About E&O
Equality & Opportunity Foundation (E&O) is a California-based nonprofit organization recognized as tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the United States Internal Revenue Code.
We are committed to breaking the poverty cycle of families in need. Our focus today is on poor women, children and families in Southeast Asia who need a way to help themselves sustain healthy and productive lives.
Click on the names below to find out more about us.
E&O Foundation Trustees
Hasan Alemdar is the founder and executive director of the Equality & Opportunity Foundation. Prior to founding E&O in 2009, Hasan held several global roles with Visa International as a Vice President and Senior Vice President spanning Europe, Africa, Southeast Asia and Latin America. Hasan also leverages his over 16 years of global Financial and Payment Services expertise to increase the time-to-market, scale and efficiency of financial institutions, payment processors and MFIs globally through his consultancy practice. Hasan has a Bachelor of Science in Electronic Engineering from M.E. Technical University in Turkey, an MBA from University of San Francisco, and Executive Education, Strategic Leadership for Microfinance degree from Harvard Business School.
Julie Chew has been an IT manager for over 30 years, specializing in management of global development projects, structuring global Program Offices, facilitation, and communication. Over half of this time was spent in the financial services industry, at Bank of America and Visa International. She is very active as a volunteer youth mentor and tutor and is on the advisory board for Jon Christian English School, a school and boarding arrangement in a remote village in Northeast India. She has a degree in Computer Science from the University of California at Berkeley and is certified as a Project Management Professional (PMP).
Doug Woo is a certified public accountant with over 24 years of experience. He is currently the Director of Tax for Legacy Partners, a residential and commercial real estate investment manager, owner and operator in the western United States. He has been an adjunct professor at Golden Gate University in the Masters of Taxation program. He has also served as a board member of the YMCA of San Francisco and Friends of Duboce Park.
Advisors
Rosalind Copisarow, is the Managing Director of Oikocredit, one of the world's largest sources of funding to the microfinance sector. After 15 years at Citigroup, HSBC and JP Morgan, largely developing new products and markets in USA, Latin America and Eastern Europe, Rosalind moved to the non-profit sector. In 1994, she founded her first micro-finance institution, Fundusz Mikro in Poland, and her second, Street UK, in 1999. She then joined Accion International as Senior Vice President for their global expansion, where she continued to create new micro-finance institutions throughout the Middle East, Asia and Africa. With the objective of reaching poorer communities still, Rosalind then became CEO of International Development Enterprises, a Colorado-based NGO, where her focus was on the provision of irrigation equipment, agronomy training and improved market access, as well as micro-credit seamlessly integrated into the package, for subsistence farmers across Africa, Asia and Latin America. Rosalind holds a BA / MA (Hons.) from Oxford University in Human Sciences; and is a Fellow of the Lauder Institute, holding an MBA and MA from the Wharton Business School and School of Arts & Sciences, University of Pennsylvania.
Howard Finkelstein practiced law at large US law firms for almost 25 years before to establishing his own law and consulting practice in December 2008 focusing on microfinance and other impact investment sectors worldwide. Howard has also been involved with the microfinance sector since 2002 and with housing issues at the base of the pyramid since 2005. At his current legal/consulting firm, he represents operating companies, including start-ups and early-stage companies, trying to position themselves for capital markets, intermediaries such as funds and investors in the emerging impact investment sector.
Duncan Goldie-Scot pioneered the use of mobile payments in microfinance institutions in Africa, through his not-for-profit company Mobile Microfinance Ltd. He has microfinance field experience in Kenya, Tanzania and Nigeria and has invested in a successful start-up microfinance institution in Tanzania. He is a founding director of Musoni, the first 100% mobile-only/cashless microfinance institution. Musoni runs its operations in Kenya but has plans to expand across all of East Africa.
Duncan trained as an economist and later took a Sloan Fellowship at the London Business School. After university, Duncan briefly edited a computer magazine for what is now Reed Elsevier, then started his own company publishing a wide range of magazines and books, mostly about technology and finance. He has also written his own books, published by the Financial Times, on banking and finance in India, China and South Africa and edited a Financial Times newsletter about digital and mobile money. He was the founding Chairman of the UK's Electronic Money Association and a director of the International Financial Cryptography Association.
As well as Musoni, Duncan is a director of Mission Markets, a New York-based marketplace for sustainability investing. He is also a trustee of a sports charity in the UK that provides psychosocial rehabilitation in refugee camps in the Middle East.
With more than 15 years of senior management experience at Visa and a diverse background that includes technology, product development, strategy, risk and finance, Russ Hansen brings pragmatic, broad, and deep knowledge regarding strategy development, implementation and measurement. He has extensive experience developing business plans, creating partnerships and leading corporate initiatives to transform organizations. Mr. Hansen now provides consulting services to help groups significantly improve performance and deliver results. Russ obtained his MBA from St. Mary’s College and his bachelor degrees in Economics and Biology from the University of California at Irvine.
Shyam Paudel is a senior advisor at International Network for Bamboo and Rattan (INBAR), headquartered in Beijing, China. Since 2002, Mr. Paudel has also been the coordinator of INBAR’S Global Bamboo Housing Program. INBAR is a non-profit inter-governmental organization that focuses on research and developmental issues related to bamboo and rattan, environmental conservation, poverty eradication and industrial development. Mr. Paudel has previous experience in managing large scale livelihood and forestry projects in Nepal and planning/monitoring of joint community forestry projects funded by USAID and Nepal’s Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation. He holds a bachelor’s degree in forestry and a master’s degree in social science from Tribhuvan University, Institute of Forestry, Pokhara, Nepal. He also has a Master of Science degree in socio-economics of natural resource management from International Institute of Aerospace Survey and Earth Science, the Netherlands.
Eko Prawoto is a world renowned architect and lecturer based in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. He has completed many private projects including residential, commercial and community spaces. He was also involved in the reconstruction efforts after the 2006 Yogyakarta earthquake. His art and architecture installations include the Gwangju Biennale 2002 in Korea, the Echigo Tsumari Art Triennial 2003 in Niigata Japan, Arte all’Arte in Toscani, Italy The Anyang Public Art Projects 2005 in Korea and recently as an artist in residence in the Common Ground Art Festival in Victoria Australia. He is currently involved in many projects as a lecturer and practicing architect around informal urban settlements and sustainable development. Eko is known for his work with bamboo and other eco-friendly materials and his efforts to integrate these materials with local skills, building techniques, local values and aesthetics. He has a bachelor’s degree in architecture from Gadjah Mada University and a Masters in Architecture from Berlage Institute, Amsterdam.
Staff, Contractors & Interns
Having worked for various international NGOs on water and sanitation projects in Africa and Asia, Django is currently collaborating with the E&O Foundation as a subject matter expert in the area. He has a civil engineering technical background, which coupled with hands-on project management in the humanitarian field, enables him to handle large-scale implementation programs in emergency and development contexts. Django has also worked with a British engineering consulting firm (Babtie Ltd.), and development organizations in Madagascar (ONG Azafady), Malawi (InterAide), Thailand (Solidarites), and Bangladesh (Action Against Hunger – ACF).
Django graduated from Leeds University with a B.Sc. in Civil Engineering and an M.Sc. in Environmental Engineering and Project Management.
Lauren Warnock is a recent BA history graduate from the University of Nottingham, UK. Lauren assists with organization of the Foundation day-to-day operations as well as acting as the coordinator for the Housing Initiative.
