Careers and Education

Hon. Soraya Munyana HAKUZIYAREMYE was appointed Deputy Governor of the National Bank of Rwanda in March 2021. 

Prior to that, she served as Rwanda's Minister of Trade and Industry, from October 2018 to March 2021; she began her tenure as a Cabinet Member right after her time as Vice President in the Financial Institutions/Financial Markets Risk Department at ING Bank in London.

Hon. Soraya M. HAKUZIYAREMYE has had an extensive career in global banking; she worked in various positions at BNP Paribas Group in Paris, Fortis Bank and the Bank of New York Mellon in Brussels. She also served as Senior Advisor to Rwanda’s Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2012 to 2014.

She holds a postgraduate degree in International Management from the Thunderbird Graduate School of Global Management in the U.S., as well as a Masters in Business Engineering (Ingénieur de Gestion) from the Solvay Business School at the Université Libre de Bruxelles in Belgium.

Tesi Rusagara is the Managing Director of Kigali Innovation City, whose mission is to nurture and accelerate Rwanda's innovation ecosystem to position Rwanda as a pan-African hub. She was previously with Deloitte Consulting in San Francisco advising financial services clients on digital transformation, growth strategy and divestitures. Tesi has also worked in the President of Rwanda’s Strategy and Policy Unit and for Bank of Kigali, Rwanda’s largest commercial bank. Tesi holds an Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from Stanford University and a Bachelor of Business Science in Finance from the University of Cape Town. She is currently a board member of the Rwanda Capital Markets Authority.

Tram Anh Nguyen is the co-founder of CFTE in 2017, one of the fastest growing knowledge platforms in Fintech and Digital Finance, based in the UK, Singapore and Abu Dhabi. Tram Anh is committed to promoting diversity and inclusion in the fintech industry, as exemplified by her role as an Ambassador of the Inclusive Fintech Forum and Ambassador for the Singapore Fintech Festival. Her work with CFTE and her advocacy for upskilling in the industry align with the Forum’s mission to foster inclusive innovation in financial services and Fintech. She is a Non-Executive Director of Passerelles Numeriques, and serves on the Advisory Boards of Business France, French Tech UK, the Association of Corporate Treasurers, and EDHEC Business School. She is an Entrepreneurship Expert Saïd Business School, Oxford and is an Industry Fellow of Imperial College. She is an advocate of lifelong learning and believes that continuous education is the best tool to help people adapt to a fast-changing world. A few of Tram Anh’s significant achievements include co-author of the Fintech Job Report and the Blockchain Job Report. The Fintech job report is the first of its kind in history, where the major developments in the field, possible work roles, and pertinent employability skills required to help governments, regulators, employers, and job applicants with future job creation and prospects have been outlined. She collaborates with governments, policymakers, industry experts, and academia to push initiatives in financial education for Finance 2.0, in order to transform the industry and help a diverse range of stakeholders, including women and individuals from different backgrounds and walks of life, enter the new world of finance. Of Vietnamese origin, Tram Anh was born in France and has lived in Paris, New York, and now London. Her diverse cultural background enables her to bring the best of both Asian and Western cultures together, in order to drive innovation and progress in the fintech industry. Keen Senior Leader Women in Fintech, International speaker at global events, mentor and judge for the industry.

Vanessa Umutoni is a Technical Payments Specialist at AfricaNenda, a financial services accelerator focused on expanding instant retail payment solutions on the continent. She is a leader in digital financial services, fintech, and payment solutions, with extensive experience in both private and non-profit organizations.

As a Technical Payments professional, she focuses on building and advocating for efficient and affordable retail payment solutions through product development, design, and digital strategy development. She has worked with banks, national switches, regulators, mobile financial service providers, integrators, and startups.

Previously, she worked as a senior product manager at Pivot Access, where she led the company's fintech product portfolio, and at the Mastercard Foundation Center for Innovative Teaching & Learning ICT, where she led a regional entrepreneurship program with companies from seven African countries.

Vanessa holds a Master of Science Degree in Information Technology from Carnegie Mellon University. She was also the Vice President of Girls in ICT Rwanda for seven years and is passionate about STEM for Women.