About us
An experienced multi-disciplinary team of international consultants, delivering
tailor-made solutions to our clients
Our team of experts have over a decade of experience working at senior levels in international agencies, and national public and private sector organizations. We each bring valuable skills and field experience in a number of key areas to support the development of micro and small businesses: financing, marketing, strategic planning, project design, risk management, and innovation.
Together, we have worked with a wide range of organizations such as the Inter-American Development Bank, the World Bank, the Organization of American States, the United Nations Development Program, Citi Foundation, the European Commission, the Caribbean Development Bank and the Development Bank of Jamaica, local private sector associations and government agencies.
OUR LEADERSHIP
Dr. Winsome Leslie, CEO & Founder
Dr. Winsome Leslie is President and CEO of DevSolutions Consulting, LLC, a boutique advisory firm specializing in micro and small enterprise (MSME) finance and development, women's financial inclusion, and venture capital and entrepreneurship ecosystem building across the Caribbean and frontier markets. She is an internationally recognized economic development specialist with more than 25 years of experience designing, financing, and supervising high-impact programs that expand access to capital for underserved businesses and the institutions that serve them.
Prior to founding DevSolutions, Dr. Leslie was a senior member of the Management Team at the Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF) — now IDB Lab — a grant facility of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). She served as Head of the MIF Strategy Team and Lead Specialist for Caribbean Programming, where she originated a US$23 million project pipeline, mobilized co-financing from the Caribbean Development Bank, the European Commission, and the Citi Foundation, and co-designed the first venture capital fund ($30 million) in the Caribbean to finance SMEs in clean energy. She also led the successful transfer and management of the US$7.8 million Clinton-Bush Haiti Fund to the MIF.
Dr. Leslie's work spans the full project lifecycle — from landscape analysis and strategy design through to implementation, supervision, and evaluation. Her core areas of expertise include:
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MSME access to finance — demand and supply-side assessments, ecosystem strategy, and program design for development banks, multilaterals, and government agencies
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Women's financial inclusion — flagship research and policy advisory on access to finance for women-owned and women-led MSMEs across the Caribbean
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Venture capital and innovation ecosystem development — VC ecosystem mapping, fund-of-funds design, and capacity-building for equity financing intermediaries
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Microfinance sector development — institutional strengthening, regulation, and performance improvement for microfinance institutions in small open economies
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Curriculum design and trainer-of-trainers programmes — bespoke training for financial intermediaries, business service providers, entrepreneurs, and government bodies
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Policy advisory and strategy — MSME policy frameworks, private sector strategies, and financial sector development plans for national and regional clients
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Project identification and proposal development — competitive grant proposals and project designs for IDB, EU, CDB, OAS, and bilateral donors.
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Affiliations
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Commissioner, Maryland Governor's Commission on Caribbean Affairs (2025 – present)
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Member, Advisory Council, Inter-American Foundation, Washington, D.C. (2018 – present)
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Member, Aspen Institute
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Former Vice President for Chapter Affairs and Board Member, Society for International Development; past Chair, Caribbean Working Group.
Honors
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Impact Award, Women of Color in STEM Conference, Career Communications Inc., Baltimore, MD (2025)
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Icon International Connector Award, Mayor's Office of Small and Minority Business Advocacy and Development, City of Baltimore (2025)
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Women in Business Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Award, The Center Club, Baltimore — for work promoting minority and women-owned businesses in Maryland (2023)
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Caribbean Microfinance Alliance award for contribution to region’s microfinance sector (2014)
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Antonio Ortiz Mena award (Inter-American Development Bank) for contribution to the organization in increasing engagement and raising the profile of the MIF/IDB in the Caribbean (2012)
RECENT APPEARANCES
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Winsome interviewing David Mullings, Chairman and CEO, Blue Mahoe Capital on what investors look for in early stage companies
Winsome Leslie as a speaker on an"Access to Finance" discussion for Let's Get Down to Business IKTV program, organized by the St. Vincent Chamber of Commerce
OUR TEAM
Dr. Ruth C. Shoge
ASSOCIATE FOR STRATEGIC PLANNING & RESEARCH
Wayne Beecher
ASSOCIATE FOR DEVELOPMENT INNOVATION
Dr. Ruth Shoge has over 20 years of dynamic leadership and management experience in the field of Education. She is currently an independent consultant specializing in strategic planning and research and is affiliated with DevSolutions Consulting as an Associate. Previously, she was the Dean of Library and Academic Technology and a valued member of the President’s Senior Staff at Washington College, with primary responsibility for strategic planning of the library and academic technology, and as a team member helping to chart the future of the College in general.
Dr. Shoge has years of experience in strategic planning, as well as budget preparation, personnel management, facilities management, and the development, delivery, and assessment of user services and resources in an ever-changing information landscape and student/faculty expectations. She led the US$9-million renovation of the College library, a project that represented the transition from a traditional style library to the current 21st-century technology-rich space that is used for study, research, quiet contemplation, and social gatherings.
In 2013, she received the President’s Distinguished Service Award for outstanding leadership and service to Washington College. She is Associate Professor Emerita, Washington College, holds a Masters and Doctorate degrees from Columbia University, School of Library Service. She is currently the 1st vice president, with responsibility for strategic planning, on the Board of Directors, Sumner Hall, a small African American Museum.
Wayne has more than twenty years of senior management experience spanning the public and private sector, where he has developed expertise in strategy, innovation, project management, and technology application. He is the founder and CEO of alt^Catalyst, a professional service firm whose mission is to identify, inspire, and catalyze the next generation of human-centered design innovators.
His most recent assignment was the management of a portfolio of development innovations for the Multilateral Investment Fund - the Innovation Lab for the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Group. Since leaving the IDB, he has been applying his energy and skills to seed-stage companies and he has accelerated several innovative entrepreneurial ventures.
He is affiliated with DevSolutions Consulting as an Associate, focusing primarily on entrepreneurship and innovation. He is a certified project management professional, with a degree in Management Studies & Accounting and an MBA.