MA from the Fletcher School, Tufts University.

Bradley Busetto

Bradley is a leader in sustainable finance and the SDGs. He helped drive sustainable investment initiatives for the United Nations and served as the inaugural director of UNDP Global Centre on Tech, Innovation and Sustainability where he worked with start-ups and venture funds to scale sustainable technologies around the world.

Previously, he established the UN’s first venture incubator and impact fund. And founded the world’s first national SDG innovation lab, which then catalyzed a global network of 100+ innovation labs for the UN.

The California native holds a BA (honours) and a master’s degree in philosophy from Stanford University.

Yuko Oka
Managing Partner

Yuko led institutional sales of Japanese equities at Jardine Fleming Securities (now JP Morgan Securities), Morgan Stanley Securities, and Deutsche Securities.

She also worked for Asuka Asset Management and other independent asset management companies, providing investment solutions to Japanese pension funds, financial institutions, overseas endowments, institutional investors, and family offices. She helped create Money Design, the first robo-advisor in Japan.

She holds BA in Political Science from the Faculty of Law at Keio University

Sasja Beslik
Chief Investment Strategy Officer

Sasja has helped catalyze the rise of ESG investing in Europe and the world, and is a recognized thought leader and practitioner in ESG investment space. He launched the Stars fund with Nordea bank in 2011 helped pioneer sustainable investment in Europe, and was awarded Sweden’s outstanding equity fund in 2017.

He was recognized as a Young Global Leader at the World Economic Forum (2011). Sasja serves on various boards and global committees, including the UNPRI Steering Committee and the UNEP Water Working Group, and is a board member of Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), and the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC).

He graduated from the University of Stockholm, where he studied economics and journalism.

Shohei Maekawa
Chief Strategy Officer

He engaged in management and strategy consulting as a project manager at Boston Consulting Group, mainly in the area of industrial goods and energy.

Before, he developed business strategy and managed cross-border strategic investment projects in chemical, food, nutrition, and agriculture sector at Mitsui & Co., Ltd.

He was also a Client Relationship Executive for EIRIS, sustainable investment research company (now part of Moody’s ESG solutions) in UK and developed new service for Japanese market and planned new business strategy for the company.

He holds BA in Economics from Keio University and MBA from HEC Paris.

Steve Leonard
Managing Partner

He served as CEO of Singularity Univeristy. Prior to Singularity University, he was the Founder CEO of SGInnovate, a Singaporean government agency investing in early stage deep tech, where he invested in deep tech startups and formed a startup community.

He was the Vice Chairman of the Infocomm Development Authority (IDA), a government statutory body under the Ministry of Communications and Information in Singapore and has held management positions in Europe and Asia for 20 years in global technology companies such as EMC, Symantec and EDS.

Wataru Baba
Managing Partner

Senior Fellow, Climate and Sustainability at Panasonic Group since 2022, where he accelerated the company’s growth through an integrated strategy for creating positive impact on climate change and established Sustainability Committee, chaired by the Group CEO. Board Member of Japan Professional Football League (J.League) and Independent Director for a civic technology nonprofit, Code for Japan, and a web3 startup, Financie, Inc

 

Masashi Yamashita
Board Member

Masashi has 38 years of experience in the financial industry since joining The Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan, and more than 10 years of experience in bank management.

He led the launch of Shinsei Bank to transform its business model and achieve growth.

He was also a board member of LIFENET Insurance, Japan’s first online life insurance company, and Chairman of Japan Wealth Bank, an asset management bank in Hong Kong. From 2016 to 2021, he was President of Lawson Bank, where he built a number of new businesses, including the digital transformation of the ATM business.

Mikio Yamaguchi
Managing Partner

Mikio started his career at Sony Corporation in Corporate Planning Division and Overseas Branch(London). He then joined RCF’s Reconstruction Support Team and worked on the Great East Japan Earthquake reconstruction support project.

After working in management consulting, he became an entrepreneur, and was the director and COO of Pocket Marche, the ground-breaking company that links small farmers to consumers. At Pocket Marche he led new business development.

He holds BA in Economics from the University of Tokyo.

Daichi Hirose
Partner

After working for for Strategic Value Partners, an US-Based hedgefund and BASF Venture Capital, a CVC arm for German chemical company, he was engaged in tecnical advisory for microfinance  at Positive Planet, an international NGO founded by French economist Jacques Attali.

