Meet The Team

Max is the Head of Mobile for Development (M4D) at GSMA. M4D is singularly positioned at the intersection of the mobile ecosystem and the development sector to drive innovation in digital technology to reduce inequalities in our world, enabled by partnerships with forward-thinking donors and a team of 130 passionate professionals. Max joined GSMA in 2012 and held positions within various programmes. He initially helped mobile operators and partners design solutions to ensure women in emerging markets do not get left out of the digital economy as part of the Connected Women programme. He later headed the Ecosystem Accelerator and M4D Utilities programmes which have allocated a combined $22 million in grant funding to 85 ventures in 40+ countries across Africa and Asia; these ventures had since collectively raised $450+ million in additional funding and impacted more than 10 million citizens as of January 2020.

Prior to joining GSMA, Max worked in the Middle East and Africa innovation unit of mobile operator Orange for 3 years, based in Jordan and in France, and as a telecom strategy consultant with Altai Consulting, where he focused on projects in Iraq and Afghanistan. Max holds a Masters in Management from HEC Paris, and a Masters in International Management from ESADE Barcelona, and is one of the Young Leaders of the French-African Foundation, placed under the high patronage of the French and Ghanaian Presidents. Max is passionate about technology and entrepreneurship, and their combined impact on our Planet, our societies and our economies.

Akanksha works as the Head of the ClimateTech and Digital Utilities programmes.

Akanksha has been with GSMA since 2012 and specialises in the uses of mobile technology for social good. She has previously worked in the research teams GSMA Intelligence and M4D’s Central Insights Unit. Prior to joining the GSMA, Akanksha worked as a Power and Utilities Analyst at GlobalData in India.

Akanksha has an MBA degree from IBS Hyderabad (India) and a BSc. degree in Psychology from Rajasthan University, India.

Ashley joined the GSMA in 2021 as the Head of Financial Inclusion and AgriTech.

Prior to joining GSMA, Ashley had been living and working in East Africa, championing financial inclusion and the development of agrifood systems across sub-Saharan Africa for over 11 years.  During this time, Ashley designed and managed funds, investing in agribusinesses and fintechs across the continent, with Root Capital and Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund (AECF), to catalyze innovation and growth for wide impact.  Ashley has played key roles in driving and supporting gender lens investing in her work.  She also worked with Mastercard Foundation and Financial Sector Deepening Africa (FSDA), managing large multi-million-dollar programmes, partnering and working with a wide array of implementing partners and key stakeholders in the industry.

Ashley holds a BSc in Management and Finance from the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities (United States) and an MBA from IESE Business School (Spain).

Claire is the Head of Digital Inclusion in the Mobile for Development (M4D) team at GSMA. She leads the Connected Women and Connected Society programmes which are focused on accelerating digital inclusion for the underserved in low- and middle-income countries. Connected Women has a specific focus on accelerating digital and financial inclusion for women.

Claire has been working for over 25 years with public, private and international development organisations on social policy and service delivery with a focus on information and communications technology (ICT) policy and practice. She has developed, managed and implemented programmes in Africa, Asia and the UK. Claire holds an MSc in Social Research Methods (2012) and an MSc in Social Policy and Planning in Developing Countries (1997) from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).

Daniele oversees the work of the Central Insights Unit and the M&E function in M4D. In his role, he is responsible for engaging with M4D’s funding partners in HQ and regions to deliver research and analysis that address global and regional challenges. Daniele leads the team to produce thought leadership content on frontier technology, digitalisation and their role in progressing sustainable and inclusive development. As senior director for Monitoring and Evaluation(M&E), he also oversees the M&E function of M4D, ensuring that impact measurement methodologies are robust and consistent throughout the M4D portfolio.

Daniele has been at the GSMA since 2015. He has previously managed the insights teams of the GSMA AgriTech and mHealth programmes, producing analysis and intelligence for sector practitioners. Prior to joining the GSMA, Daniele worked as an industry analyst and consultant for the telecoms and media sectors in emerging markets, at Informa Telecoms & Media (now Omdia) and GlobalData. Daniele holds an MSc in new media and information systems from the London School of Economics and an MA from the University of Bologna.

