Spotlight on: Digital Lending and SMEs

Evelyn Kaingu is an accomplished economist with broad expertise in financial services and technology. With unsurpassed critical thinking, strategic planning, and interpersonal skills, she is adept at cultivating productive industry relationships to advance the understanding of economic impact and future actions. Evelyn has a solid background and interest in providing accessible fintech, serving marginalized communities, and remote locations.

Evelyn Kaingu started Lupiya in 2016 with just USD500 after failing in her trading business due to lack of access to capital. Rather than being disheartened she was inspired to solve the problem by creating a business that evens the odds of access to capital in Africa. This was after she realized that 65% of the adult population (70% of which are women) in Africa lack access to capital, causing over 1 million small businesses to shut down every year.

As the co-founder and CEO of Lupiya in Zambia, Evelyn raised an impressive investment of USD 5 million and grew the business to serve over 16,000 marginalized customers. Her extensive knowledge of economics was leveraged to create a functional digital financing model for marginalized women, making financial services accessible to those who need it the most.

Evelyn's experience as a data consultant at the World Bank and as a finance and admin manager at the SPAR retail group provided her with expertise in economic analysis, project management, financial reporting, and team leadership. 

Evelyn holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of Cavendish in Lusaka, Zambia. Her dissertation on the impact of cross border trading on small businesses was among the top in her class.

Evelyn has been honored with several awards, including being selected for the Enygma Fund 1st Cohort, where Lupiya was one of the 11 businesses out of 900 across Africa to receive a $1m investment. She has also been a speaker and exhibitor at the Botswana Innovation Summit and the Afro-Asia Fintech Festival, and was the first runner up in the GIST Catalyst Global Pitch Competition from a total of 3000 applicants. Evelyn Kaingu is an Alumni of the prestigious Google Black Founders Fund.

Evelyn Kaingu is an alumna of the following US State Department programs: WECREATE, Academy for Women Entrepreneurs (AWE) and the Global Entrepreneurship Summit

Jean Claude Gaga leads Airtel’s MFS and Fintech arm – Airtel Mobile Commerce as Managing Director since January 2022. Prior to joining Airtel he was the Commercial Director at Equity Bank Rwanda where he delivered innovation in retail digital payments launching Fast Fasta – a merchant payment solution - disrupting a previously MNO (Mobile Network Operators) dominated space. This boosted non funded income for the bank. He served as CEO (Chief Executive Officer) at RSwitch, Rwanda’s national electronic payment processor, delivering payment interoperability and transaction processing services to banks and other financial institutions. He steered the company through its first EMV certification as a third-party processor for key international card schemes such as Visa and China Union Pay among others. He led RSwitch through several certifications for PCIDSS compliance ensuring the highest security standards for partners in the financial services sector. A digital payments enthusiast with over 13yrs experience, he pioneered Mobile Financial Services in Rwanda with the launch of the very first mobile money service with MTN Rwanda. Jean Claude is also a frequent conference speaker and has participated in major events around payments, mobile finance and fintech.

Nadeem is a globally recognized voice in the Digital Financial Services industry. Having lived and worked globally, built, scaled, and invested in a range of businesses, he has unique insight as an entrepreneur, innovator, venture capitalist, and philanthropist. Over the past decade, he has been at the heart of the “Fintech” revolution.

Recognizing that the fundamental needs of customers were changing and no longer subject to predefined industry silos, Nadeem began exploring the “Financial Wellness” concept and raised one of the first VC funds dedicated to this space. On the same vision, Nadeem co-founded Neem Exponential, an open banking platform to provide Financial Wellness to millions of underbanked people and businesses, launched in Pakistan.

Nadeem is also a former Head of Global Financial Services at Veon (and Jazz), with a deep understanding of Financial Services overall and within Pakistan. He co-founded and served as a CEO at the Anthemis Group, a pioneer venture capital firm in FinTech with over 500 million USD assets under management. Through Anthemis Group, Nadeem has invested in over 80 companies in the US and Europe. Previously, Nadeem served as a President at First Data International, with deep expertise in payments in developed and emerging markets. Nadeem is a Board Member at several impact-driven businesses and charities globally including Access Afya, Prospero World, and CARE Pakistan.

He is also the Chairman of The Future Farm, a global organisation dedicated to bringing emotional resilience, vulnerability, and mental health into the world of entrepreneurs.

Nadeem recalibrates his energy whilst painting, hiking, and exploring new parts of the world, through vibrant conversations and spending focused time with his loved ones.

Suresh Shankar, CEO and Founder of Crayon Data. Phase #0: 15 year intra-preneur, with many firsts in corporate life. Start-up #1: RedPill, pioneered Analytics revolution, exited to IBM Stupidity Gene #2: Crayon Data, go bolder with AI, build a platform - maya.ai. Uppers: sparky daring people, purpose & values-driven journeys: deadly cocktails - of data & intuition; right & left brain; long term persistence & short term impatience.” AI Podcaster, check out #SlavesToTheAlgo

Sanjiv Purushotham is a financial services industry veteran with over three decades of experience. He has worked in regional leadership positions with Mastercard, American Express and had a short stint advising Citibank. He began his career in India before moving to Singapore in the early years of his career, where he took up residence and established himself in the financial services industry.

