Nikita Smeshko
Verified Expert in Finance
Finance Expert
Nikita is a global T-shaped leader with deep expertise in finance and cross-discipline expertise in strategy and operations. As an early career institutional investor, he gained an understanding of the big picture of business and the expectations and constraints of financial capital while managing $6 billion. Nikita has lived and worked in seven countries, designing and executing strategy while leading cross-cultural teams in complex operating environments across sub-Saharan Africa.
Career Highlights
Education Highlights
Certification Highlights
Case Studies
Expertise
Work Experience
Strategy and Research Director
Delta40 Venture Studio
- Co-founded the venture studio with the managing partner, as well as crafted and implemented the go-to-market strategy, legal, and investment and operating structure of Delta40.
- Authored and owned all investor-facing materials and venture fund financial models.
- Served as the point person to a subset of new business founders; enabled execution-friendly corporate strategy development, investor material creation, and fundraising for four new companies.
- Led the development and implementation of a strategic framework for technology brokering from the United States into sub-Saharan Africa, negotiating an exclusive licensing agreement for a novel cold plasma technology in Africa.
- Led the due diligence, negotiation of deal terms, investment, and the development of Delta40 support strategy for two seed-stage companies.
Director of Strategy and Operations
Fenix International
- Co-founded the subsidiary, resulting in the electrification of 60,000 households through 2022.
- Owned the corporate financial model and OKR development for the subsidiary.
- Managed a staff of five direct reports and 40 incremental team members across five verticals (imports clearing and logistics, production and warehousing, technical team, stores and service, and strategy).
- Built Mozambique operations in 2.5 months, launching the subsidiary against an aggressive entry timeline. Grew revenues to $1 million in the first six months and developed an operations platform to support $1 million in monthly revenues.
- Coordinated the aggressive expansion of service centers: 22 locations in less than a year across five provinces and 3,000 kilometers in a country with poor infrastructure and a complex bureaucracy.
- Negotiated for the largest telecom company in the country to provide a $400,000 subsidy over 24 months and to allow co-branding on all ENGIE products and marketing materials.
- Revamped the sales team training to adapt to the country's expansive geography by launching an apprenticeship program with virtual learning and centralized testing, reducing costs by more than 50%.
Business Strategy Manager
Fenix International
- Increased sales volumes by 200% in the Ivory Coast by collaborating with the executive team through an internal consulting project to reorganize the business and innovate on last mile strategy and execution.
- Bridged finance knowledge with local context to launch an improved savings program and implemented financial literacy training (300+ Ugandans trained).
- Served as a business strategy associate, reporting directly to the global CEO. Designed a lobbying pitch to President Museveni of Uganda that resulted in a 10-year corporate tax holiday and land grants.
Finance Lead
Solaris Offgrid
- Acted as the finance lead for a pre-Series A social enterprise focused on providing software and consulting services to companies looking to serve the rural African customer that makes less than $2/day with energy and financial services.
- Advised the CEO on the redesign of investor-facing materials and pitch coaching, resulting in a successful seed investment close and victory over 150 entrants in the InnoEnergy pitch competition.
- Built structured accounting and FP&A operations procedures and processes from scratch and supported financial audits by local auditing firms in remote, rural Tanzania.
Portfolio Manager
EARNEST Partners
- Spearheaded research and trading of an investment strategy that outperformed the alternative strategy by 10 times, delivering superior results for accounts totaling over $2 billion in assets.
- Presented returns and commentary in direct presentations to clients representing more than $1 billion in assets.
- Conceptualized an innovative real estate fixed income product; met with potential closed-end fund underwriters, drawing attention and praise from the firm's senior management.
Education
Bachelor's Degree in Finance and Economics (Dual Degree)
University of Georgia - Athens, GA, USA
Certifications
Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA)
CFA Institute
Skills
Finance
Interest Rate Risk, Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), Microfinancing, Credit Risk, Three-statement Modeling, Mortgage REITs, REITs, Yield Cos, Corporate Finance, Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A), Portfolio Analysis, Discounted Cash Flow (DCF), Credit/Debt, Financial Modeling, Investment Portfolio Management, Valuation Modeling, Valuation, Return Analysis, Investment Summaries, Commercial Mortgage-backed Securities (CMBS), Capital Structure Analysis, Cash Flow Forecasting, Residual Cash Flows, Credit Analysis, Due Diligence, Asset-backed Securities (ABS), Data Analysis, Credit Lifecycle, Risk Analysis, Venture Funding, Fundraising, Seed Fundraising
Output Software
Google Docs, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint
Data & Analysis Software
Financial Data, Tableau, SQL
Industry Expertise
Utilities, Financial Services, Debt Capital Markets
Other
Startups, Excel 365, Finance, Economics, Fixed Income, Bonds, Excel Modeling, Company Strategy, Pitch Decks, Strategy, Strategic Planning & Execution, Mortgages, Industry Analysis, Investment Ideas, Investment Strategy, Pitch Preparation, Investor Presentations, Business Strategy, Strategic Planning, Investments, NPV Calculation, Lean Startups, CleanTech, Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), Annual Budgets, Budget Modeling, Execution, Stakeholder Management, Stakeholder Engagement, Operations, Last Mile Logistics, Logistics & Warehousing, Venture Design, Fundraising Strategy, Startup Consulting, Microsoft 365
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