Global Money Transfer Summit 2019

Michael Joseph joined MFS Africa’s board of directors as a non-Executive Director effective January 1 2017. Mr. Joseph is widely known for his leadership as CEO of Safaricom and is credited with the remarkable success of M-Pesa in Kenya. Under Joseph’s guidance, M-Pesa enabled economic participation for millions of Kenyans who previously were too poor or remote to hold a bank account. Following his tenure as CEO of Safaricom, Mr. Joseph served as Managing Director for Mobile Money of Vodafone Group,.Mr. Joseph stepped down from this role at the end of 2016. In addition to his participation on the board of MFS Africa, he also serves as Chairman of the board of Kenya Airways.

David Yates is a Senior Advisor to Mastercard and Chairman of VocaLink. He has previously been President of Mastercard, Western Union and of First Data International. He has also served on the Boards of WorldPay and Concardis as well as being an Operating Partner for the PE firm, Advent international. David is one of a small number of global experts, whose knowledge demystifies and uncomplicates the often disparate worlds of cards, ACH and Global Money Transfer.

Peilung Li is the Founder and Chairman of LUN Partners Group and Founding Managing Partner of PGA Venture Partners. Mr. Li’s Greater China-dedicated funds are primarily focused in high tech innovators and companies overseas. Utilizing his deep platform as a highly experienced global investment professional, Mr. Li helps his portfolio companies successfully launch and navigate their respective businesses into the Chinese market. Simultaneously, he enables his portfolio companies to unlock and achieve powerful synergies by forming an ecosystem of complementary businesses. Currently, Mr. Li also serves as a Senior Partner and member of the Investment Committee for CMIG (China Minsheng Investment Group) Fintech. Mr. Li has 20 years of extensive experience in internet finance, private equity, M&A and management consulting in Silicon Valley, Shanghai, Tokyo and beyond. From 2012 to 2015, Mr. Li served as the Chairman of SBI China and the first non-Japanese Executive Board Member of SBI Holdings. During his tenure at SBI, Mr. Li made numerous high-impact investments and led many strategic business alliances with large Chinese State Owned Enterprises. Prior to SBI, Mr. Li was at Daiwa Securities SMBC, where his team established the first Japanese Securities joint venture in China. Mr. Li started his career as a management consultant at Deloitte Consulting. Mr. Li is the author of “Ecosystem of Internet Finance”, a publication detailing the overseas Ecosystem of Internet Finance and its future development. Mr. Li holds an MS from The University of Tokyo, an EMBA from Peking University and has attended the Leading Global Businesses program at Harvard Business School (HBS). His story inspired and was featured in the best-selling leadership publication “True North” by HBS Professor Bill George.

Monica Brand Engel is an entrepreneur and investor, having launched various funds and products aimed at broadening financial inclusion. She is the co-founding partner of Quona Capital –venture firm focused on fintech for inclusion in emerging markets. Quona is the investment manager for the $142M Accion Frontier Inclusion Fund, the first global, third-party fintech fund for inclusion, and its successor, the Accion Quona Inclusion Fund. Monica spent her formative years in Silicon Valley, where she helped launch a $50 million multi-bank lending intermediary to finance small businesses. Monica also worked at Calvert Ventures and Anthuri Ventures –early stage equity vehicles based in Bethesda and Cape Town, respectively. While living in S Africa, Monica founded Anthuri Catalysts to prepare early stage companies for investment. Monica then joined Accion to set up a product innovation group and worked in Mexico with Compartamos Bank, the largest microfinance institution in Latin America. She was the founding managing director of Accion’s Frontier InvestmentsGroup, the predecessor to Quona Capital. Monica holds an MBA and MA Ed from Stanford University and a BA in economics from Williams College. She serves on the boards of Yoco, AllLife, Azimo, and Zoona; is a founding member of the EMPEA Impact Council; and chairs the Investor Representative Committee of LeapFrog Investments, the world’s first microinsurance fund. Previously, she served on the boards of GloboKasNet, Shubham Housing, Paralife, Compartamos Bank, and Pay Rent Builds Credit. She’s half Peruvian and married with twins.

