Mr. Mettetal has nearly 40 years of experience in financing the food, agriculture, and corporate sectors globally. He worked for 23 years at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). As Director of Agribusiness and interim Managing Director for the Corporate sector, he led and managed, with his teams, more than 600 transactions totaling over 10 billion euros in financing.
Mr. Mettetal has collaborated with most leading international development agencies. He spent 5 years at the Investment Centre of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), where he continues to serve as an advisor. Additionally, he is a senior advisor at the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank Group for the Global Agriculture and Food Security Programme. He has also advised the African Development Bank and the International Finance Corporation.
Gilles works closely with several Private Equity Funds. In Ukraine, he acts as chairman of the Investment Committee for Diligent Capital Partners. In France, he is a senior advisor at Capagro, an AgTech fund, and serves as an Operating Partner for the Meridiam Agri Transition Europe Fund.
He has held various positions as a Non-Executive Director on the boards of both multinational companies (Danone, Kraft, Bonduelle, Axereal) and local enterprises (Agrokor, Nibulon). He is currently a Board member at Astarta, one of Ukraine's largest vertically integrated farms. Moreover, Gilles is the Chairman of the advisory board of the African Agri Council, a nonprofit organization based in South Africa that aims to promote the private sector food and agriculture sectors to achieve better food security on the continent.
Throughout his career, Mr. Mettetal has designed and implemented projects with enterprises, banks, private equity funds, governments, and public institutions in more than 40 countries. He holds a postgraduate degree from "L’Ecole Nationale Supérieure Agronomique de Montpellier" and an MSc degree in Biology and Environment. He has also attended various seminars at Harvard Business School.