april 14, 2018

emerging markets summit

as global markets shift, so should the way you do business

Global Panel - technology
"DEMOCRATIZING FINANCE: THE fintech impact"

Tech savvy populations, the rapid proliferation of mobile phones and improving internet connectivity, make EMs ripe for alternative finance solutions. Despite fast growth in recent years, some two billion adults still do not have a bank account – most of whom live in EMs. This provides an opportunity to build profitable businesses that also empower large populations with better access to financial solutions. Through their experience, panelists will seek to share their understanding of FinTech in EMs and the upcoming challenges.

ADJA DIAKITE, XP '18

Derivatives Executive, Deutsche Bank; Co-founder of Yelaane Inc.

  • Adja Diakite is a Derivatives Executive at Deustche Bank. She has been working at Deutsche Bank since 2012 in London as a Derivatives Executive for various Fixed Income and Currencies trading desks. Prior to Deutsche Bank, Adja worked at Pricing Partners (FinTech acquired by Thomson Reuters) as a Quantitative Analyst and led the UK business development. She led the inaugural Chicago Booth Africa Forum of Chicago Booth Alumni Club of Africa which took place in London in April 2017 and focused on the theme "Changing the Game in Africa". Adja is passionate about entrepreneurship, private sector development and finance technology (FinTech), and has covered FinTech events for publications like the Startup Magazine in London and engaged with the African Tech community.Adja has been involved in various social enterprise initiatives in Africa. She is the co-founder of Yelaane Inc., a social enterprise that provides essential prenatal diagnostic services to expecting mothers in Mali. She is the cofounder and treasurer of "Natanka Fanga"a non-profit organisation which sponsors social and education, healthcare and food programs initiatives in Mali (West Africa). In addition, she supports various charities like the Helen Bamber foundation, Malaria No More UK and World Child Cancer. Adja Diakite has an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. She holds an M.Sc. (Hons) and M. Phil in Applied Mathematics and Quantitative Finance from ENSAE Paris Tech and Paris Dauphine. She holds a B.Sc. (Hons) in Applied Mathematics.

LEANDRO A. FRANCO

Head of Digital Payments, Ita├║

  • Leandro A. Franco is currently an executive manager at Ita├║ Unibanco, head of digital payments customer engagement, applied analytics, data-driven solutions and payment networks business development. In his role, he is also leading the digital/agile transformation of the bank's payment area. Previously, Mr. Franco served as the leading lawyer for retail banking, consumer finance and payment services. Mr. Franco received a bachelor of law degree from the University of Sao Paulo, a master's degree from the University of Chicago Law School and an executive education degree in digital acceleration and business transformation from Hyper Island.

SHAMIR KARKAL

Entrepreneur in Residence, Omidyar Network, Former Head of Open API Initiatives at BBVA

  • Shamir is a software engineer turned finance and banking expert. Prior to joining Omidyar Network as an Entrepreneur in Residence, Shamir headed Open API initiatives at BBVA. Shamir also Co-founded Simple, an online banking services startup based in Portland, Oregon. Before Simple, Shamir was a consultant with McKinsey & Co. specializing in strategy consulting for financial institutions. He has a bachelor's in computer science, a master's in information technology, and an MBA from Carnegie Mellon.

PRASHANTHI RAVANAVARAPU

Director, Product Architect – Financial Health

  • Prashanthi is PayPal's Product Architect focused on improving the financial health of customers. She leads customer driven innovation for teams that focus on solving the needs of the financially underserved and works to democratize financial services. She believes in the intersection of impact and business results and is enabling that at PayPal. She has had various roles in Data, Architecture, Strategy and Product Management. In her previous role, she lead Consumer Cause Product at PayPal and was was responsible for connecting the 220+ mil customers to the causes they care about and was instrumental in a hockey stick growth in donations.
  • In addition to leading a cross-functional team focused on product innovation, she is a change agent and an intrapreneur. She has created several programs to create opportunities for more people to enable impact through their skills.
  • Prashanthi has strong technical, product and business background; using data to solve complex problems at scale, innovating for the future, bringing product excellence and deploying technology to advance impact across the globe

E.J. REEDY

Director, Strategic Initiatives @ Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship

  • E.J. Reedy oversees strategic initiatives at the Polsky Center, including research, global and alumni programming. He is a global thought leader in entrepreneurship, having spent the last decade working for the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, the largest philanthropy devoted to promoting entrepreneurship. E.J.'s research and commentary has been featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and a host of other global outlets.