Nicole Martens

Nicole Martens.JPG
Nicole Martens
Director
Martens Impact Advisory

Nicole is a Sustainable Finance Specialist and former Head of Africa & Middle East for the United Nations supported Principles for Responsible Investment.  She is passionate about sustainable development in general and about developing pragmatic and impactful strategies for Africa’s just transition to a low carbon economy in response to the climate emergency. 

As a Development Economist, she has dedicated her career to the provision of strategic advisory services in the development space. She has worked with local and international clients across the public and private sector on the design and implementation of strategies aimed at achieving large-scale developmental impact. Her work includes a special focus on the identification of innovative finance mechanisms for generating financial return and impact, specifically with reference to integration of environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors into investment processes i.e. responsible investment.

In recent years, her focus has been on identifying and addressing the needs of African investors with respect to integrating ESG into investment processes in an effort to foster the maximisation of long-term sustainable financial returns across the continent. She has specialised in the initiation and management of key stakeholder relationships and partnerships across the region, including those with investors as well as with policymakers and regulators, academic institutions and mission driven organisations. 

Her work has included the design and roll-out of initiatives to build capacity amongst investors and other organisations on ESG integration and responsible investment approaches – specifically, developing content for and then facilitating workshops, webinars and online learning tools. 

She currently sits on a number of committees and working groups where she provides insight on international trends and developments with respect to responsible investment and represent the needs of African investors in this regard. These include: