Team
AFI is managed by a small, international team in Bangkok.
Executive Director's Office and Administration |
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Alfred Hannig, Executive Director alfred.hannig@afi-global.org |
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| Alfred, a German national heads the AFI management unit in Bangkok which implements activities and provides services for members. His responsibilities also include taking an avid role in representing AFI to various stakeholders, and serving as a member of the Steering Committee. He led the design and development process of AFI’s unique peer to peer knowledge network structure over a three year period before launching the organization in 2008. Formerly, he was Director of GIZ’s Sustainable Economic Development programs in Indonesia and served as the head of the Financial System Development Program in Uganda, a joint initiative by the Bank of Uganda and GIZ, co-funded by SIDA. Alfred started his career at the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development working on financial sector policy issues, and for several years represented the Federal Republic of Germany at the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP). |  |
Crispin Bokea, the Senior Advisor to the Executive Director crispin.bokea@afi-global.org |
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| Crispin, a Kenyan national, is the the Senior Advisor to the Executive Director. In this role, he will be a key focal point in providing direct support towards policy development and implementation of innovative financial inclusion initiatives in Anglophone African countries. As such, he will be pursuing strategic opportunities on the ground to leverage the countries and activities with the greatest potential for impact in financial inclusion. Prior to joining AFI, Crispin was an Assistant Director at the Research Department of the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK), where he headed the Financial Stability and Financial Access Division. At CBK, he also worked as the Head of Microfinance in the Bank Supervision Department where he was responsible for developing the policy and regulatory framework for the microfinance sector. Crispin also chaired and provided leadership to FinAccess Kenya, a private-public partnership seeking to promote greater financial access. Prior to joining CBK in 2004, he was the head of Corporate Strategy and Research at Kenya Airways. He also served as the Research Manager of the Africa Region at the International Center for Economic Growth (ICEG). |
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Alyson Slater, Senior Communication & Innovation Advisor alyson.slater@afi-global.org |
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| Alyson, a Canadian national, spent nearly a decade in various international organizations working on business and sustainability issues. She was the Director of Strategy and Communications at the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) in Boston and Amsterdam (2001-2007), where she helped build one of the most prominent multi-stakeholder network-based organizations. Prior to joining GRI, she was a communications officer at the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) in Geneva (2000-2001). Most recently, Alyson has been providing consulting services to companies on corporate responsibility issues ranging from climate change to human rights, and to international organizations on strategy, network development, governance and fundraising. |  |
Peter W. Foster, Communication Manager peter.foster@afi-global.org |
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| Peter W. Foster, a Canadian national, is responsible for AFI’s public communications portfolio. He oversees the public pages of the AFI website, AFI news stories, newsletters and social media publications. He is also the primary AFI contact for international media. A public information professional with over 16 years of experience Mr. Foster brings to AFI a unique background of expertise in a wide variety of mass communication projects and programs. His previous positions included, Chief of Public Information for the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL), Senior Public Information Officer for the United Nations Assistants to the Khmer Rouge Tribunal (UNAKRT), Political Affairs Officer for the United Nations Mission in Western Sahara (MINURSO) and Communications Officer for the Best Practices Unit in the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations. Mr. Foster is based at the AFI headquarters in Bangkok where he lives with his wife and two children. |  |
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Kimberly Wied , Publication Officer Consultant |
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Kimberly, a US national, is a Publications Consultant responsible for coordinating the editorial, prepress and production processes for all AFI print and online publications, as well as developing written collateral and providing editorial assistance on AFI communications material. Prior to joining AFI, Kimberly worked as Web Editor and Publications Officer for a local law firm in Bangkok. In addition, Kimberly has several years of experience in managing the program administration, operations, marketing, and communications functions of a not for profit organization operating international experiential learning programs. Kimberly studied Journalism at the University of Texas at Austin. |
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Sara Parks, Communication Consultant sara.parks@afi-global.org |
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| Sara, a US national, is a Communications Consultant tasked with assisting AFI to develop and deepen its written collateral and public information, with a focus on web and digital media. Before joining AFI, Sara founded a socially responsible business and spent six years serving as its Director of Marketing and Communications. Prior, Sara worked a Market Researcher and Report Writer at a large international manufacturing and design company and was a Communications Assistant at The Geneva Forum in Switzerland. Additionally, for the past ten years, she has provided freelance writing and communications services to businesses, government agencies and non-profit agencies around the world. Sara holds a Master’s degree in International Policy Studies from Monterey Institute of International Studies and a BA in Writing and Spanish from Denison University. |  |
Celina Lee, Monitoring & Evaluation Specialist celina.lee@afi-global.org |
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| Celina, a United States national, is responsible for AFI’s evaluation activities, including capturing and evaluating evidence of AFI’s impact on the regulatory and policy approaches of our members and increases in national and global financial inclusion. Prior to joining AFI, Celina managed and implemented small enterprise development and rural development programs in Latin America, including in Panama, Colombia, and Guatemala. With UNDP and the International Planned Parenthood Federation, she researched the World Bank’s methodologies for measuring global poverty and designed evaluation tools and statistical models to assess the impact of public health programs. Celina holds a Master’s degree in International Affairs, concentrating in Economic and Policy Analysis, and a BS in Applied Mathematics both from Columbia University. |  |
Krisana Pieper, Monitoring & Evaluation Specialist krisana.pieper@afi-global.org |
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| Krisana, a Thai and Dutch national, works to systematically monitor and document the results of AFI’s activities and evaluate the organization’s impact on members. She has worked on many issues within the nonprofit sector including education and food security where her expertise was in program assessment and grants management. Her professional experience covers organizations such as ActionAid and Save the Children. Prior to coming to AFI, she was a Program Advisor for FarmAfrica in Ethiopia. Preceding this, she designed research tools and conducted field studies commissioned by the Department for International Development in Southern Sudan. |  |
Raadhika Sihin, Financial Inclusion Policy Specialist Raadhika.Sihin@afi-global.org |
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| Raadhika, a South African national, supports policy content for grants, the member zone, and AFI partners of the GPFI. She does this by drafting official AFI publications, and her duties further comprise working on the issue of financial integrity. Formerly, she worked at the National Treasury of South Africa on Financial Inclusion focusing on payment systems and anti-money laundering, amongst other financial stability policy areas. Prior to this, she worked at the Central Bank of South Africa in the National Payment Systems Department. |  |
Robin Newnham, AFI Coordinator for the G20 GPFI Robin.Newnham@afi-global.org |
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| Robin, a British national, is responsible for managing AFI’s engagement with the G20 Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion (GPFI), launched by G20 leaders to provide an inclusive platform for the advancement of financial inclusion globally. Robin joins AFI on a secondment from the United Kingdom Treasury, where he worked on financial inclusion policy, both developing and implementing a national strategy to tackle financial exclusion in the UK, and supporting an independent Financial Inclusion Taskforce. Robin has also spent several years as a senior policy adviser in the UK Treasury's international division, working on global economic analysis, the UK's chair of the G20 in 2009, terrorist financing and the implementation of country sanctions regimes. |  |
Maren Leifheit, AFI Liaison Officer at GIZ Headquarters maren.leifheit@afi-global.org |
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| Maren liaises with GIZ’s organizational units including administrative, technical and regional departments to advance collaboration between GIZ Head Office and the AFI management team in Bangkok. She is a German national, and has worked within GIZ for the last ten years as a project and portfolio manager in the Africa division most recently for the Development Cooperation with the Southern African Development Community. She has experience in project management and administration as well as in strategic portfolio development and coordination with the Geman Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and other International Development Organisations. Prior to this, Maren worked as a consultant in the field of micro enterprise development with a regional focus on rural Africa, doing research on development conditions for microenterprises and business start-up training, including temporary stays in Tunisia, Burkina Faso, Cameroun and South Africa. She started her career as a researcher and lecturer at the Institute for Economic Geography of the University of Frankfurt. |
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Carsten Demuth, Senior Financial Manager carsten.demuth@afi-global.org |
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| Carsten, a German national, is responsible for administration and financial management. This involves financial reporting, budget control, designing financial management tools, and establishing the AFI administrative framework. He also handles the financial and contractual side of grants and sponsorship of AFI members. Previoiusly, he worked as Financial Manager and Controller of the Division of German Public-Sector clients at GIZ in Berlin where he helped to develop and extend the Twinnings-Programs. For many years, he was an advisor for project administration in various developing countries and a Project Manager in East-Timor and Madagascar for Deutsche Welthungerhilfe (DWHH). Prior to this, he was a project administrator in Primary Public Health projects in Benin and Burkina Faso for Deutscher Entwicklungsdienst (DED), now GIZ. |  |
Marc Linneweber, Financial Manager marc.linneweber@afi-global.org |
