RFF 2023

Shaping a Responsible

Digital Finance Ecosystem

JULY 5 – 7, 2023
BENGALURU, INDIA

July 2023 Session Recordings

2023 SPONSORS

FINANCIAL SPONSORS

LEARNING PARTNERS

THOUGHT PARTNERS

MEDIA PARTNER

RFF 2023 SPEAKERS

  • Senior Research Director for Consumer Data Opportunities and Risks, Center for Financial Inclusion

    Since joining CFI in 2012, Alex has been an advocate for consumer protection and evidence-based inclusive finance practices.

    She manages the responsible data practices research portfolio at CFI which focuses on opportunities and risks for low-income consumers from data-driven financial services. Previously, she was a senior director for CFI’s Smart Campaign initiative, where she managed consumer-protection learning agendas and helped launch the Client Protection Certification Program.

    Prior to joining CFI, Alex was a project development manager at Innovations for Poverty Action, where she helped create its microsavings and payments innovation initiative (now part of its global financial inclusion initiative), a research fund focused on impact evaluations of savings products and payment systems. She also worked at the Centre for Microfinance at IFMR Research (now Krea University) in Chennai, India, where she was the head of knowledge management and dissemination.

    She has participated in multiple industry working groups on responsible finance, including an advisory group to GSMA’s mobile money certification program and the Microfinance Center’s social performance fund steering committee.

    Alex is a graduate of Princeton University and holds a master’s degree from Georgetown’s foreign service school, as well as a certificate in digital money from the Digital Frontiers Institute and The Fletcher School at Tufts University. She speaks conversational French and needs to work on her Italian.

  • Senior Manager, MicroSave Consulting

    Arshi Aadil is a Senior Manager at MicroSave Consulting. She is an advocate of customer protection and data privacy at MicroSave Consulting, she has worked at the local, state, national, and international levels to strengthen customer protection policies across Asia and Africa. She also specializes in research-based projects, including various qualitative techniques and behavioral economic principles to design solutions for low- and middle-income consumers. She has worked across many themes, including financial inclusion, digital financial services, data privacy, gender, digital identity, and social protection and security in Asia and Africa. Arshi holds a post-graduate diploma in development from the Indian Institute of Forest Management.

  • Head of Financial Inclusion and AgriTech, GSMA

    Ashley joined the GSMA in 2021 as the Head of Financial Inclusion and AgriTech. Prior to joining GSMA, Ashley had been living and working in East Africa, championing financial inclusion and the development of agrifood systems across sub-Saharan Africa for over 11 years. During this time, Ashley designed and managed funds, investing in agribusinesses and fintechs across the continent, with Root Capital and Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund (AECF), to catalyze innovation and growth for wide impact. Ashley has played key roles in driving and supporting gender lens investing in her work. She also worked with Mastercard Foundation and Financial Sector Deepening Africa (FSDA), managing large multi-million-dollar programmes, partnering and working with a wide array of implementing partners and key stakeholders in the industry.

    Ashley holds a BSc in Management and Finance from the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities (United States) and an MBA from IESE Business School (Spain).

  • Adviser, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, India

    Co-Chair, G20 Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion

    Mr Chanchal Chand Sarkar is currently working as Economic Adviser, International Economic Relation (IER) Division of the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA), Ministry of Finance, Government of India (GoI) and as Vertical head, is India’s G20 Finance lead of Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion (GPFI). He has also recently been elected as G20-GPFI Co-chair for three years 2024-2026. Prior to his current assignment, Mr Sarkar worked as India’s Director at the SAARC Secretariat, Kathmandu and looked after all Finance, Trade and Economy related issues. Mr Sarkar has worked at various capacities in the Ministry of Commerce and in the Ministry of Finance, Government of India and looked after various Finance, Trade and Investment related issues for a very long time. Mr Sarkar had also worked as a Consultant at the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT), New Delhi and dealt multilateral and regional issues including WTO, EU related issues. He has written/published several Articles on international Trade, represented India in a number of national/bilateral/ regional and international fora on trade and investment issues. He is a Graduate from London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), London.

  • Advisory Council, Center for Financial Inclusion

    Bob Annibale is a Senior Fellow at the University of London, SOAS, focusing on social and inclusive finance, social entrepreneurship, and financial justice. He is most recognized as the founder and Global Director of Citi Inclusive Finance (2005-2020) and his additional leadership of Citi Community Development, which is focused on financial inclusion, immigrant integration, affordable housing, and racial justice in the US. Since inception, Inclusive Finance has mobilized over $3.8bn in financing across 36 countries, developing new products with partner institutions and clients that are focused on serving the financial needs of underserved communities, working across Citi’s businesses and geographies.

