Senior Consultant - Inclusive Finance

• Jan 2023 - Present

HORUS Development Finance is a consulting firm that has been specializing in financial inclusion for more than 30 years. Our mission is to expand access to and enhance the quality of financial services for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), farmers and women in developing countries. HORUS supports all private and public actors in inclusive finance on various themes: Financial Inclusion, Agricultural Finance, Inclusive Climate Finance, MSME Finance, Digital Finance, Institutional Strengthening, and Gender Inclusive Finance. HORUS carries out its missions in four main areas: - Improving value propositions to vulnerable clients - Supporting the operational efficiency of financial service providers - Designing, implementing and evaluating financial inclusion projects - Knowledge creation, capitalization and sharing (national studies, training). Show less

Lead Consultant - National Financial Inclusion Strategy development

• Dec 2021 - Mar 2023

I led the development of the 1st National Financial inclusion Strategy and Action plan for Guinea-Bissau. I led the development of the 1st National Financial inclusion Strategy and Action plan for Guinea-Bissau.

Co-founder and Chief Economist

• Nov 2020 - Oct 2022

Business Environment Reform Expert/Trainer - Investment Climate Reform Facility

• Dec 2021 - Aug 2022

https://www.icr-facility.eu/ https://www.icr-facility.eu/

Financial sector development and reforms Expert

• Apr 2021 - Mar 2022

Key expert team member of the Phase III (2013-2020) final-term evaluation of the The Financial Sector Reform and Strengthening Initiative (FIRST). This multi-donor program aimed at supporting low- and middle-income countries in building stable, more efficient, and inclusive financial systems. FIRST was created in 2002 following the East Asian financial crisis and has funded more than 800 projects in over 120 countries. It has been financed by various donors, including the governments of Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands or the United Kingdom, and implemented by the World Bank and IMF. More specifically, I was responsible of the the evaluation of financial sector related business environment reform projects related to SME finance and Microfinance, Housing finance, Insurance, Pensions, Digital Financial Services and Payment systems that have been implemented in sub-Saharan and northern Africa, Asia, and Latin America. My work held among others on the review of Programs/Projects pre-implementation diagnostic works (e.g. Country Partnership Frameworks-CPFs, Financial Assessment Programs-FSAPs or Financial Sector Development Implementation Plans), projects' reports, consultations with Technical Leads-TLs and Task Team Leaders-TTLs. Show less

Senior International Development Economist

• Jul 2020 - Nov 2020

Senior Associate Consultant - Digital & Financial Inclusion

• Jan 2020 - Jun 2020

Amarante Consulting is a boutique firm providing design and implementation services in the Digital & Financial Inclusion space. Our services span across the value chain: Strategy, design, business modeling, partnership building, distribution network setup, technology design and implementation, process development, risk management, piloting and all the way to operational management. We have also undertaken research on niche focus areas and provided knowledge-sharing workshops, and trainings with content adapted to our clients’ needs. From January to June 2020, I have supported UNCDF Madagascar on its endeavours to assist Madagascar in becoming an inclusive digital economy, through an integrated approach to develop digital innovations in sectors such as Financial Services, Agriculture, Energy, Education, Health and Transport. Show less

Short-term Expert - Financial Inclusion

• Jan 2020 - Mar 2020

For the technical assistance programme to the European Investment Bank financial sector operations in West and Central Africa: I have conducted a socio-economic analysis of key barriers to financial inclusion in four countries in the Sahel Region (Niger, Burkina Faso, Senegal and Mali) aimed at informing the DFI's strategy and intervention in the region. For the technical assistance programme to the European Investment Bank financial sector operations in West and Central Africa: I have conducted a socio-economic analysis of key barriers to financial inclusion in four countries in the Sahel Region (Niger, Burkina Faso, Senegal and Mali) aimed at informing the DFI's strategy and intervention in the region.