As Head of Marketing, Edele is responsible for global marketing and communications for the GSMA’s Connectivity for Good pillar, as well as executive communications for the Leadership Team.

Edele joined the GSMA in 2013 as mHealth Marketing Manager, focused on mobile nutrition in Sub-Saharan Africa, and then held several Connectivity for Good Marketing Director roles before her current position. Prior to joining the GSMA, Edele spent time dedicated to sales and marketing in the premium FMCG sector in Spain, the UK and Ireland, as well as at a start-up focused on international airtime transfer to emerging markets.

Edele holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree and an MA in Media and International Conflict, both from University College Dublin.

Kimberly joined the GSMA in July 2020 as the Head of Mobile for Humanitarian Innovation. Before GSMA, she was the Head of Humanitarian Policy at the British Red Cross, where she led the department responsible for policy, advocacy, and research on international humanitarian issues. She acted as adviser to the Chairman on the organisation’s role on the Governing Board and General Assembly of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).

Kimberly has worked for several humanitarian organisations, with a focus on building partnerships in multilateral processes and negotiations. She has worked on the Sustainable Development Goals, the New York Declaration on Refugees and Migrants, the Grand Bargain (World Humanitarian Summit), the Paris Climate Agreement, the Mine Ban Treaty, and the Convention on Cluster Munitions. Kimberly worked in Asia-Pacific with the IFRC, during the time of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, where she carried out advocacy on global disaster preparedness guidelines. She has also focused on humanitarian issues such as children in armed conflict, principled humanitarian action, and protection of civilians.

She holds a BA in Psychology from UBC (Vancouver), a MA in International Development Studies and Political Science from Chulalongkorn University (Bangkok) where her thesis focused on displacement of Myanmar refugees in Thailand. In July 2020, she completed an Executive MBA at London Business School. She has been deployed to, and worked across, several humanitarian contexts in Africa, Asia, and the Middle-East.

Philippe leads the Operations of the various M4D programmes in collaboration with the wider GSMA organisation, GSMA members and partners.

He also leads the GSMA Innovation Fund, providing funding to innovators in low and medium-income countries.

Philippe joined the GSMA in 2012 and held various roles including Project Manager for IP Interconnection and Programme Manager for Mobile Money. Prior to GSMA, Philippe worked 10year in various project management roles within Orange, He managed commercial projects on B2C rich communications services (RCS) and B2B voice and data services. He was also responsible for the modelling of termination costs for Orange France. Philippe has a Master in Business Administration from the University of Warwick and a Master of Science from the University of Bristol.

Achille is a Market Engagement Manager under the Mobile Money Programme. He is supporting the team to define a clear and outstanding strategic direction. He is responsible to engage with industry, Build and manage strategic relationships with the Mobile Money & digital finance providers with a huge focus in Francophone speaking countries.

Prior to GSMA, Achille worked for various digital finance service actors. He was a consultant Manager & business development at MicroSave Consulting, helping financial service providers to implement their digital transformation and create new digital financial services. He has also been part of many research projects on Fintech in Francophone Africa. Achille has worked for one of a well-known French Tech Company Sopra Banking Software and a big Fintech which provided alternative delivery channel for Financial Service Providers – called Software Group. He has been member of the UNCDF advisory panel for women financial inclusion in the CEMAC Area.

Achille holds a master’s degree in management and strategy from the University of Ngaoundere Cameroon.

Achmad Pradipta (Dipta) is the Senior Market Engagement Manager of the Mobile Innovation Hub Indonesia. As the Market Engagement Manager, Dipta works closely with the local Mobile Network Operators (MNOs), other technology partners and policy makers to explore partnership opportunities to build innovative and impactful projects that use mobile enabled digital tech solutions to assist Indonesia’s journey towards reaching national climate goals.

Prior to GSMA, Dipta has worked across multiple companies and various industries from start-ups, consulting firms, MNOs as well as mining companies where he played a pivoting role helping them to build their sustainability portfolios and to increase their industry reputation through impactful projects such as XL Future Leaders. Dipta’s holds a Degree in Marketing & Commerce which he completed as part of the International Double Degree Graduate Programme affiliated with Curtin University, Perth, Australia. Perth.