    Bob has served on the boards of the Citi Foundation, CGAP (World Bank), the MIX, and the Financial Health Network. He currently serves on the boards of Accion, Grameen America, Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corp., and the advisory board of Center for Inclusive Finance. He served three terms on the FDIC Chairman’s Advisory Committee on Economic Inclusion and was a founding member of the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs Advisory Council on Financial Education and Inclusion. He was honored as a “Champion of Change” by the Obama administration for his work supporting immigrant integration and citizenship in the US, and by Euromoney as a “Global Impact Banking Champion.”

  • Director, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas

    Atty. Charina B. De Vera-Yap is the Director of the Consumer Protection and Market Conduct Office (CPMCO), Regional Operations and Advocacy Sector of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). She heads the CPMCO which handles BSP’s consumer protection and market conduct work and programs. She oversees the design, coordination and implementation of consumer protection programs and is also involved in the research and development of consumer protection and market conduct policies, regulations and legislative measures.

    She started working in the BSP in 2000 as a legal and technical staff of BSP’s executive offices, particularly in the Supervision and Examination Sector. She started her consumer protection work in BSP when she was assigned to the then Financial Consumer Protection Department in 2017.

    Prior to her BSP work, she was a Court Attorney at the Court of Appeals and she also worked in the Philippine Senate as a legislative staff of the late Senator Raul S. Roco.

    She graduated from the University of the Philippines, with a Bachelor of Arts degree, major in Political Science. She finished her Bachelor of Laws degree at the Arellano Law School. In 2006, she completed her Master of Laws, Major in International Legal Studies at the Georgetown University Law Center, Washington DC.

  • Founder/Chairperson, Mann Deshi Bank

    Chetna Sinha is the Founder-Chairperson of the Mann Deshi Bank and Mann Deshi Foundation. She passionately believes that empowering rural women transforms and fuels growth in an economy. In 1997, she set up the Mann Deshi Mahila Sahakari Bank, India's first bank for and by rural women. Today, Mann Deshi Bank has loaned over 780 million and regularly creates new financial products to support the needs of female micro-entrepreneurs.

    In 2006, Sinha founded the first business school for rural women in India. In 2013, she launched a toll-free helpline and the first Chambers of Commerce for women micro-entrepreneurs in the country. In 2012, she began setting up community empowerment programs for farmers and also promoted women-led farmer producer companies and women-led farmers' organizations.

    In 2018, Sinha served as a Co-Chair of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, and as a Co-Chair of Financial Inclusion at the W20 Summit in Argentina. Later that year, she was awarded the Nari Shakti Puraskar - the highest civilian award for women in India - by the President of India. She is a Member of the BRICS Women's Business Alliance (2022) and the Gender Equality Advisory Council (2022) appointed during Germany's G7 Presidency. She is also the Chair of G20 EMPOWER's Working Group on Financial Inclusion and Business Acceleration.

    Mann Deshi has supported over 850,000 women and aims to reach one million women by 2024.

  • Vice President, Center for Financial Inclusion

    Edoardo joined CFI in 2022 as Vice President of Research and Programs, where he oversees CFI’s thought leadership in the thematic areas of financial consumer protection, responsible data practices, and green inclusive finance.

    Prior to joining CFI, Edoardo worked for IFC’s venture capital team in Washington, D.C., where he promoted enabling environments and investment opportunities in embedded finance, startup ecosystems, and the digital economy. He also worked for the World Bank’s global financial inclusion unit, assisting regulators in leveraging data and developing strategies for financial inclusion and consumer protection. Between 2012 and 2018, Edoardo worked in Kenya as Research Economist for Financial Sector Deepening Kenya, a multi-donor program supporting the development of inclusive financial markets. He led flagship nationally representative surveys and provided fintech companies with advanced analytical tools for consumer insights and segmentation.

    Edoardo holds a PhD in development economics from the University of Trento and an MSc in international development studies from the University of Amsterdam.

  • Senior Advisor, CyberPeace Institute

    Francesca has an International Law and Human Rights background and 15+ years’ experience in working for international organizations (United Nations and World Economic Forum) on action-oriented research, capacity building and technical assistance in international justice, crime and security. She has developed her expertise on countering and preventing cybercrime and misuse of technology, focusing on opportunities, risks and threats created by new technologies (like AI, Web3, etc) specifically on vulnerable communities, like humanitarian and development NGOs. She has a long-standing expertise on leading programs to foster cybersecurity and increase cyber resilience via cyber capacity building. At the Institute, she is leading the strategic engagement in programs and initiatives leveraging multistakeholder cooperation (with civil society, academia, corporates, philanthropy and public institutions) to strengthen cyber resilience and secure digital transformation as enabler to achieve the Agenda 2030 and SDGs goals.

  • Lead Specialist on Consumer Value, CGAP

    Gerhard Coetzee is a Lead Financial Sector Specialist at CGAP. He is responsible for work on the regulatory frontier and inclusive finance, responsible digital finance ecosystems, and gender-focused guidance for policymakers and regulators. Before CGAP, he was Head of Inclusive Banking at Absa Bank (South Africa), responsible for its digital money proposition. Gerhard was the founder and Director of the Centre for Inclusive Banking in Africa and a Professor of Agricultural Economics at the University of Pretoria. He specializes in inclusive finance, agricultural finance and rural development. Gerhard holds a Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics from the University of Pretoria, South Africa.