Economic and Financial Functional component Manager - Business Environment Reform, Essor programme

• Sep 2018 - Mar 2019

Essor: "Pour un environnement propice à l’investissement en RDC" is a five year flexible programme, acting at meso (business associations) and macro (government) levels, being implemented by a PwC-led alliance of consulting firms for the UK Department for International Development (DFID) to improve the incomes of the poor in DRC, through the development of MSMEs, including women and youth owned, as well as people leaving in rural areas, through reforms to the country’s investment environment and policies. Essor's work aims to participate in improving the DR Congo's ranking in the World Bank's "Doing Business Index". Within one of Essor's major workstreams, there was the implementation of the OHADA law in the DR Congo. I have been part of the workstream management team alongside the OHADA workstream/technical lead to provide theoretical and practical expertise in the economic and financial/banking fields. In addition, I was primarily (but not exclusively) in charge of the functional part of the activities relating to the implementation of the DR Congo's movable collateral registry (beneficiaries' needs assessment, project management around the enhancement of a responsive IT functionality, as well testing and training of the beneficiaries from the financial sector and the companies' One-Stop-Shop), and the assistance to the Central Balance Sheet Office in the automation of the deposit of companies' balance sheets. Show less

Workstream Lead/Technical Lead - Access to Finance, Essor Programme

• Jul 2016 - Aug 2018

Essor: "Pour un environnement propice à l’investissement en RDC" is a five year flexible programme, acting at meso (business associations) and macro (government) levels, being implemented by a PwC-led alliance of consulting firms for the UK Department for International Development (DFID) to improve the incomes of the poor in DRC, through the development of MSMEs, including women and youth owned, as well as people leaving in rural areas, through reforms to the country’s investment environment and policies. Under the Essor Program, I have lead relationship management, programmatic work, and flagship research and managed technical assistance work of a multi-disciplinary team of up to 10 national and international experts (economists, financial, insurance, legal and communication experts). The successful work has focused on, among other things: • A technical assistance to develop the Congolese Ministry of Finance's first National Financial Inclusion Strategy; • A technical contribution to the National Financial Education Programme ("Programme National d'Education Financière" - “PNEF”) • An exclusive technical assistance aimed at creating an enabling environment for leasing; • And an exclusive technical assistance aimed at providing the country with an operational regulatory framework for the liberalization of the insurance market with the newly established insurance regulator (“ARCA”). Show less

Senior Associate Consultant - Digital Financial Services

• Oct 2015 - Jun 2016

Amarante Consulting is a boutique consultancy firm specialized in Digital Financial Services (DFS) across emerging markets. We help you think, launch, revisit, enrich and constantly expand your DFS/Mobility initiative. We are passionate, creative, result-driven DFS business builders. Amarante brings unparalleled field knowledge through direct involvement in over 40 DFS projects around the world. We believe that each market is unique and requires a specific approach. We build on our rich experience, leverage best practices and develop a sound understanding of your operational context to make your DFS project a success. Most importantly, we recognize that the journey does not end at service launch, it actually just begins. Under the UNCDF's MM4P program, the assignment consists of an end-to-end support to one of the major Senegalese MNOs (and partner financial institution(s)) including: market research, product design and pricing, credit scoring, technical requirements, Agent network enhancement, piloting and refinement of a credit scoring-based micro-lending product (using mobile phone data) and a micro-savings product to increase adoption, usage and retention of mobile money customers in Senegal. Show less

Consultant - Financial Inclusion and SME Guarantee Schemes

• Jun 2015 - Sep 2015

Since the early 1990s, International Advisory Services - IAS (formerly Bankakademie International) has been committed to providing consulting and training services and addressing the needs of different stakeholders in the financial sector. On behalf of various agencies and development finance institutions (such as ADB, EU, EIB, EBRD, GTZ, IFC, KfW, World Bank) International Advisory Services carries out projects across the globe with the overall aim to strengthen the financial sector and thus contribute to improving access to finance for low-end population. Among others, IAS's services include: i) market research and financial sector diagnostics as well as feasibility studies, ii) development and implementation of technical assistance measures to improve the institutional capacity of commercial banks and microfinance institutions and iii) assistance in major change processes, such as transformation and merger exercises. In order to complement regional experience with technical expertise, IAS works through various competence centers, such as Microbanking Transformation, SME Finance, Risk Management, Energy Efficiency, Rural and Agricultural Finance as well as Housing Finance. Under the World Bank's Financial Inclusion Support Framework ("FISF") for Rwanda, the assignment consisted in assisting the "Business Development Fund" (BDF) - the SME Credit Guarantee Fund of the Government of Rwanda in its product offer, image and operations enhancement. Show less