Perry has over 25 years experience investing in, building and operating online businesses, particularly in financial services. He has built businesses online in remittances, payments, credit/loans, insurance, asset management and mobile money. Perry has also worked as a consultant with McKinsey & Company, as a venture capitalist with Chase and Amadeus Capital Partners, and in executive roles with Microsoft and zulily.

Nick co-founded Small World in 2005 and led its growth since then to create one of the leading players in the cross border payments sector with nearly 800 employees and trading in over 30 countries. Prior to Small World, Nick was Head of Venture Development at Lloyds TSB. Nick also has previous experience working for with the Royal Bank of Scotland, the Protégé Group and LEK Consulting. Nick holds an MBA from INSEAD (2003) and a BA in Mathematics from Oxford (1996).

Veronica Studsgaard, Founder & CEO of IAMTN, has been working in the money transfers industry for almost 18 years. Before founding IAMTN, Veronica set up Unistream UK Ltd, a money transfer company focusing on Eastern Europe, where she was CEO and Director for a period of five years. Prior to Unistream UK, Veronica worked for Uniastrum Capital Ltd, an investment management firm authorised and regulated by the FCA (previously FSA). Veronica is a payments specialist, passionate about financial services and their impact on poverty alleviation.

Mohit Davar is a payments expert and has worked in the industry for over 25 years. Over the last 24 months, he has been very actively involved in Blockchain and Digital assets, working as an adviser to various companies like Stellar, OkCoin Group and Huobi Group. He started his career at Sedgwick Noble Lowndes internal audit and then moved to Thomas Cook Group, corporate finance department. While at Thomas Cook, in 1997, he help set up the joint venture between MoneyGram Inc. (NYSE listed company) and Thomas Cook. He ran this JV until 2003, when the 49% held by Thomas Cook was sold back to MoneyGram at a significant valuation. He then set up Travelex Money Transfer, a subsidiary of the Travelex Group. This was sold to Coinstar Inc. ( NASDAQ listed company) in 2006. He continued to build Coinstar Money Transfer into a very successful global remittance company and sold it to Sigue Financial Corporation in 2011. He then went on to set up his own consultancy / advisory service in London and Dubai. He has since been involved with a number of companies in an advisory capacity and at the Board Level (list attached). He works closely with a number of public sector bodies such as the World Bank, UNCDF, IFAD, etc. actively promoting the financial inclusion agenda. He was also a member of the UNCDF investment committee (Shift Challenge) for a year. He is the Chairman of International Association of Money Transfer (remittance trade body) and also a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.

Michael Kent is a serial entrepreneur, who has spent the last decade building businesses in consumer financial services. He founded Small World Financial Services Group in 2004, growing the multi billion-dollar company to become Europe’s largest offline money transfer provider and a top ten player globally. Recognising the impact mobile and social technology could have on the international money transfer market, Michael started Azimo to challenge high-transfer costs and drastically speed-up the way consumers send money abroad. Backed by over $30m in funding, the platform now enables anyone to send cash, bank transfers and mobile money to over 190 countries, in 70+ different currencies and over social media platforms such as Facebook. Alongside Azimo, Michael founds and invests in consumer-focused banks and financial services businesses (e.g. CorporatePay, Curve, YoYo Wallet, ClarityFX) and advises institutional investors and blue-chip corporates on cross-border payments. He previously held senior M&A positions at WPP and News Corp. Michael holds a MA from Cambridge University and a MBA from INSEAD.

Rachel Balsham is the Deputy CEO of MFS Africa. She is responsible for investor relations, strategic partnerships, and measuring and strengthening the company’s social impact. Prior to joining MFS Africa, she was a consultant with Bain & Co., where she worked on strategy and operations projects for telecom and financial services clients. She began her career at the Millennium Challenge Corporation, working on large-scale development grants in West Africa. She holds an MBA from the Wharton School and an AB from Smith College. Rachel’s most recent appearances have included topics on intra-African remittances and global money transfers; the impact of collaborations and partnership for traditional banking and fintech communities; and fintech investments.