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| Marc, a German national, has the role of supporting financial management within AFI. One way he does this is by providing technical financial support within the grant making process. He further works on the budget plan and the reporting of specific financial issues within the organization. Marc’s skills encompass auditing, budgeting, and expertise in the field of investment funds. Before he came to AFI, he worked for PricewaterhouseCoopers in Luxemburg as a Senior Auditor where he audited a diverse portfolio of clients in the financial services sector. Before this he worked for an investment bank in Frankfurt as well as a private company in Shanghai. Marc holds a master’s degree in business administration focusing on international management, turnaround management, and controlling. |  |
Pruksa Krutphan, IT Specialist pruksa.krutphan@afi-global.org |
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| Pruksa, a Thai national, uses her command of technology to keep the office running by supporting and maintaining AFI's information technology (IT) including the hardware and software of computers and the serveer. Prior to landing at AFI, Pruksa held a position at a multinational company as an IT Manager in charge of online recruitment software. She has worked in the IT field for the past seven years gaining key experience in the recruitment and hospitality industries. In addition to this, she held responsibilities at other companies for maintenance of IT systems and websites, and recruitment for IT positions. |  |
Chadarat Singharuksa, Website Manager chadarat.singharuksa@afi-global.org |
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| Chadarat a Thai national, keeps the online presence of the AFI organization running by maintaining the website and member zone. She does this by improving the web functionality according to the needs of the network. Before joining AFI, she managed mobile applications portfolios for True Digital Content and Media. Ten years prior to this she worked as a User Experience Design Consultant in the IT industries. Seven of these years were with the consultant companies Capgemini and Electronic Data Systems (EDS) working on software design for the UK government. |  |
Benjamard Mittaree, Secretary benjamard.mittaree@afi-global.org |
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| Benjamard, a Thai national, keeps the AFI office running on a day to day basis by working to ensure administrative support and logistical arrangements for all staff. Her tasks include managing communications, making service requests, tracking incoming and outgoing money, and coordinating with the GIZ office. Her previous job was as a Medical Doctor's Secretary and Training Coordinator at South East Asia Research Collaboration with Hawaii (SEARCH) in HIV/AIDS research and training. Prior to this, she was an Administrative Officer for Pact Thailand, a US based International NGO working on HIV/AIDS for the Greater Mekong Region with funding from USAID. Her experience includes operation and administration, project administration, legal, and financial matters. |  |
Surachada Kaewsritong, Secretary surachada.kaewsritong@afi-global.org |
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| Surachada, a Thai national, provides support for the executive director through administration and office organization which involves organizing and maintaining communications and schedules. She has over ten years of experience in administrative assistance and in the retail business. Before she arrived at AFI, she was the Regional Secretary at Kimberly-Clark for five years. Her experience also encompasses working with the International Retail Business for companies such as Marks & Spencer, Tesco Lotus, and Carrefour. Surachada started her career in Thailand as an Import Executive. |  |
Pakykul Godgeaw, Team Assistant pakykul.godgeaw@afi-global.org |
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| Pakykul, a Thai national, assists the communications team in their efforts to manage the website, member zone, and publications. On top of this, she aids in the preparation of working group meetings and supports the policy team in travel arrangements. Fitting her educational background in international relations, Pakykul’s previous professional experiences involved high level secretarial work for presidents and CEOs of major Thai and multinational companies. While in this line of work, she specialized in contract management. |  |
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Policy grant Management |
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Hayder Al-Bagdadi, Policy and Grant Manager hayder.al-bagdadi@afi-global.org |
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| Hayder, a German national, manages grant responsibilities in Asia, the Pacific, and Eastern Europe. He manages the whole grant project cycle from preparation, approval, implementation, and monitoring. His responsibilities also involve working with mobile financial services. Before AFI, he spent eight years at GIZ working on financial system and private sector development issues. His last role at GIZ was as a Technical Advisor in the Financial System Development (FSD) Unit of the Planning and Development Department in Germany, responsible for GIZ’s FSD programs in Asia. Prior to this, Hayder served as a Project Manager in private sector development programs in Indonesia and Bosnia & Herzegovina. His career began focusing on microfinance at GIZ Headquarters in Germany. |  |
Simone di Castri, Policy and Grant Manager simone.dicastri@afi-global.org |
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| Simone is a lawyer and holds a PhD in Law and Economic from the University of Bologna. Before joining AFI, Simone worked for the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP) Government & Policy Team at the World Bank, the Microfinance Project at the International Development Law Organization (IDLO), the United Nations’ Department of Economics and Social Affairs (DESA), and the law firm Allen & Overy. He has taught comparative corporate governance at the Law School of the University of Bologna and has been a Visiting Research Fellow at Columbia University. A native Italian speaker, he is fluent in English and French, and also speaks Spanish. |  |
Ornpapha Lertsukhontharos, Team Assistant ornpapha.lertsukhontharos@afi-global.org |
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| Ornpapha, a Thai national, supports the grant team by managing documents and tracking the status of grants. She further organizes working group events and grant meetings. Her experience encompasses ten years of extensive executive and IT support and services. Prior to AFI, Ornpapha worked in client service for Deutsche Bank. Her educational background is in business administration and general management. |  |
