Gautam is currently an advisor for CGAP and from 2003 to 2008 led CGAP’s work in microfinance and technology, including setting up and managing the CGAP Technology Program, co-funded with a $24 million grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Gautam continues to write about microfinance and technology at http://technology.cgap.org, has authored a number of CGAP Focus Notes on foreign investment in microfinance, and was earlier responsible for CGAP’s work in South Asia.
Before joining CGAP in 2003, Gautam helped manage SKS Microfinance, India’s largest microfinance institution, and founded a company to connect U.S. universities and foreign students through the Internet. He has worked in investment and commercial banking in the electric power industry at Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette (now Credit Suisse) and the International Finance Corporation. Gautam is a founder of Signal Point Partners, an investment and advisory firm for mobile phone-enabled services in emerging markets, and is on the Board of the Society for International Development (Washington). He holds an M.A. and a B.A. in International Affairs from Johns Hopkins University.
