David Desai-Ramirez
David Desai-Ramirez
Market
President
David Desai-Ramirez, Market President – AltCap California, just crossed his 10-year mark in the CDFI industry, having worked in real estate finance and as an 8th-grade math teacher at other points prior in his career. He feels motivated every day to support entrepreneurs navigating through the enormous structural barriers that they still face in building a thriving and resilient business. In the last 10 years, across thousands of borrower conversations, David has learned a tremendous amount about the different ways that CDFIs can best help organizations with capital, advisory, and connections.
David works hard every day to braid together technical financial knowledge, a relentless desire for a fairer world, and a core focus on building and empowering a strong and empowered team to help move AltCap’s loan program toward excellence in service to its customers.
David has also gained a particular empathy for the range of challenges that small business owners face through lived experience with his partner Bijal, who has been an entrepreneur for over 15 years. He currently spends his weekends helping with Bijal’s latest endeavor Masalawali Chai, a pop-up chai shop in Los Angeles. While it can make for long days, this immersive behind-the-scenes look only deepens his understanding of what small business entrepreneurs are going through and strengthens his commitment to helping AltCap California’s clients.
David is an active member of US Bank Impact Finance’s NMTC Advisory Committee, Mercy Partnership Fund’s Investment Committee, and the Latino Community Foundation Entrepreneurship Giving Circle. He recently also joined the Los Angeles Advisory Board for the SBDC as is looking forward to deeply engaging with that group.
When he is not at work, David’s favorite things to do are to play basketball with his 12-year-old daughter, enjoy an ancestral mezcalito with Bijal after a long workday, clown around with his friends and family, and always keep learning from podcasts, books, and others.
