Publications

Teaching

Overview

Teaching and research interests center around the matching of private and instituional capital into large public infrastructure and resilience projects that shape the future of cities and urban environments around the world. The world's population is increaslingly... View Details

01 Jun 2023
News

In My Humble Opinion: Very Continental

developing infrastructure projects and intra-Africa trade as well as those in value-added exports from Africa to international markets. “I’m happiest about a project when I feel we’ve established a real basis for sustainable development... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; investment; exports; infrastructure; life experience; finance; Finance

April 2016
Supplement

Preparing a Concession Bid at TAV Airports Holding

By: C. Fritz Foley and Çiğdem Çelik

In 2013, TAV Airports Holding prepared a bid for the concession to build and operate the third Istanbul airport. This process involved input from various parts of the firm with operating and financial expertise. Burcu Geriş, the CFO of TAV Airports Holding, and her... View Details

Keywords: Project Finance; Infrastructure Development; Equity Cash Flows; Capital Budgeting; Valuation; Financial Management; Financing and Loans; Air Transportation Industry; Transportation Industry; Turkey

Web

Finance & Investing - Business & Environment

Confronting Climate Change Finance & Investing Understanding risk, identifying opportunity, and managing investments in the context of climate change The global financial landscape is increasingly being shaped by factors associated with... View Details

12 Nov 2014
Op-Ed

A Challenge to the New Congress: Pass Housing Finance Reform

deferred maintenance on the technological infrastructure needed to attract global capital. It is time for Congress to finish the job and pass bipartisan legislation that can undergird the nation's housing View Details

Keywords: by Nicolas Retsinas & Rob Couch; Construction; Real Estate

January 2019 (Revised January 2022)
Case

Chinese Infrastructure Investments in Sri Lanka: A Pearl or a Teardrop on the Belt and Road?

By: Meg Rithmire and Yihao Li

In 2015, a surprise presidential election result seemed to imperil Chinese investments in Sri Lanka, which were associated with China’s Belt and Road Initiative to build global infrastructure. In the previous decade, China had undertaken two major projects in the... View Details

Keywords: Belt And Road Initiative; Investment; Infrastructure; China; Sri Lanka

Article

The Role of Finance and Private Investment in Developing Sustainable Cities

Three trends will drive urban investment, development, and entrepreneurship in the next two decades. This article provides tools to identify the situations and circumstances that will be most favorable for private sector involvement in consideration of these trends.... View Details

Keywords: Trends; Demographics; Private Sector; Investment; City; Infrastructure; Opportunities; Urban Development

Find at Harvard

24 Sep 2024
Blog Post

Climate Finance in Africa: Health, Self-Interest, Avoided Future Cost

and national security issues worsened in part by migration out of newly unlivable situations. How can investors, businesses, and global society face these issues? Governments and development finance institutions (DFIs) clearly don’t have... View Details

June 2017
Teaching Note

Qalaa Holdings and the Egyptian Refining Company

By: Victoria Ivashina and Jeffrey Boyar

Teaching Note for HBS No. 217-011 View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Infrastructure; Emerging Markets; Africa; Structuring And Financing Large Projects; Financial Services Industry; Egypt

25 Jan 2013
Research & Ideas

Why a Harvard Finance Instructor Went to the Kumbh Mela

(Ganges) River, the Yamuna River, and the mythical underground Saraswathi. Legend says that on his return to the Himalaya, Vishnu flew over this spot and dropped sacred nectar from a pitcher—a kumbh. “We are all here to witness how devotion, design, health, and View Details

Keywords: by John D. Macomber; Construction; Real Estate

Teaching Interest

Africa: Building Cities: Immersive Field Course

This second year elective takes students into the field to assess and report on the opprtunities in the next decade for the private finance and delivery of public infrastructure in the Global South. In January of 2016 and 2017 the cities studied were Addis Ababa,... View Details

Keywords: Cities; Urbanization; Economic Development; Infrastructure; Sustainability; Africa; Latin America; Peru; Argentina; Ethiopia; Tanzania

06 Nov 2012
Op-Ed

Stop Talking About the Weather and Do Something: Three Ways to Finance Sustainable Cities

The wrath of Hurricane Sandy has illuminated a fundamental question: How do we ensure that our cities are resilient in the face of inevitable future disasters? A destroyed city is not a sustainable city. I'm making the case that it's time to stop complaining about... View Details

Keywords: by John Macomber; Construction; Real Estate; Energy; Utilities

November 2012 (Revised December 2017)
Case

TerraPower

By: William A. Sahlman, Ramana Nanda, Joseph B. Lassiter III and James McQuade

John Gilleland, CEO of TerraPower, returned to his office after a lengthy meeting with potential investors. It was October 2012, and TerraPower was in the process of raising a $200M Series C round to finance the ongoing development of its next-generation nuclear... View Details

Keywords: Nuclear Power; Entrepreneurial Finance; Financing and Loans; Venture Capital; Energy Industry; United States; China; India

Teaching Interest

Cities, Structures, and Climate Shocks

This course is about building sustainable and resilient cities, future proofing real estate and infrastructure assets, and examining how businesses and investors find opportunities in climate adaptation.

The world faces substantial challenges in the face of... View Details

Keywords: Sustainability; Economic Development; Climate Finance; Migration; Climate Change; Adaptation; Urban Development; Real Estate Industry; Construction Industry; Energy Industry; Utilities Industry; Insurance Industry; Banking Industry

04 Oct 2022
Blog Post

Climate Stories Episode #10: Amanda Li (MBA 2018): Speeding Climate Change Solutions Through Project Finance Efficiencies

is investing in coal now. The trend is for cheaper solar, wind, renewables, etc. It is becoming a growth area for those who want exposure.” Banyan Infrastructure’s project finance innovations meet two goals: 1) to bring capital more... View Details

01 Dec 2000
News

Latin America's Decade

funding, but most of that will come from outside the country. Essentially, there is no capital available to small or medium-sized companies here." Beyond financing, additional regional problems cited by Ghemawat and others include, to varying degrees, lack of View Details

Keywords: Garry Emmons and Julia Hanna; Latin America; research; infrastructure; Finance; Finance; Finance; Finance; Finance

November 2022 (Revised October 2024)
Case

'A Marshall Plan for Africa': James Mwangi and Equity Group Holdings

By: Caroline M. Elkins, Debora L. Spar, Zeke Gillman and Julia M. Comeau

Financial Inclusion. Dignity. Trust. These were the core principles driving James Mwangi’s transformation of Equity Building Society, insolvent in 1991, into what is, today, Equity Group Holdings, East and Central Africa’s largest retail banking institution. Raised in... View Details

Keywords: Income Inequality; Micro Finance; Microcredit; Microfinance; Banks and Banking; Equality and Inequality; Mission and Purpose; Business Model; Social Entrepreneurship; Banking Industry; Financial Services Industry; Africa; Kenya

September 2016 (Revised March 2018)
Case

Qalaa Holdings and the Egyptian Refining Company

By: Victoria Ivashina and Marc Homsy

This case follows Qalaa Holdings, a successful Egypt-based private equity firm, and gives insight into the types of investments it pursued, its growth over time, and the limited partner base it had at hand. It also allows students to consider and debate whether the... View Details

Keywords: Africa; Structuring And Financing Large Projects; Private Equity; Infrastructure; Project Finance; Emerging Markets; Financial Services Industry; Egypt; Africa