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Strategy and Network Development |
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Sung-Ah Lee, Director, Strategy and Network Development sungah.lee@afi-global.org |
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| Sung-Ah, a Korean national, is responsible for developing the overall strategy for AFI and implementing plans in line with AFI’s objectives and mandates. To accomplish this, she maintains and organizes the governance structure, coordinates involvement in global initiatives and provides leadership and guidance to her team. She participated in the development of the AFI approach and the preparatory phase of the organization’s establishment. Prior to her career at AFI, she worked at the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) in the Trade and Investment Division in Thailand. Her work focused on regional cooperation, South-South investment, and enterprise development. Prior to this, she worked at the International Trade Centre (ITC- UNCTAD/ WTO) in Switzerland, and at LG Card Co. Ltd., a financial company in South Korea. |  |
Merle Wangerin, Policy Network Manager merle.wangerin@afi-global.org |
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| Merle, a German national, manages the network of policy makers and is in charge of the membership engagement strategy. This job necessitates dealing with all aspects of membership and managing the online member zone. Additional tasks include developing the AFI secondment programme and working with mobile financial services. Formerly, she worked on external relations and partnerships with the Joint United Nations Programme on AIDS (UNAIDS) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) for seven years. During her assignment with UNAIDS, she also spent time coordinating the UN reform pilot project in Vietnam. Merle studied political science and European policy making at the London School of Economics and Sciences Po Paris. Merle speaks German, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and basic Arabic. |  |
Nancy Widjaja, Manager, Strategic Planning & External Partnership nancy.widjaja@afi-global.org |
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| Nancy, an Indonesian national, is responsible for forming and implementing overall AFI strategy. This entails helping to create progress reports and keeping projects running smoothly. Another of her responsibilities is coordinating relationships and collaboration with stakeholders. She worked for three years in the strategic management consulting industry with The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) before coming to AFI. Nancy’s experiences in financial inclusion projects while in BCG include managing the implementation of a pilot microfinance branch in rural Sumatra, Indonesia, and drafting a strategy plan for a nation-wide rollout of a new Indonesian microfinance bank. Her other work experience includes strategy and implementation projects across Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, India, and the United Arab Emirates encompassing financial services, retail, industrial goods, and public sectors. |  |
Bernadette Victorio, Project Manager Bernadette.Victorio@afi-global.org |
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| Bernadette, a Filipino national, is responsible for the organization and coordination of the Global Policy Forum. Prior to joining AFI, she worked with the Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI) in Tokyo, Japan where she engaged in capacity building program design, development, and implementation. Her areas of focus include inclusive finance, public-private partnerships, and ADBI’s flagship study on post-crisis development strategies for rebalancing growth. She has managed and coordinated projects for and in collaboration with various international organizations such as the World Bank, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and the International Labor Organization (ILO). More recently, she has been working with various non-governmental organizations, consulting on project design and fundraising for community-based programs with a focus on human capital development, improvement of the local economy, and promotion of sustainable community practices. |  |
Gabriel Davel, Associate gabriel.davel@afi-global.org |
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| Gabriel Davel is a qualified Chartered Accountant and also has a Masters Degree in Development Finance from ISS in The Hague. He was part of the team that established the Small Enterprise Foundation in 1991, which is still one of the leading MFIs in South Africa. From there, he moved to Deloitte & Touche where he became a partner and specialised in financial regulation In 2000 Gabriel was appointed as the CEO of the Micro Finance Regulatory Council and in 2006 as the CEO of South Africa’s National Credit Regulator. In these capacities he played an instrumental role in the development and implementation of a general framework for consumer credit regulation which applies to all banks, finance companies and MFIs. Over the last 10 years Gabriel has been involved in the establishment of a national register of micro-loans and a statistical framework for credit market monitoring. He has also been involved in the development and implementation of credit bureau regulation, reckless lending rules, and standardised disclosure requirements for all consumer credit agreements. He served as Policy Adviser to the South African Government in the development of the National Credit Act and served on a number of government Task Teams and Boards, including the Policy Board for Financial Regulation, an enquiry into Competition in Banking and an investigation into SME Access to Finance. In December 2010 Gabriel left the public sector to establish a regulatory advisory practice. |
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Kimanthi Mutua, Associate kimanthi.mutua@afi-global.org |