  • Founder and CEO, Kinara Capital

    Hardika Shah is the Founder & CEO of fintech Kinara Capital which is recognized for accelerating MSME financial inclusion in India with a blend of technology and personalized customer service in 100+ cities.

    Prior to establishing Kinara in 2011, Hardika spent nearly 20+ years in Management Consulting in the US, Europe, and Asia-Pacific. In 2022, Forbes named Hardika among ‘Top 20 Self-Made Women Power List’ and Government of India recognized her with ‘Women Transforming India’ award.

    Hardika graduated with bachelors in Computer Science from Knox College in Illinois and holds an MBA from Columbia Business School and Haas School of Business.

  • Executive Director, Dvara Research

    Indradeep Ghosh is Executive Director of Dvara Research. He holds a PhD from MIT and an MA from Cambridge University (where he won the Adam Smith Prize given to the top graduating student in the university) in Economics. Post MIT, Indradeep pursued academia for over a decade, first at Haverford College in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and then at the Meghnad Desai Academy of Economics in Mumbai, India. At Dvara Research, he drives the research agenda and leads research priorities in coordination with the practice heads.

  • Senior Research Director, Center for Financial Inclusion

    Jayshree leads research on fintechs, platforms, and other DFS providers to understand their incentives, practices, and how/if they serve low-income consumers and contribute to advocacy on consumer protection and other policy priorities for inclusive finance and co-leads the development of influence strategies and campaigns with the communications team.

    Jayshree joins CFI after working for eight years as an independent global consultant to several partners including CGAP, World Bank, JICA, and ITAD. As a consultant, Jayshree worked on customer-centric business models and challenges faced by customers in accessing and using financial services. From 2009 to 2013, she was part of the founding team at IFMR Trust (now Dvara Trust), where she led a mezzanine fund that invested in microfinance institutions in India.

    Jayshree is a senior policy fellow at the Leir Institute housed within the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy where she works on challenges faced by vulnerable segments such as migrants/refugees in accessing financial services. In 2014, Jayshree was awarded the Chevening fellowship for leadership by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, UK. Jayshree earned an MA in international relations from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, an MBA from MDI Gurgaon (India), and a Bachelor’s in mathematics from Mumbai University, graduating at the top of her class.

  • President and CEO, Accion

    Michael Schlein brings nearly 30 years of extensive international banking, management and public service experience to his role as President and CEO of Accion. He is responsible for creating and implementing Accion’s strategy, managing its global team, and building a high-performing organization. Michael builds partnerships with the public and private sector, encouraging more energy, investments, and action directed at creating a financially inclusive world.

    Michael joined Accion in 2007 as a member of its Board of Directors and in 2009, became Accion’s President and CEO. Prior to his employment at Accion, Michael served as President of Citigroup’s International Franchise Management, where he managed the bank’s network of 100 Chief Country Officers. Before that, he ran communications, philanthropy, government relations, branding, and human resources for Citigroup. He served as Chief of Staff at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in the Clinton Administration and in New York’s City Hall in the Dinkins and Koch Administrations. He began his career in investment banking.

    From 2014 until Jan. 2021, Michael served as the Chairman of the New York City Economic Development Corporation, which encourages economic growth throughout New York City’s five boroughs and facilitates investments that build capacity, generate prosperity, and catalyze the economic vibrancy of city life as a whole.

    Michael has graduate and undergraduate degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa.

  • Director of Consumer Protection Research Initiative, IPA

    Paul Adams directs IPA's Consumer Protection Research Initiative. Paul has over a decade of experience in financial regulation and research. Paul co-founded the Behavioural Economics and Data Science Unit at the UK Financial Conduct Authority, before helping the Dutch Authority for Financial Markets develop a Research Strategy. Paul is a Visiting Senior Fellow at the London School of Economics Department for Psychology and Behavioural Science. His research has been published in top finance, economics and marketing journals and featured in The Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Economist and The Chicago Booth Review. He has a BSc in Economics and an MSc in Development Economics, both from Manchester University.

  • Senior Vice President, Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth

    Payal currently serves as the Senior Vice President, Social Impact, International Markets at the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth. She joined the Center in April 2018, oversees the Center’s philanthropic investments around the globe and manages the Center’s international team across Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Middle East.

    Previously, she was Head of Global Community Programs for Standard Chartered Bank. In this capacity, she designed the Bank’s new community investment strategy and oversaw all programs related to education, girls’ empowerment, global health, emergency response, and disaster relief. Payal joined Standard Chartered in July 2008 as the Head of Public Affairs for the Americas.

