Buen Vivir Capital Institute
Meet our founder
Alicia DeLia is an economist, entrepreneur and fundraiser who has spent her career building social enterprises & unlocking capital for leaders who too often go unseen—mobilizing more than $100 million of philanthropy and investments across Latin America, Africa, and the United States. Her work challenges traditional models of capital allocation, advancing integrated and reparative approaches to finance grounded in dignity, trust, and long-term sustainability.
Her work is deeply personal. As the Washington DC born daughter of a Cameroonian chief (her father) and a working-class Salvadoran immigrant to the United States (her mother), Alicia witnessed first-hand both access and privilege as well as systemic inequality and discrimination.
She also saw the needs, limitations, unbound talent and entrepreneurial fervor of people and communities across Africa, Latin America and the United States all her life. Her formative years inspired and informed her career connecting capital to enterprises and social movements, and shaped a way of thinking and living that sought to make sense of both wealth and poverty—neither romanticizing nor condemning either, but instead desiring to be a bridge builder across worlds– helping to foster authentic & transformative partnerships between those on either end of the spectrum. In 2025, Alicia founded the Buen Vivir Capital Institute to build a global community dedicated to expanding relational, values-aligned capital for the next generation of social impact leaders and enterprises working toward shared wellbeing and regenerative economies.
Alicia has a graduate degree from New York University in Latin American Economics, is an Aspen Institute Fellow Alumni and is on the Board of Impact Charitable. A proud Washington DC native, she currently resides with her family in El Salvador.
Buen Vivir Capital Institute
was born with a clear mission
Buen Vivir Capital Institute was founded on a straightforward premise: exceptional leadership exists everywhere, but access to capital does not. Our mission is to close that gap — advancing practitioners and communities who bring genuine vision, track record, and expertise, but who have historically lacked the networks and financial infrastructure that determine who gets funded and who is able to build for the long term. We work on both sides of that equation. With practitioners, we build the relationships, visibility, and strategic support that lead to real, sustained capital — informed by twenty years and over $100 million moved across Latin America, Africa, and the United States.
With funders and investors, we offer a clearer, more direct line of sight into the leaders and enterprises worth backing, built on real relationships rather than distant due diligence alone. Our name reflects our values. "Buen Vivir" — drawn from the Indigenous Latin American philosophy of the same name, which centers interrelationship, harmony, and shared prosperity over individual accumulation. In our work, that means capital moved with trust, discipline, and a long-term view: good for the leaders who receive it, and good for the funders and investors who deploy it well. It is a philosophy with real roots, and one we hold ourselves accountable to in practice.
Washington, DC
El Salvador
Catholic Convening
Advisory Committee
Carolina Lobo
Chief Financial Officer
VIWALA
Elfid Torres
CEO & Co-Founder
FUNDES/Fundamental
Felipe Witchger
Co-Founder & Executive Director
Francesco Collaborative
Joan Godoy
Chief Executive Officer
Radical Partners
Tracey Lam
Former USAID Officer, US Diplomat
& International Relations Strategist
Joanna Cea
Founder & Principal
Valente Capital Design
Latese Briggs
Strategist and Philanthropic Advisor
Selam Kebrom
Partner
Camelback Ventures