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| Kimanthi, a Kenyan national, is an AFI Associate who brings his key expertise on microfinance in Africa to AFI on a consultation basis. His full time career is working as the Chief Executive Officer of K-Rep Group, an organization focusing on microfinance (K-Rep Bank, Juhudi & K-Rep Fedha), consulting, and development finance. He founded K-Rep Bank, an African microfinance institution that was able to transform into a microfinance specializing commercial bank, and served as the bank’s Managing Director for over a decade. For nearly 30 years, Kimanthi has been involved in microfinance holding many leadership positions, in turn making him a valuable asset to a number of national and international organizations. |  |
Nimal Fernando, Associate nimal.fernando@afi-global.org |
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| Nimal Fernando, a national of Sri Lanka, is a former central banker who has over 35 years of development experience and was the Practice Leader for Microfinance at the Asian Development Bank (ADB) until his retirement in 2008. He was the founder and chief editor of ADB’s quarterly microfinance newsletter, Finance for the Poor, and main author of ADB’s Microfinance Development Strategy. He has extensive country experience in rural finance and microfinance development in Asia and the Pacific and worked with many central banks, other policy makers and a number of multilateral and bilateral organizations to develop financial services for the poor, low-income households and small and medium-enterprises. He has designed and conducted training programs and research in microfinance, financial inclusion and financial literacy and authored many papers and publications in these areas. He served as a member of the Executive Committee of the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP) for four years. |  |
Nicola Jentzsch, Associate nicola.jentzsch@afi-global.org |
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| Nicola, a German national, has more than 10 years experience of research on the economics of identification, privacy and consumer protection (especially regulation and competition in markets for personal information). She received her doctoral degree in economics from the Free University of Berlin (her thesis 'Financial Privacy - An International Comparison of Credit Reporting Systems;' Springer-Verlag was also published in Chinese). She taught at the Department of Economics of the Free University of Berlin and has been a Research Fellow at Georgetown University and Yale University. In the past years, Nicola has served as adviser to the central banks and market regulators in several Asian and African countries, but also to the European Commission, World Bank and CGAP. She is currently Associate at DIW Berlin. |  |
Eduardo Cabral Jimenez, Regional Associate eduardo.jimenez@afi-global.org |
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| Eduardo, a Philippine national, has more than 15 years of experience in microfinance. After working for the Central Bank of the Philippines, he became the Executive Director (1994-1999) of Alliance of Philippine Partners in Enterprise Development (APPEND), the largest and oldest network of microfinance NGOs in the Philippines. Since then, he has been a microfinance consultant for World Bank, Asian Development Bank, UNDP and other bilateral organizations, including helping to craft standards and financial literacy programs for the Philippines’ microfinance sector. |  |
David Porteous, Associate david.porteous@afi-global.org |
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| David Porteous, a native of South Africa now resident in the United States, has been involved in development finance for the past two decades. He has had executive roles in public and private financial institutions in Africa, and is the founder and director of Bankable Frontier Associates (www.bankablefrontier.com), a consulting firm based in Boston. The firm specializes in policy and strategy which promotes financial inclusion, serving financial regulators and policymakers, private financial providers, bi-lateral and multi-lateral donors and private foundations around the world. He has authored two books and numerous articles on topics relevant to financial inclusion and regulation. He also sits on the Strategy Committee of the CGAP Technology Program, the Vodafone-Nokia Social Impact of Mobiles (SIM) Panel and the Advisory Board of the Center for Financial Inclusion; and chairs the Investment Committee of the Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund. He has a PhD (Economics) from Yale. |
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Beatriz Marulanda, Associate beatrice.marulanda@afi-global.org |
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| Beatriz Marulanda has worked as an independent consultant for the private and public sectors in Colombia, as well as international institutions such as the World Bank and the Inter-American Development bank in various Latin American countries. She has designed diverse microfinance programs and analyzed and evaluated regulatory and supervisory frameworks related to microfinance throughout Latin America. In 2000, Beatriz established Marulanda Consultores, a firm providing consultancy on topics related to the financial sector. Over the past four years, she and the firm have been instrumental in the implementation of Banca de las Oportunidades, a project undertaken by the Colombian government to promote access to financial services. Additionally, she has developed a regulatory framework and business case models to implement banking correspondents in Colombia, worked to simplify regulatory requirements for basic savings accounts and mobile banking, and designed a pilot project to promote savings for 40,000 mothers receiving the CCT program Familias in Action. |
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AFI careers
AFI regularly seeks consultants and interns for a variety of tasks.
If you think you can help make an impact on AFI’s mission and are experienced in financial inclusion policy, regulatory issues, project management, network management or communications we invite you to contact us regarding your interest in AFI and the skills you have to contribute.
info@afi-global.org
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