    With a professional background in international philanthropy and politics, Payal has worked for a wide range of public sector organizations including the World Affairs Council, the Global Philanthropy Forum and the Earth Institute at Columbia University. Payal also worked on foreign policy for the Office of President William J. Clinton. In 2014, President and Secretary Clinton appointed Payal to be a program advisor to the Clinton Global Initiative; she continued in this role until CGI ceased in 2016.

    Payal has extensive experience in financial services as well. Prior to joining Standard Chartered, she worked on the launch of the AT&T Universal Savings and Reward Card for Citi.

    Payal currently serves as a trustee for Women Win and on the B20 2023 India Taskforce for skilling and worker mobility. In 2020, she was appointed to the Advisory Group for the WE EMPOWER G-7 program of UN Women and the Working Group on Financial Health of the UN Secretary General’s Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development.

    A Texas native, Payal has a BA with honors from Stanford University and an MBA and an MPA from New York University.

  • Managing Director, Pahal Finance

    Purvi Bhavsar, a first-generation entrepreneur from Ahmedabad is the co-founder of Pahal Financial Services Private Limited, a Leading Non-Banking Financial Services Company (NBFC-MFI) working in the area of microfinance and enterprise lending.

    She has a prolific experience of over 29 years in the areas of BFSI- (Banking and Financial Services Industry) and Telecom having worked in some of the most reputed organizations of the country like Kotak Mahindra, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Vodafone India. She has very diverse exposure across the entire spectrum of Corporate and Retail Banking, Consumer Finance, Stock Broking, Distribution and Customer Service. For her pursuits, she was awarded one of the “leading women in telecom industry” during 2010-11. She was recently recognized as Top 10 women in Finance – 2020. She is currently serving on the board of an affordable housing finance company.

    She was selected for a scholarship program run at IIMB as a part of Goldman Sachs 10K women program-2019. She has undergone a program run by Stanford Seed India and has received a scholarship. She has mentored fintech start-ups as a part of Stanford Spark program apart from other agriculture (Buddy- IIMB) and other impact start-ups.

  • Partner, Bharat Innovation Fund

    Sanjay Jain is a technology leader with a passion for digital public goods. He is the chair of the Technology Committee at MOSIP, a partner at Bharat Innovation Fund, and a fellow at iSPIRT. He has been responsible for the development of many large scale, high impact systems, including UPI and Aadhaar.

  • MD/CEO, Sitara

    Shruti Gonsalves has been instrumental in setting up of SEWA Grih Rin Ltd.- an affordable housing company and a SEWA initiative, with the vision of achieving financial inclusion of women indulged in the informal sector. She has been leading the company as its CEO since its inception in 2013 and has since guided it from idea to maturity. The company has provided credit to around 20,000 women and their families and is poised to double its outreach in coming fiscal year.

    Prior to leading SEWA Grih Rin Ltd., she held various positions of responsibility in entities with predominantly social orientation. She has had successful stints at:

    • SEWA Bharat as Project Director, Cash Transfer and Financial Literacy project in partnership with UNICEF

    • Gujarat Livelihood Promotion Company as General Manager- Human Resource

    • Friends of Women’s World Banking as Head Operations

    • Gujarat State Financial Corporation as Manager- Recovery and Allied Matters

    In a career spanning over 27 years, she has had extensive experience in diverse fields of project finance, capacity building, monitoring and evaluation, and operations management. She also possesses in-depth knowledge of setting up of various kinds of entities including trusts, societies, for-profit companies etc.

    She also possesses extensive experience in liaising with several governmental and non-governmental agencies in the development industry, particularly in the field of rural development through institution building, livelihood promotion and capacity augmentation. In this endeavor, she has continually supported partner organization across India to establish teams of professionals, identifying their training needs, and design capacity building inputs through focused technical assistance for both operations and strategic business plans.

    She also has significant expertise in fund mobilization and management including equity and debt raise. She has had extensive involvement with financial product designing, credit management and recovery functions.

    Throughout her professional experience, she has demonstrated unwavering commitment towards the ideals of inclusive development and women empowerment. She has showcased her ability to provide effective leadership, generate ideas and passionately drive their execution.

  • Senior Director, Accion International

    Shweta Pereira leads Accion’s Customer Capability Building Practice Area. She brings over 17 years of experience in designing financial products and in capability building. She supports Accion’s partners in the design of gender-intentional customer-centric digital financial products and services, and in improving adoption and engagement by end-customers. Recently, Shweta and her team designed and launched Ovante India, an EdTech platform to build the digital, financial, and business capabilities of MSMEs.

  • Co-Chairman, Global Commission on Stability in Cyberspace

    Latha Reddy served as an Indian diplomat from 1975 to 2011. She was posted to several countries and was appointed as Ambassador of India to Portugal, and to Thailand, and as Secretary (East) in the Ministry of External Affairs. She then served as Deputy National Security Advisor in the Prime Minister’s Office from 2011 to 2013, where she worked on critical technologies, and on cyber security. She served on the Global Commission on Internet Governance and as the Co-Chair of the Global Commission on the Stability of Cyberspace. She is currently serving on several Boards and Trusts, and also works with various non-profit organizations dealing with current affairs, international relations, and strategic partnerships, as well as theatre, classical dance, music, and heritage.

