Ms. Carol-Jean Harward

Chief Investment Officer

Carol-Jean Harward is a seasoned investment executive, Certified Director and Independent Non-Executive Director with over 18 years’ experience spanning private equity, private credit, investment banking, structured finance and development finance across Africa and other emerging markets. 

She has led the origination, structuring, execution and management of complex investment transactions across multiple sectors, with expertise in debt and equity financing, private capital, portfolio management, corporate restructuring and investment strategy. 

Prior to joining BDC, Carol-Jean served as Investment Director at Norsad Capital, where she led multidisciplinary investment teams in originating, appraising and managing private credit and quasi-equity investments across Southern Africa. Her career also includes senior leadership and investment roles at the International Finance Corporation (IFC) of the World Bank Group, Anandi Capital, Barclays Bank Botswana (now Absa), African Alliance Botswana and Investec Asset Management, where she built a distinguished track record in investment management, structured finance and capital allocation. 

Beyond her executive career, Carol-Jean serves on several corporate boards and investment committees, where she provides strategic oversight of governance, investment policy and capital deployment. She is the Chairperson of Women First Fund Botswana, an Independent Non-Executive Director and Chairperson of the Investment Committee at Choppies Enterprise Limited, and a former Vice Chairperson of the Botswana Bond Market Association. 

She holds a First-Class Bachelor of Finance degree from the University of Botswana, an MBA (Finance) from the University of New Brunswick (Canada), is a Certified International Investment Analyst (CIIA®) and a Certified Director through the Institute of Directors South Africa (IoDSA).