Sanjiv's interest in fintech grew as he witnessed the digital transformation of the financial industry in Singapore. He became fascinated by the possibilities of using technology to create innovative financial solutions. Today, Sanjiv lives interchangeably between Singapore and Dubai, both fantastic cities to connect with the best of technology, finance, and ideas.

Sanjiv is a respected figure in the fintech industry, representing Singaporean and international fintech companies in the Middle East and Africa region. He is highly passionate and hopeful about the transformative impact of fintech in the area of financial inclusion and social development. He is known for his deep understanding of the fintech landscape and his ability to identify emerging trends and disruptive technologies.

Sanjiv has an abiding love for family, including his golden retriever and his son, who is studying engineering at UBC, and his wife, who is an awesome journalist. Sanjiv enjoys staying active and finds opportunities to run, row and occasionally jive and play squash even if he isn't particularly good at them. He is also an aviation buff and loves learning about all aspects of the industry.

If you would like to connect with Sanjiv, you can find him on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/sanjivpurushotham. He can also be reached via email at sanjiv@bridgeto.us

As a known movement maker across ASEAN, Amor Maclang has led cross-functional and cross-border collaborations among regional and national line agencies, industry leaders, academes, policymakers, and various stakeholders both from the private and public sectors. 

Specializing in high-impact, high-risk, high value, and highly regulated industries, Amor is a leading advocate of nascent technology adoption, renewable energy, public health, tourism, urban planning, and financial services. 

As the convenor of Digital Pilipinas, the largest private sector led movement for creating an innovation and a technology ecosystem in the Philippines, Amor continuously champions the mass uptake of blockchain, web 3.0, cryptocurrency, e-commerce, and fintech to raise the country’s innovation quotient.  

Amor is currently one of the advisors of the Department of Finance, the Department of Trade and Industry, the Department of Science and Technology, the Department of Information and Communications Technology, and the Department of Health initiating transformational change in line with her mission to transform the country into diverse antifragile ecosystems.  

She is the Co-Founder and Chief Reputation Architect of GeiserMaclang, the leading company in special situations, risks, issues, and crisis.

For 22 years, GeiserMaclang has enabled various brands to hit their business goals while being forces for good for the country.  

Among her many roles across multiple organizations, Amor is also a recognized speaker and panelist addressing regional and national audiences to enable innovative solutions and partnerships to steer the country towards digital transformation.

David LEE Kuo Chuen is a Professor of Financial Technology and Blockchain at the Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS), a Distinguished Professor at Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, an Adjunct Professor at the National University of Singapore (NUS), a Council Member of the British Blockchain Association, and Editor-in-Chief or Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Fintech and Annual Review of Fintech. Meanwhile, Professor LEE is also an internationally renowned scholar and industry opinion leader in the field of blockchain, an expert in the development of WEB3 and Artificial Intelligence (AI) application scenarios, the Chairman of the Global FinTech Institute (GFI), a co-founder of the Singapore Blockchain Association, a co-founder of the Blockchain Security Alliance, a CBDC advisor to the Asian Development Bank, Vice Chairman of the Economic Society of Singapore (ESS), a cryptocurrency advisor to the Asian Institute of Digital Finance (AIDF) of NUS, an advisor to the SUSS Node for inclusive FinTech (NiFT), an independent director of several listed companies in Singapore, an angel investor in blockchain, WEB3, inclusive finance and AI innovation, a senior advisor and Investment Committee member of Artichoke Capital which is backed by institutional limited partners, including sovereign wealth funds. Professor LEE previously served as a Senior Advisor to the President of Singapore Management University (SMU), Dean of the Sim Kee Boon Institute for Financial Economic (SKBI) in Singapore, a member of the Research Council of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), a member of the Technical Advisory Committee of Ping An OneConnect, an independent director of Lu Global in Singapore, and long taught at the Mayor's Class in Singapore. In addition, Professor LEE served as an international consultant to the Distributed Trust Research Project at Stanford University, CEO of listed companies OUE Enterprise and Auric Pacific, a researcher at Harvard University - National University of Singapore (1991-1993), a Fulbright Scholar at Stanford University in 2015, the founder of hedge fund Ferrell Asset Management, and the founder of real estate developer Ferrell Residences.