  • Policy Advisor, UNSGSA

    David Symington is a Policy Advisor at the Office of the UN Secretary-General’s Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development (UNSGSA). In this role, he supports the work of Her Majesty Queen Máxima of the Netherlands, the UNSGSA, by leading the development of her advocacy agenda on inclusive and responsible financial services in the digital economy and her engagement with the global financial standard setting bodies, the G20 (including the Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion), the World Economic Forum’s Digital Currency Consortium and EDISON Alliance.

    He has over 13 years of experience in advancing inclusive financial, including with the World Bank, the UN, and as a management consultant. He is currently leading the engagement of the Office of the UNSGSA in Ethiopia, Tanzania, Brazil, India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan. David holds a master's degree in International Economics and International Development from the Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies, and a bachelor's degree in Finance from the Queen's University of Belfast. He is currently the co-chair of the RFF’s Responsible AI Working Group.

  • CEO, Reserve Bank Innovation Hub

    Mr. Rajesh Bansal is the CEO of Reserve Bank Innovation Hub (RBIH). A highly regarded thought leader, he has nearly three decades of global experience in digital financial services and digital infrastructure across Asian and African markets.

    Mr. Bansal has been one of the key architects of India’s journey from a cash to cash-lite economy by actively promoting policies and designing new solutions for scale and adoption. He was a member of the founding team of Aadhaar and specifically led the design of India’s Direct Benefits Transfer system which is benefiting hundreds of millions of low-income clients. He played a key role in creating India Stack, a digital ID-based infrastructure for a presence-less and cashless service delivery platform, and has been a member of several committees of Government of India and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), including in areas of technology, payment systems, and financial inclusion.

    Prior to joining RBIH, he was a senior adviser at Carnegie India, where he led the centre’s Technology and Society programme. Mr. Bansal holds a Master’s degree from Duke University, USA in International Development Policy and has authored a number of articles and opinion pieces in leading publications. Today he is recognised as one of the Top 30 Indian fintech influencers in 2022 and has been a recipient of the prestigious Golden Jubilee scholarship scheme of the RBI.

  • Strategic Advisor, Center for Financial Inclusion, Accion

    Mayada El-Zoghbi was the Managing Director at the Center for Financial Inclusion from 2019-2023. Mayada started her career working with several non-profit organizations establishing inclusive financial institutions in the Palestinian Territories, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, and Kosovo. Later in her career, Mayada served as Lead for Strategy, Research & Development for CGAP. In that role, she led strategy development and research on women’s financial inclusion and financial services in crisis environments. Prior to this, she managed CGAP’s work with the donor and investor community based in Paris, France. Mayada founded and managed a development consulting firm (2002-2009). She has also led numerous technical assistance, evaluation, and research assignments and served as a research director for a USAID initiative, and lectured at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs.

  • Lead Policy Specialist, United Nations Capital Development Fund

    Ahmed is the Lead Specialist, Policy and Government Advocacy at the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF). He brings experience as a former regulator and bank supervisor in the UK and extensive experience diagnosing enabling environments for inclusive digital services. At UNCDF, Ahmed sets the regulatory and policy engagement strategy for the Inclusive Digital Economies practice area, covering Africa, Asia, and the Pacific. He also manages the Policy Accelerator a global team of advisors who work with governments, civil society, and private sector to accelerate policy changes that align with the Sustainable Development Goals. He is currently based in Brussels.

  • Co-Founder, Aapti Institute

    Astha has over a decade of public policy and strategy consulting experience, with a focus on the use of technology for welfare. At Aapti, Astha leads the Data Economy Lab, a vertical established to research and test new methods of data sharing, data stewardship, and governance. Her recent work is focused on participative governance of data, and its use for building collaborative AI, through collective governance methods such as cooperatives. She serves on the advisory boards of the Data Trust Initiative (Cambridge University) and Indian Urban Data Exchange (IUDEX). Prior to Aapti, Astha worked with Future State, Azim Premji's Philanthropic Initiatives, Dalberg Global Development Advisors, Planning Commission, Government of India and Self-Employed Women’s Association. She’s a visiting fellow at the Ostrom Workshop (Indiana University), two-time TedX speaker, and a Global Governance Futures Fellow 2018-19. Astha's writing has been published in the Mint, Hindu, Deccan Herald among others.