Victoria is a aeasoned Economist and an executive head at Vodacom Group primarily responsible for mobile financial services regulation and Tax regulation. Her role involves providing strategic support to the Vodacom market i.e. Tanzania, Mozambique, Lesotho & DRC on critical financial services related issue and to manage the company’s risk from a regulatory perspective. She also sit as a board member at the Central University of Technology in South Africa.and has a varied experience from the energy sector . She enjoys networking, reading and spending time with her family.

Kabirou Mbodje was born in Lyon with a dual French-Senegalese citizenship. He holds a degree in Telecom Engineering from France and an MBA from the United States. He returned to Senegal in the 1990’s to launch an entrepreneurial venture and focus on new technologies. In 2003, he created NetPay (which later became CallMoney), a payment solution based on mobile subscription. Building on this experience, he launched Wari in 2008, a unique digital platform at the heart of the ‘uberisation’ of African economies and the continent’s financial inclusion. Payments of all sorts, buying airtime, transferring pensions, scholarships or wages…, Wari’s solutions address all the daily needs of most customers and at a lower cost. Wari counts 212 million users and manages 1 million transactions per day (i.e. more than 6 billion dollars of annual flow), through 500,000 points of sale and 152 partnering banks in more than 60 countries. Kabirou Mbodje said “Africa will create tomorrow’s economic and digital model. The continent can count on its economic vitality, its capacity to develop new services and the potential for organizational initiatives. Actually, Africa is leaping over all intermediary steps: we have seen it in the telecoms sector and we are now living it in the digital sector.” Mr Kabirou Mbodje is also a member of the United States Chamber of Commerce.

Hazem Mulhim’s background is multilayered, established through a career spanning 35 years in international markets. After his graduation from Bulgaria with a Master’s degree in Electronics Engineering and Medical Electronics, Mulhim began his professional career working at Siemens in Kuwait in 1980, where he experienced firsthand how computing was starting to transform the health industry. As the digital revolution was just starting worldwide in the early 1980s, he took a decision to get closer to the epicenter of innovation, moving to the US to work. There, he would accentuate his entrepreneurial vision and develop a deeper insight into the emerging technologies and markets. Later in 1984, he moved to Jordan to establish what now is, EastNets. In 2007, EastNets acquired SIDE International, a leader in AML solutions based in Belgium. This expansion strategy worked and soon EastNets was serving a 750-strong client base. Mulhim’s acute vision and industry insight would help EastNets secure multiple prestigious international awards and in one recent case achieving leadership in one global compliance industry vertical. Mulhim had also continued his academic drive, earning a Certificate of Advanced Management Program (AMP) from the prestigious Institute of INSEAD, France, and an OWP from IMD Lausanne, Switzerland.

Managing Director PostFinance International Development B.V., Amsterdam, and World Bank Consultant. International expert with 26 years’ experience in international postal reform and postal banking development, leading or participating in postal development programs with cross-cultural teams in 50+ countries worldwide. The postal reform programs focus on diversification strategies of Post in the changing industry, especially in partnership building with the financial sector. Mr. Boon gained broad experience as a Vice President of ING, and prior to that held management positions in the Netherlands Postbank and Post Office, then involved in pioneering one of the world’s first cases in postal (bank) reform and privatization. He served 15 years on the UPU’s Postal Financial Services Commission, lead task forces, UPU’s European Postal Financial Services Commission and was 2 years Vice Chairman of the Postal Operators’ Council of the Regional Commonwealth for Communications. He has extensive experience in working as expert with international institutions and is currently consultant for the World Bank Group and the World Savings and Retail Banking Institute and previously with e.g. IFAD, ADB, UNCDF, CGAP, and the African Union Commission. Mr. Boon has a broad experience in establishing, launching and managing financial institutions partnering with the post office, and in preparing partnership structures, contractual arrangements, valuation and finance. He is skilled in financial services operations, network, and infrastructure development, in institutional assessment (including legal and governance), investments, and access and outreach issues. Mr. Boon’s skills include market research, both desk and field, company analysis, strategy development and business planning, valuation, and implementation. He frequently presents on worldwide postal financial inclusion issues and partnerships with the financial sector, organizes an international seminars and conferences.