Jeremy is the founder and CEO of Liquid Group Pte Ltd, a cross border digital payment company headquartered in Singapore, with presence across the Asia-Pacific. He has been involved in payment ventures for over twenty years and is currently a member of Singapore’s Payments Council and serves as a Co-opted Councillor in SGTech. Jeremy is also Singapore Representative to the East Asia Business Council (EBAC) and Malaysian Singapore Business Council (MSBC). From 2009 to 2017, Jeremy was on the Board of Infocomm Investments Pte Ltd (now SGInnovate) and from 2009 to 2013, he served on the Board of the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA), where he also served on the Investment Committee. Jeremy holds a Master of Science (Comparative Politics) from the London School of Economics, and a Bachelor of Engineering from King’s College London.

Kwamina Duker, known as K Duker, is the CEO of the Development Bank of Ghana. Mr. Duker brings a wealth of experience in finance and investments, particularly Treasury and FX trading. With over 30 years of experience in leadership roles across different geographies including Ghana, the UK, and Asia, K Duker has particular experience of leading major FX technology platforms and treasury in Europe, the Americas, and the Asia Pacific.

K Duker was formerly the Managing Director of Dwennimmen Group Company Limited, an advisory firm that is passionate about connecting world-class expertise to Africa. Prior to this, he was the Managing Director for the Asia Pacific at OANDA where he had full oversight responsibilities of the company’s operations in the region.

He has previously served on various Boards including Consolidated Bank Ghana, Executive Committee member of OANDA, and Fidelity Bank Ghana. He currently serves on the boards of Learning Skills International School, Dwennimmen Group Company Limited, and Resilient Ghana.

K Duker holds a Master of Business Administration from the University of California and a Bachelor of Science in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from Barking University, Essex, U.K.

Lesley Denyes is a Senior Investment Officer with the FIG Africa Investment team. Previously, Lesley was DFS Specialist and Practice Group co-Lead for FIG Advisory Africa & Middle East. She has worked in the sector for the last 20 years; specifically, in the areas of business modeling, financial analysis, strategic planning, product development and channel management for DFS across Asia & Africa. Lesley has launched digital banks across Asia and supported IFC’s clients in the Africa and Middle East region to launch new digital products and subsidiaries. As a Program Director for Mercy Corps, in 2014, her program won the GSMA award for the ‘Best Use of Mobile in a Development Context’. Lesley has worked with commercial banks, mobile network operators, payment service providers, research institutes, technology developers and fintechs reach low income households through technology-led financial services. Based in Nairobi, Kenya, Lesley has a BSc in Quantitative Economics from Dalhousie University, Canada, and a MBA from Edinburgh Business School, UK.

Sopnendu Mohanty, currently the Chief Fintech Officer at the Monetary Authority of Singapore, is responsible for creating development strategies, public infrastructure, and policies around technology-driven innovation. Mohanty has over two decades of public and private sector experience in technology, operations, digital Finance, and investment strategies.

Mohanty extensively engages with global technology and financial services ecosystems and has championed notable collaborative public goods like API Exchange (APIX), Singapore Fintech Festival, Payment Rails, Data exchange platforms, and experimental programs like UBIN. In addition, Mohanty advises many international global advisory bodies on Fintech, Innovation and Inclusion. Within five years of his leadership, Singapore has become a leading global Fintech hub producing unicorns and home to many vibrant fintech companies.

He has co-authored several patented works in the application of digital technology in Finance and won many industry recognitions.

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.

Thairu Ndungu, Deputy Managing Director Thairu Ndungu is Deputy Managing Director of Consolidated Bank Ghana. He has over thirty years’ experience in the Financial Markets. He worked at Nubuke Investments LLP, London in the UK for twelve years as Partner and Chief Operating officer. Prior to that he was working for Standard Chartered Bank in their Africa Regional Office based in London, UK. He worked for Standard Chartered for sixteen years, in various roles and countries in Africa, UK, Middle East and Asia. The last role being Regional Head, Markets Operations-Africa based in London and briefly in Dubai. He has extensive experience in general management, investment management, risk management, project management and process change management. Thairu has a BSC in Mathematics and Post Graduate Diploma in Computer Science both from the University of Nairobi, Kenya.

Mr. Yan MENG is a co-founder of Solv Protocol and one of the originators and designers of ERC-3525 token standard. ERC-3525 tokens are highly flexible, efficient, and can be used to represent advanced digital assets, financial instruments, and real-world assets. Solv Protocol provides the infrastructure for the creation, management, and trading of Web3 digital assets, including ERC-3525 tokens. Solv Protocol is backed by renowned industry leaders including Binance, Blockchain Capital, Sfermion, Gumi, Spartan Group, and more. Mr. Meng is a high-profile blockchain expert, evangelist, and consultant in the Chinese-speaking blockchain community. Best known in for his original work in tokenomics and digital asset study, he provided training and consulting services to many well-known industry leaders, including Tecent, Lenovo, FAW, Binance, and Huobi. Before stepping into the blockchain industry, Mr. Meng worked for IBM as a senior manager in the Strategic Communications, directly supporting the Chairman and CEO of IBM Greater China Group.