  • General Director for Financial Education, CONDUSEF Mexico

    Dr. Wilfrido Perea is a specialist in social public policies, with 32 years of experience in public service. For the past 25 years, a tenured professor at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, he has also been a columnist and political analyst, author of various publications on poverty in Mexico, he was President of the International Consortium for the Educational and Economic Development of Canada, the United States and Mexico, which brings together eighty educational institutions in those countries. and for the past 5 years has worked at Condusef as the General Director on Financial Education. He has two Master's Degree, one in Sociology and another one in Public Administration, he has also an Specialty in Public Management for Social Development of the University of Alcalá de Henares, Spain, and a Doctorate in Senior Management with honors.

  • Founder, Flow Global

    Nitin is one of the founders at Flow, a global fintech focussed on enabling growth for small businesses/merchants in the digital economy. Flow is operational in Uganda, Rwanda and Madagascar with the engineering team based in India.

    Before starting Flow, Nitin worked as consultant to different financial services providers, central banks, governments and global think tanks including the World bank, GIZ, UNCDF and MicroSave. His work always focussed on creating enabling solutions for the unbanked population across the developing economies. Also a researcher, he has authored several research papers including the one on “Recourse for digital financial services” published by CGAP.

  • Head of Licensing and Authorization for Fintech and Innovation, Bank of Ghana

    Nancy Arhinfuwaa Imadi currently heads the Licensing and Product Approvals Unit of the FinTech and Innovation Office at the Bank of Ghana.

    She’s a lawyer with vast experience within the commercial Banking and FinTech sector building expertise in regulatory regimes, finance, risk, corporate governance, and financial commercial transactions and currently focusing on the Ghanaian Ecosystem, advocating for policies and regulations surrounding consumer protection, financial inclusion and innovation.

  • India Country Lead, Financial Services for the Poor, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

    Dr. Pawan Bakhshi leads the Financial Services for the Poor Program at the India Country office of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, where he works to broaden the reach of low-cost digital financial services for the poor. He is not focused on establishing a particular product or distribution channel, but rather on finding innovative ways to expand access & usage and encourage markets to determine which products and channels are most effective. He focuses on how to efficiently and effectively deliver digital financial services to the poor & women which can be quickly scaled to national levels while closely working with the Government, Regulators, Public and Private sector players.

    In the past, he has worked with two of the leading Asian telecom services providers, namely Bharti Airtel in India and SingTel in Singapore in the area of Mobile payments. He is considered a pioneer in the Digital Financial services arena and co-creator of India’s first mobile wallet - Airtel Money. He has been a part of several RBI committees on Financial Inclusion and is a global evangelist for bringing the unbanked and the underbanked into the formal economy.

  • Specialist Consultant, Cybersecurity

    Leon Perlman is a specialist consultant on Digital Financial Services, emerging payments, mHealth, mAgriculture, Big Data, and crypto-currencies, concentrating on commercial, technical and regulatory aspects of these ecosystems.

    A former scientist and successful entrepreneur, he has been in the telecommunications and micro-payments industry since the mid 1990’s. He has wide range of experience in developed and developing markets, and is currently the legal and regulatory functional expert for the IFC on the Tanzanian MFS interoperability project.

    He was the founder and elected Chairman for 10 years of WASPA, the mobile industry association in South Africa, and also held chairmanship of the International Audiotext Regulators Association.

    A recipient of numerous grants, he holds the degrees BSc, BSc (Hons), MSc, BProc (Law), LLB, and LLD.

    His doctoral thesis was the first legal and regulatory treatise in the world on Mobile Financial Services, and involved a comparative approach to the interaction between MFS and existing law in South Africa, USA, Kenya, and the EU, as well as the commercial, security and technical aspects of MFS and money.

    He is currently an affiliate research fellow at CITI at Columbia University Business School in New York, exploring the regulatory, disruptive and commercial aspects of DFS, emerging payments, big data, and the crypto-economy.

  • Senior Director, BRAC

    Mr. Dhar has diverse and extensive experience in strategy implementation, large-scale transformation, digital innovation and adaptation, process improvement initiatives, and customer experience improvement initiatives. He has a proven record of developing strong and successful teams and is passionate about talent development and frugal innovation.

    Before joining BRAC, Mr. Dhar worked for HSBC Hong Kong Commercial Banking as the Head of Operational Excellence. Prior to this, he worked as the COO of Commercial Banking for Pearl River Delta at HSBC China. He held strategic management positions and worked for Commercial Banking teams in Hong Kong, Canada, China, and Bangladesh. He also worked for Asia Pacific Retail Banking, Global Trade and Receivable Finance, Global Insurance, Financial Control, Banking Operations, Credit Risk, Learning, and Development functions. He did a short time assignment in Vietnam as Country COO and worked on initiatives in Indonesia and Thailand and attended workshops in Mexico, the UK, Canada, and India.

