Holger Grundel is Managing Director at Levin Sources. He is an international development professional with a proven track record of building and implementing complex policies and multi-million-pound programmes for public and private sector actors around the world and across a range of sectors.
Since coming to Levin Sources, he has led on a variety of strategic analysis and programme development assignments, including scoping studies, programme design and project reviews. Holger is also a senior adviser to the Donor Committee for Enterprise Development (DCED) where he provides insight on diverse topics, including digitalisation, donor engagement with private companies and private sector development in fragile and conflict-affected contexts.
Holger has an extensive professional history working for the Department for International Development (DFID) in the United Kingdom, which is now part of the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO). In his previous role, as Global Lead, Extractive Industries, he was responsible for setting DFID’s policy positions on extractives, leading strategic relationships across the UK government and global partnerships with multilateral organisations, NGOs and corporate clients. He was also a senior adviser in DFID’s Private Sector Development cadre, helping to define priorities for engagement with the private sector and mentoring junior colleagues.
Holger has worked with governments, businesses and communities in China, Pakistan, Guyana and across Africa. He has lived and worked in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Senegal and China.
Holger has been a member of the Governing Council for the Africa Legal Support Facility, the Advisory Board for ‘Mining and Metals in a Sustainable World 2050’ at the World Economic Forum and of the Reference Group for ‘Extractive Industries and Development’ at the United Nations University. He has also peer reviewed a number of publications on economic strategies related to extractive industries, for example the 2013 Africa Progress Panel Report on Equity in Extractives. Holger has been a member of the Fair Cobalt Alliance's advisory board since September 2022.
Holger holds an MSc in International Development from the University of Bath. He also holds Bachelor’s degrees in International Business from the University of Plymouth and the Fachhochschule Dortmund as well as a diploma in Marketing from the Chartered Institute of Marketing.
Holger works in English, German and French, and is based at Levin Sources, Cambridge.
