our team

Lorraine set up Afanite in March 2013 so that she could use her extensive commercial experience and her passion for the social economy to enhance social impact. Exposure to the social economy through volunteering and academic research in her Masters led her to explore how the commercial, social and public worlds can mutually benefit from a better working relationship. Lorraine combines working with stakeholders to advocate for policy change alongside making change happen on the ground. Affordable small loan credit (personal and business) and the sustainable growth of social enterprises are particular interest areas. She brings deep expertise in crafting and executing strategic initiatives—especially in ambition-setting, policy, mergers, collaboration, risk, and governance.

She is Chair of Microfinance Ireland, is a Founding Director of Social Enterprise Republic of Ireland and was recently appointed to the Board of DCU Educational Trust. In 2024, she was re-appointed Chair of the Credit Union Advisory Committee by the Minister for Finance for a third term. Lorraine is a graduate of Trinity College Dublin with an honours BA in Economics and Geography and Masters of Literature. She holds a Masters in International Relations from DCU. She continues to undertake executive development having completed a Diploma in Corporate Governance in 2024 and has also undertaken executive education at the University of Texas, Austin and the Harvard Kennedy School, Massachusetts.

Richard Bryce is an experienced founder, CEO and advisor, almost always during the scaling phase of a company’s growth, generally up to and including exit through M&A. With more than 30 years of experience, he has built and scaled businesses multiple times, including 2x successful exits to strategic buyers. Most of his experience has been B2B SaaS with particular emphasis on establishing and accelerating the US go-to-market across Fintech and Insurance verticals.

Specialties include: scaling software and B2B SaaS companies from $2M to $50M revenue, with and without institutional investment; finding and building the senior team; bringing new products to market and associated G2M strategy; expanding into new markets, in particular the US; venture and later stage funding; buy and sell side M&A across multiple deals, including selecting investment bankers and pre-marketing to potential acquirers; board, advisory board and strategic advisory roles.

Richard is a Management Science and Information Systems Studies graduate of Trinity College Dublin and also completed a 12-month Leadership course at Stanford University in Palo Alto, CA.