    Mr. Dhar holds a Master's Degree in Leadership Practice and Responsibility from Lancaster University and is also a Fellow Member of CIMA and CPA (Australia). He attended advanced management programs at McGill University, the University of Cambridge, and Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

  • Director, Exchange Management Department, National Bank of Cambodia

    Mr. Long is a Director at the Exchange Management Department with core responsibility focusing on foreign reserve and domestic exchange rate management. Outside of these core responsibility, Mr. Long leads the sustainable finance team at the National Bank of Cambodia, developing bank’s strategy and action plans on this agenda. He is also the nominated representative of the National Bank of Cambodia for sustainable finance related work on various international platform such as the Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS) and working groups under ASEAN.

    Mr. Long graduated with a bachelor’s degree in commerce at the University of New South Wales and a Master of Science in finance at the University of Luxembourg. He is also a CFA chartered holder.

  • Program Director, Alliance for Innovative Regulation

    A seasoned TechSprint leader, Shelley spent 16 years at the U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority before coming to AIR in January 2022. Starting in 2015, she was part of the FCA’s Regtech team, designing and leading TechSprints and developing the regulator’s approach to interacting with the global Regtech ecosystem. Specializing in innovation for vulnerable consumers, Shelley has designed programs that look at the barriers faced by digital financial services consumers, and at how both regulators and firms can design better products for inclusion. At AIR, Shelley works on planning and producing TechSprints, leads the organization’s program to further expand its global reach, and focuses on ways to ignite technology innovation throughout the financial system. In addition, Shelley is co-founder of the Women In Regulatory Innovation (WIRI) network, which is creating a community of women across the globe with the aim of building meaningful diversity and inclusion within the regulatory system. She lives in the U.K., just outside of London, with her husband and three daughters.

  • Co-Founder and CEO, Kaleidofin

    Sucharita is passionate about access to financial services for all, she believes in “ Finance for Freedom ”. Sucharita is the co-founder and CEO of Kaleidofin, a fintech platform that provides intuitive and tailored financial solutions to underbanked customers. Prior to this, she co-founded the IFMR group and most recently was the group CEO of IFMR Holdings. She conceptualized and founded IFMR Capital, building capital markets access for financial inclusion, and IFMR Investments, an alternatives fund management platform focused on informal sector finance. Sucharita was chosen as one of the “top 40 under forty ”business leaders by Economic Times in 2016 and named amongst India’s top 20 fintech change makers in 2017. She received the IIM Ahmedabad, Young Alumni Achievers Award in 2017. She was also named amongst India’s top twenty fintech change makers in 2017. Prior to her move to India, Sucharita was an investment banker at Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank in London, working primarily on credit derivatives structuring and strategic structured finance opportunities. She graduated with an MBA from IIM Ahmedabad and has an undergraduate degree in economics from Lady Shri Ram College, Delhi University.

  • Research Associate, Aapti Institute

    Aishani is a Research Associate at Aapti Institute, with a background in law. Her work at Aapti revolves around mapping harms stemming from technology and understanding the governance of tech platforms. Her prior work involves developing frameworks of governance for emerging innovations such as artificial intelligence, as well as for social media platforms in mitigating online harms. Additionally, she has worked on understanding the legal landscape and socio-economic value of safety tech in India. Aishani seeks to explore the confluence of technology with laws and work towards bolstering legal frameworks, protecting citizens from harms stemming due to tech deployment.

  • Financial Sector Policy Advisor, Office of the U.N. Secretary-General’s Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development

    Peter is a Policy Advisor to Queen Máxima of the Netherlands who is the United Nations Secretary-General's Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development (UNSGSA). In this capacity Peter provides policy and regulatory advice to deepen financial inclusion in emerging markets, with a focus on Latin America (Argentina, Mexico), Francophone West Africa, and Nigeria. Peter also leads UNSGSA global engagement on inclusive green finance and women’s financial inclusion. Peter previously worked for nine years at the World Bank Group on financial sector programs in Latin America and the Middle East. He holds a master’s degree in International Economics from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies.

  • Head, People+AI

    Tanuj Bhojwani is the head of People+AI and a founding and current Board Member of the DPGA. As a former Fellow at iSPIRT Foundation, Tanuj worked on policy issues related to digital identity, payments, data protection and drones with the goal of achieving a Digital India, and most recently co-authored a book with Nandan Nilekani called the Art of Bitfulness, a compendium of strategies that help readers develop a healthier relationship with technology.

  • Programme Officer, Better Than Cash Alliance

    Shruti Sharma is a Programme Officer at the United Nations Better Than Cash Alliance. Shruti supports the work on Alliance’s research and advocacy goals to scale responsible digital payments to accelerate the Sustainable Development Goals and reach financial equality. She is also co-leading the work on leveraging responsible digital payments to build climate resilience. Prior to joining the Alliance, in her assignment with UNDP India, Shruti was a part of the G20 India Secretariat team at the Ministry of Finance, Government of India. She played a key role in formulating India’s position for the ‘G20-Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion’ during the G20 Germany, Argentina and Japanese presidencies. Shruti holds a Masters’ in Public Administration degree from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and a Masters’ degree in Economics from TERI University, India.