Dilip Ratha is an economist specializing in migration, remittances and innovative financing. According to the New York Times, “No one has done more than Mr. Ratha to make migration and its potential rewards a top-of-the-agenda concern in the world’s development ministries.” He is credited to be the first to analyze and formalize the global significance of remittances. In 2012, he set up the Global Knowledge Partnership on Migration and Development (KNOMAD), a multidisciplinary, global hub of knowledge on migration. He is the focal point for the World Bank’s Migration Working Group and the Diaspora Bond Task Force, and a co-coordinator of the (G8/G20) Global Remittances Working Group. He is currently the chair of the Consortium Advisory Group (and previously the founding CEO) of the Migrating out of Poverty Research Consortium based in the University of Sussex. He is a member of the World Economic Forum Council on migration and of the advisory committee of the Migration Policy Center of European University Institute, Florence. He is also the brain behind the African Institute for Remittances. Besides migration, he has done pioneering work on innovative financing including diaspora bonds, future-flow securitization, shadow sovereign ratings, performance-indexed bonds and South-South foreign direct investment. Prior to joining the World Bank, he worked as a regional economist for Asia at Credit Agricole Indosuez, Singapore where he advised institutional investors in Asian equity, fixed income and foreign exchange markets. He has also worked as an assistant professor of economics at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, and as an economist at the Policy Group, New Delhi. He has a Ph.D. in economics from the Indian Statistical Institute, New Delhi where he worked as a visiting lecturer and helped build a prototype planning model for India. Dilip hosts People Move, a popular blog, and can be followed on Twitter at @DilipRatha. His TED Talk, “The hidden force in global economics: sending money home,” can be viewed at http://go.ted.com/xnB.

Before joining Moneytrans Jeremy has gained multiple experiences in the banking sector and the tax & legal domain, taking advantage of his Master Degree in Law from the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium. Jeremy started his journey at Moneytrans in 2005, not long after the launch of the company, as Head of legal & compliance in the Brussels HQ. He became soon after Deputy General Manager and contributed over the years to the business expansion in Europe and Africa. He became Chief Operating Officer in 2011 which corresponds to the year of certification for Moneytrans as a European Payment Institution, a project Jeremy led from start to finish. Jeremy was appointed CEO of the Moneytrans Group in December 2018. Jeremy is passionate about innovative finance & financial inclusion and is therefore committed to bringing Moneytrans to the next level of product development and commercialization, positioning the company as a leading neo-bank for migrant workers in Europe and a HUB of reference for money transfer operators across the globe.

I’m a holder of an a Master of Arts in Economics & Planning, of Makerere University and a Certified Professional Banker of the Uganda Institute of Banking and Financial Services. I have Banking experience of over 20 years, with over 10 years in middle to executive level management. Currently, I’m the Head of department of Business Growth and and managing EU-IFAD funded project on “Scaling up Remittances and Financial Inclusion through Post Offices in Uganda”.

Lerato heads the legal and compliance team at MFS Africa, a pan-African fin-tech company that develops innovative financial solutions for mobile wallets and Africa’s largest mobile payments inter-operability hub. Previously, she led Naaya Consulting, a niche legal strategy consultancy that helps clients understand, navigate and manage transactional and operational risk across the continent. She began her career in the M&A teams of Shearman and Sterling LLP in New York and Paris, and Bowman Gilfillan in Johannesburg. An advisor to The Harvard Innovation Lab and an AlphaCode partner, Lerato also serves as a non-executive director on several boards and is a member of the strategy committee for Rose-Act, a community and volunteer centred school in Alexandra, Johannesburg. She holds a Juris doctor degree from Harvard Law School, a masters in law and diplomacy in international business strategy from Fletcher School at Tufts University and a bachelor’s degree from Smith College. She is a fellow of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.