Later, as Senior Executive Officer of the ReNet Japan Group, he was involved in the launch of the company’s overseas business. In Cambodia, he developed inclusive businesses such as microfinance, leasing, and microinsurance into the core businesses that led to the company’s listing on the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s Mothers market.

Most recently, he was engaged in M&A and new business development at a listed digial marketing company.

He holds BA in Economics  from Keio University

Nagayuki Kurita
Managing Partner

Provide professional consulting service on climate change measures based on abundant experiences of international CO2 emission trading and reliable networks with western companies and special institutions. Familiar with UNFCCC, international and domestic decarbonization policies.

He has served as a researcher in charge of the environment at Mizuho Corporate Bank, chief consultant at Mizuho Information & Research Institute, representative director at Asuka Green Investment Co., Ltd. and manager of the International Unit of the Environment Business Division at an environmental and energy consulting firm.

He holds MBA from University of Reading, Henley Business School(UK)

Makiko Horie
Partner

Makiko is a senior finance professional, with an outstanding track record at leading investment firms and finance institutions. She held roles at Merrill Lynch, where she served as senior portfolio manager, and also at Nomura Securities where she was responsible for equity research.

She also worked at Value Create, a management consulting firm, where she advised investor relations (IR) businesses, and corporate venture capital divisions.

She graduated from Kansai University with a degree in Economics. She received MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Makiko Fujimura
Director

Makiko has excelled at Institutional sales for or Blackrock Japan and JP Morgan, and won the APAC institutional sales person of the year award in 2020.

Osamu Yamamoto
Board Member

He has 21 years of investment experience at private equity, starting from the early days of buyout investment in Japan. CEO of Unison Capital Management based in Singapore. Engaged in developing new business opportunities related to Southeast Asia and India for both the Unison Group and its portfolio companies.

Previously worked at Sanwa Bank and McKinsey & Company. He has been involved with RIMM Sustainability Ltd. since its inception and has also participated in the RIMM Japan project. He is also a part-time lecturer at the University of Tokyo and Tokyo Institute of Technology.

He holds an MBA from the University of Chicago and a PhD from Tokyo Institute of Technology.

Tadashi Maeda
Board Member

Tadashi is Chairman of the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (since 2022), and also serves as the Chief Representative of the Trade Finance Subcommittee for the OECD.

Nobuo Tanaka

Chairman of the Steering Committee of the Innovation for Cool Earth Forum (ICEF)

Former Director General of the International Energy Agency (IEA) (2007-11)

He started his career at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan. He is currently CEO of Tanaka Global Inc., Special Fellow of the Institute of Energy Economics, Japan, External Director of Chiyoda Corporation, External Auditor and supervisory board member of Innotech Corporation, and Senior Executive Advisor of Air Liquide Japan.

He is also a visiting professor at the University of Tokyo’s School of Public Policy, and a Distinguished Fellow at the Center on Global Policy, Columbia University, USA.

He holds a B.A. in Economics from the University of Tokyo and MBA from Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio.

Mats Andersson

Mats served as CEO of the leading pension fund AP4 for 10 years, radically decarbonizing the equity portfolio. He is also a senior advisor to the Rockefeller Foundation, the German Nuclear Decommissioning, and Tobacco Free Portfolios.

Noriyuki Yanagawa

He is a professor at Graduate School of Economics and Faculty of Economics, The University of Tokyo since 2011.

Prior to this, he was an Associate Professor at Graduate School of Economics and Faculty of Economics, The University of Tokyo and Lecturer at Keio University

His research theme is imperfection of Financial System and Economic Performance, and major key words related to his research theme includes Financial Contract, Financial System, Enforcement, Law and Economics, Bubble, Asset Price, Macro Economics, International Trade, Capital Movement, and Policy Intervention.

He holds B.A. in Economics from Keio University and Ph.D. in Economics, Graduate School of Economics, The University of Tokyo

Maya Hari

Maya is a global leader and C-suite executive in high growth digital and technology companies, including Twitter. She’s the CEO of Terrascope, helping large enterprises on their Net Zero decarbonization journey.

Yoshiki Ishikawa

Public health researcher, M.D..

He is the Director of Innovation at Cancer Scan, Inc. Co-founder of Campus for H, Inc. His areas of expertise include preventive medicine, behavioral chemistry, computational creativity, and conceptual engineering.

He is currently conducting interdisciplinary research with universities on the theme of “What is the meaning of a better life (well-being) for people?”

He holds Master of Science in Health Policy and Management from Harvard School of Public Health, and a PhD in Medicine from Jichi Medical School.