  • CEO and Director, FinReg Lab

    Prior to establishing FinRegLab, Melissa served as the U.S. Treasury Department’s Deputy Assistant Secretary for Consumer Policy where she developed and executed the Treasury Department’s consumer policies. Melissa helped to build the first government-offered preretirement savings product, the myRA, and she established the $5 million Innovation Fund to support research and strategies to improve consumers’ financial health and their access to safe and affordable financial products and services. Before joining the U.S. Treasury Department, Melissa was the Vice President of Policy at the Center for Financial Services Innovation.

  • CEO, India Post Payments Bank

    With over 24 years of work experience in various functions of banking with core competence in the areas of Business Strategy, Product Development and Digital Financial Services with a deep understanding of technology as an enabler. Prior to India Post Payments Bank, he has worked with leading banking institutions such as Bank of Baroda, Axis Bank and Equitas SFB in various roles spanning across Project Lead and Domain Expert on Payment Products and Inclusive Banking. During his last assignment with Equitas Small Finance Bank as the Chief Digital Officer, Venkat has been part of the founding team for the Bank and is credited with creating a digitally enabled Banking access through multiple payment systems and channels, thereby leading to business growth and differentiated customer experience. Venkat has also been a key industry spokesperson and is closely engaged with the government and regulatory institutions in policy formulation in a rapidly evolving industry. Venkat has demonstrated his acumen in launching new businesses, by identifying and capitalizing on business, market and process opportunities; leveraging technology to drive revenue, streamlining operations and improving client experience. He is skilled at driving innovation for top and bottom line growth. Venkat has successfully led cross-functional teams to deliver change in complex and challenging environments. He has extensively worked in the financial inclusion space leveraging fintech and digital led innovation to make a difference. Venkat has graduated in Mathematics and Economics from Osmania University and completed the Executive Management Programme from Indian Institute of Management, Kolkata.

  • Southeast Asia Lead, Better Than Cash Alliance

    Isvary is Southeast Asia Lead at the UN-based Better than Cash Alliance, where she manages outreach, advocacy, design and implementation of technical assistance initiatives with Governments, companies and international organizations to enable responsible digitization of payments in the ASEAN region. Over the last 15 years, she has helped to shape economic and development policy with a focus on digital financial inclusion, through her roles in the Singapore Government, in private sector consulting and at the United Nations. She holds a dual-degree Masters in Public Policy and Affairs from Sciences Po Paris and the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, Singapore.

  • Bank Officer, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipina

    Atty. Rowena is acting Bank Officer V in the Consumer Protection and Market Conduct Office (CPMCO) of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. She is part of the Consumer Assistance Group of CPMCO.

    She handles BSP’s consumer protection work and advocacies. She currently helps supervise BSP’s Consumer Specialists as they respond to various consumer concerns and implement BSP’s Consumer Assistance Mechanism (CAM) for aggrieved consumers. She has also participated in the crafting of BSP’s consumer protection policies, regulations and legislative measures. She was directly involved in the development of the guidelines and implementing regulations of the Philippines’ recently-enacted landmark law, Republic Act No. 11765 or the Financial Products and Services Consumer Protection Act, as embodied in BSP Circular Numbers 1160 and 1169. Circular 1160 serves as the Philippines’ new Financial Consumer Protection Framework while Circular 1169 provides for consumer redress mechanisms for financial consumers.

    Rowena is a lawyer and former prosecutor at the Philippines’ Department of Justice (DOJ). She graduated from the University of the Philippines with a degree in Journalism. She also holds a Masters Degree in Development Communications from the same university and a law degree from the University of the Cordilleras. She also acquired Advanced Professional Training at Deutsche Welle (DW) Academy in Cologne, Germany, and further trainings at the Asia Institute for Broadcasting Development (AIBD) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

  • Partner, Bain & Company
    Advisory Council Member, Center for FInancial Inclusion

    Karthik Venkataraman is a leader in Bain's ESG and Social Impact practices, based in Washington, D.C. He is also an expert in Travel & Leisure and Organization. With more than 25 years of industry and consulting experience, he also has worked in Bain’s London and Singapore offices.

    Karthik’s expertise in ESG focuses on Social topics in particular. His probono efforts focus primarily on Financial Inclusion, and he is a member of the Advisory Council for the Center on Financial Inclusion. He is also on the Board of Education for Employment, focused on job training and placement in the MENA region. Karthik also led Bain’s DE&I transformation, and is a leader in the firm’s Asians@Bain affinity group.

    In addition, he previously led Bain's Airline Practice in the Americas, and has deep experience in Hospitality, Cruises, Theme Parks.

    Karthik earned an MBA from the Wharton School, where he graduated as a Palmer Scholar. He also earned an MA in international studies with distinction from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and a bachelor's degree in history with high honors from Princeton University. He is of Indian origin, and grew up in the Philadelphia area.