Andrew is responsible for expanding WorldRemit’s business in the Middle East and Africa through customer growth, product evolution and building relationships with partners across the regions. Previously a Senior Executive at American Express, Andrew brings to the company over 18 years’ experience in accelerating business growth in the financial services and payments industry. He holds in-depth knowledge of payment innovation, business expansion, change management and delivering growth initiatives. Andrew has a Bachelor of Technology (Honours) in Marketing & Business Management from the Port Elizabeth Technikon in South Africa.

Sayjil Magan is the Executive Head of Hello Paisa. Hello Paisa is the financial services division of the Hello Group and Sayjil leads the international remittance and digital banking products which Hello Paisa currently offers its customers. Since joining Hello Paisa in 2016, Sayjil champions Hello Paisa’s mission to create game-changing integrated consumer and business services, which are low cost, easily accessible and amazingly simple to use with technology at the very core, for underserved communities. Sayjil’s passion is focussed around customer centricity and operational efficiency. Most recently, he was part of the dynamic team that launched South Africa’s latest digital retail bank offering, aiming to serve the unbanked. Sayjil graduated from the University of Pretoria, earning, his bachelor of commerce degree in financial management in 2007, a diploma in insolvency law and practice in 2008 and his bachelor of laws degree in 2009. Previously, Sayjil practiced as a mergers and acquisitions attorney at Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr Inc as well as ENS Africa for a combined period of 7 years.

As Ria’s Managing Director Africa, Malick Seck currently oversees the company’s regional hub in Dakar, Senegal, where he is an integral part of the money transfer division of Euronet Worldwide, Inc. since its founding in 2010. After completing his post-graduate degree in Marketing Management in Clermont-Ferrand, France, he joined renowned British-Dutch oil and gas company Shell in Senegal. He then moved to Groupe Chaka, Senegal, in the IT industry, where he set up the first Call Centre organization in West Africa. He was a key member among Money Express founders also in Senegal, where he began his career in the remittance sector, proudly championing the movement that unlocked exclusivity contracts in the money transfer industry in West Africa.

Debra has over 15-years international experience working for global technology brands. She currently holds the role of CCO for XAGO, a transformational Fintech platform. Previously she worked for brands such as SAP in New York and Europe and Fundamo, a Visa Company, in Africa, taking products to market and helping to build businesses from the ground up. Her experience working in both start-ups & large corporates have given her exposure to all commercial aspects of business, from fundraising and stakeholder management to product road-mapping, strategic sales, pricing and marketing and operations. In 2017 & 2018 Debra was a proud nominee for the Inspiring 50 Women in Technology, South Africa. She is passionate about technology and the role it can play in the upliftment and full inclusion of women in society.

Patrick Akinwuntan is Managing Director & Regional Executive at Ecobank Nigeria. Until his appointment in July 2018, Patrick was Group Executive, Consumer Bank at the Ecobank Group, leading the business across 33 countries in Africa. The consumer bank covers retail, microfinance, cards & e-banking and remittances businesses of the Ecobank Group. Patrick has an extraordinary passion for financial inclusion, taking banking to the unbanked/underserved and is at the forefront in driving technological innovation in financial services to positively impact the lives of millions across Africa. Under his leadership, Ecobank has launched several digital innovations that are revolutionizing banking, creating an unrivalled payments ecosystem such as Ecobank’s unified Mobile app, Ecobank Merchant QR, Ecobank Xpress Account, Ecobank Xpress Cash (cardless ATM withdrawal), Ecobank Rapidtransfer remittances, the Ecobank Pan-African Card and Rapid transfer (Instant Funds Transfer) across 33 African countries in 18 currencies. Patrick has distinguished himself in the banking and finance industry and is a leading practitioner in the following respects: pioneer and current Chairman of Accion Microfinance Bank Limited, a leader in the microfinance industry in Nigeria pioneer and current Chairman – Advisory Board of Retail Banking Councils for Africa founding member of the Fintech Association of Nigeria 2016 Best Retail banker in Africa – Asian Banker Served as Executive Director at Ecobank Nigeria – 2001 to 2006 during which Ecobank Nigeria issued the first International Mastercard Served on sub-committees of Ethics, SMIEES of the Bankers committee representing Ecobank (2003-2005 and now in 2018) member of Visa CEMEA Advisory Council Prior to his role as Group Executive Consumer bank, he has held various group responsibilities, including, Group Executive Director Domestic Bank, Group Executive Director, Operations, Technology, Transaction and Retail Banking and Managing Director of eProcess International, where he led the establishment of the Ecobank Pan-African Technology and Shared Service Centre in Accra, Ghana. He was Executive Director, Retail Banking at Ecobank Nigeria between 2001 and 2005 and Group Chief Financial Officer between 1999 and 2001. Patrick has also been Group Coordinator, Commercial Banking and Zonal Head, Western II at Ecobank Nigeria between 1996 and 1999. Before joining Ecobank, he worked for Ernst and Young, and was later an Investment banker at Manufacturers Merchant Bank (now Fidelity Bank). Patrick is a Senior Honorary Member of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria. He also holds an MBA in Finance, a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, an Associate of the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria and alumnus of the Harvard Business School executive program.