Consultant - Microfinance Technical Assistance

• Jan 2014 - Dec 2014

Positive Planet is organized as a state-approved public-interest Foundation and is composed of three entities: the international NGO previously called PlaNet Finance (since 1998), the Positive Economy Forum (including labs and positive economy research indexes since 2012), and Positive Planet Social Business, since 2006, which aggregates the social business structures initially incubated and developed by Positive Planet, starting with Microcred, a holding company of several microcredit institutions in Africa and China. Consulting mission for Positive Planet - Indian Ocean region The mandate consisted in: - Governance, organizational and operational diagnosis of the Association AMIE (Appui aux Micro-Entreprises) - Proposal and training on 2 tools: one on the follow-up of the Loan portfolio and Portfolio at Risk (PAR), the other on Key Performance Indicators (KPI) Show less

Research and Product Development Manager

• Nov 2011 - Nov 2013

As the first Research and Product Development Manager of the institution, I was in charge of setting up, organizing and managing of the department. Duties included among others: - Initiating and implementing working policies and procedures and processes; - Market Research, Economic intelligence and Competitor analysis; - Customer-centric and risk-mitigated MSME Loan and Savings products development, refinement and Marketing strategy (distribution channels optimization); - Non financial services development, e.g. Business Development Services; - Project Management: e.g. initiation of a branchless banking model, - Social Performance and impact analysis and Management. Other social outcomes analyses included dimensions on customer protection - SMART campaign, as well as data collection on the Progress out of Poverty Index; - Research on Customer satisfaction to inform better products, and best delivery and communication channels, ultimately leading to improved outreach. This implied liaising with internal (e.g. IT) and external stakeholders ; - Grants mobilization "Champion". Below are some of my achievements in this role: I have: - Led over 8 product development and refinement: MSME loan products, savings products and non financial services, some of which implied partnerships with specialized organizations; - Initiated a branchless banking model project after having secured a CAD 325,000 funding from CIDA (Canadian International Development Agency). This resulted in, among other things : - Over 80% of customer satisfaction; - 36% increase in the number of customers in 2 years time; - 21% increase of the loan portfolio 2 years time; - An increase of the Savings portfolio from 80% to 102% of the loan portfolio, allowing a decrease of the institution's cost of funding and a decrease in the clients' interest rates, while; - Keeping a good portfolio quality - PAR (30 days) under 2%. Show less

Consultant - Microfinance Social Performance

• May 2011 - Aug 2011

Consulting assignment in partnership with CERISE (https://cerise-spm.org/en/) and SIDI (https://www.sidi.fr), consisting in an action research. I was in charge of 2 MFIs: - For one MFI, the mission consisted in setting-up Social Performance (SP) and Impact assessment tools for the institution's governance bodies; - For the other MFI, the mandate consisted in providing strategic advise on the institution's SP Management with a focus on the institution's new product development. Consulting assignment in partnership with CERISE (https://cerise-spm.org/en/) and SIDI (https://www.sidi.fr), consisting in an action research. I was in charge of 2 MFIs: - For one MFI, the mission consisted in setting-up Social Performance (SP) and Impact assessment tools for the institution's governance bodies; - For the other MFI, the mandate consisted in providing strategic advise on the institution's SP Management with a focus on the institution's new product development.

Research fellow

• Dec 2009 - Aug 2011

Research topic: Microfinance investment vehicles (MIVs) Research topic: Microfinance investment vehicles (MIVs)

Senior consultant - Fund Administration

• Apr 2010 - Oct 2010

Fund administration consulting mission at RBC Dexia IS Bank, Zurich Branch Fund administration consulting mission at RBC Dexia IS Bank, Zurich Branch

Senior Fund Administrator

• Sep 2006 - Feb 2009

Fund Administrator at Citigroup Luxembourg International mutual funds (comprising complex financial structures and instruments: pooling structures, futures, options, Forex, structured products, swaps) valuation. Security and cash reconciliation management between Fund accounting and Custody. Constant interaction and liaising with other departments involved in the business (Pricing, Corporate Action, Transfer Agency, investment restrictions department…) Periodical tasks: Month, year-end closings/revaluations Liaising with clients and auditors Show less

Custody officer

• Jun 2006 - Aug 2006

Security income processing Security income processing

Fund administrator

• Mar 2006 - May 2006

International mutual funds valuation. Corporate actions valuation. Performance fees valuation International mutual funds valuation. Corporate actions valuation. Performance fees valuation