A financial service professional with over 10 years of experience in Global Payments & Retail Banking. Strong understanding of business and market dynamics including strategy development and execution related to international P2P & B2B payments and other emerging platforms for remittances.

Serigne Dioum is Group Head of Mobile Financial Services at MTN Group Limited. Mr. Dioum is responsible for driving MTN Mobile Money and related mobile financial services products and services across the MTN footprint. He has more than 14 years of experience in the telecoms industry and a qualification in telecommunications engineering from the French institution ENST Bretagne. He served as the Chief Marketing Officer of MTN Group Limited since August 2, 2013. He served as the Chief Marketing Officer at MTN Cote d’Ivoire SA since 2009 and during this time, he acted as General Manager of MTN Mobile Money for the West and Central Africa region.

Olivia Etyang is a product management specialist in the telecommunications industry with 10 years in developing and managing VAS and Mobile Money (M-PESA) products with strong product leadership commandeering agile teams in developing innovative, multi-platform products for millions of users. Since 2014, Olivia has led the innovative product development of the KCB M-PESA product in collaboration with KCB Bank. Kenya Commercial Bank is a leading Kenyan local bank that commands a sizable market share in Kenya and has presence in the East African region. KCB M-PESA is a savings account that enables instant access to loans for M-PESA customers. The solution currently has a customer base of 7.3M and USD 137M worth of loans have been disbursed in the past one and a half years. Olivia championed the delivery of Safaricom International Money Transfer Services in collaboration with MFS Africa and other remittance partners that realized a 65% growth in Safaricom IMT revenues in FY 2015/2016. Olivia also developed the M-PESA SurePay system that enables funds to be used in a restricted manner. This has been adopted by the World Food Programme (WFP) for the electronic cash transfer program for half a million refugees in Kenya. She participated in the strategic partnership between Safaricom/M-PESA Foundation and PharmAccess Foundation in the delivery of M-TIBA solution for Health insurance. M-TIBA is a service that allows an M-PESA customers to set aside funds for healthcare. Funds stored in M-TIBA can only be used to pay for services and medication at specific M-TIBA healthcare facilities.

Gavin Krugel is Co-Founder and CEO of the Digital Frontiers Institute. He holds Executive and Board Member positions in the FinTech and EdTech sectors and has a career spanning over 20 years in the Financial Services and Mobile Telecoms industries. He has managed large global development programs as a former manager of the Mobile Money for the Unbanked and Mobile Health programs at the GSMA and has held leadership and board positions in both large multinational organisations and start-ups. Gavin is currently focused on bridging capacity gaps by building professions that use technology to disrupt the status quo in Financial Services, Healthcare and Tertiary Education. Gavin has a love for the start-up environment and is always looking to add value to early-stage start-up boards. He holds an MBA from the Grenoble Graduate School of Business.