Adil is the Senior Market Engagement Manager for the GSMA’s Inclusive Tech Lab within the Mobile Money Programme. He is responsible for driving the technological roadmap and growth of financial and digital inclusion in emerging markets. He leads the engagements with mobile money providers and the wider mobile industry stakeholders in order to manage the implementation of technical solutions that accelerate third-party integrations and ecosystem growth. Areas of interest include industry-wide adoption of standardised financial APIs, biometrics in low-tech environments and new solutions for merchant payments.

Prior to joining the GSMA, Adil worked in the remittances industry as a Business Development consultant to Fintech start-ups and holds an MBA from Imperial College Business School.

Ahmed is a Senior Market Engagement Manager for the AgriTech programme based in Islamabad, Pakistan. He provides consultancy and implementation support to partner mobile operators in Asia and Africa, assisting in optimizing the rollout and commercialization of their AgriTech product initiatives.

Before joining GSMA, Ahmed was managing multiple mobile money products for Telenor easypaisa. Prior to that, he worked with Standard Chartered Bank, primarily within the product management and Small and Medium Enterprise functions.

Ahmed completed his undergraduate studies from the Lahore University of Management Sciences in Pakistan and his MBA from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Akanksha works as the Head of the ClimateTech and Digital Utilities programmes.

Akanksha has been with GSMA since 2012 and specialises in the uses of mobile technology for social good. She has previously worked in the research teams GSMA Intelligence and M4D’s Central Insights Unit. Prior to joining the GSMA, Akanksha worked as a Power and Utilities Analyst at GlobalData in India.

Akanksha has an MBA degree from IBS Hyderabad (India) and a BSc. degree in Psychology from Rajasthan University, India.

Alejandra is a Senior Operations Manager working across the GSMA Innovation Fund. Her duties include planning and monitoring activities, managing suppliers and contributing to internal and external reporting to ensure objectives are achieved throughout the project cycle.

Before joining GSMA Alejandra was working at Ashoka UK, where she was co-designing a global mentoring initiative to help social enterprises scale their impact. Previously she also spent three years as a Social Entrepreneurship Manager at Citibank Mexico, where she managed a portfolio of grants for early stage social and environmental start-ups.

She holds a Master’s degree in International Money and Banking from the University of Bath and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Universidad Panamericana in Mexico.

Alfred joins us as the Senior Market Engagement Manager for the ClimateTech programme based in the Nairobi, Kenya office.
Previously Alfred worked with Safaricom Plc. as an Environmental and Sustainability expert. In his role, he spearheaded projects focused on environmental wellbeing that included reducing Carbon emission (Net Zero project), general waste and E-Waste management. Some of his key achievements include the development and implementation of the Integrated Waste Management strategy which includes E-waste; this was used to lobby the Government to develop and implement a National Government to develop and implement a national strategy on solid waste management, carbon footprint calculation and the development and implementation of the Safaricom Net Zero Programme, development and implementation of the Sustainability strategy, The Africa Sustainability leadership Programme currently being offered at the Strathmore University. He was key in the organisation’s sustainability reporting determining key materiality’s and setting the reporting level and roadmap to be adopted in the annual reporting, and stakeholder’s engagement (both local and global). Alfred also held the Government affairs docket under the Regulatory & Public Policy function leading the engagements with Government stakeholders to lobby for favouvarable policy positions, seamless market operations and joint delivery of the Net Zero aspiration.

Alfred also worked at the United Nations Global Compact – Kenya Network where he spearheaded the Strategic autonomisation of the local network by developing the governance structure, value proposition, funding model, and membership growth and implementation of various environmental initiatives to support businesses to go green and help address climate change and ethical considerations. He also worked at Ryden International, the European Union, the Africa Waste and Environment Management Centre (AWEMAC), Kenya Agriculture & Livestock Research Organisation (KALRO). Where he held various positions that focused on Data analytics, Climate Change, Ecosystem Management, and Natural resource conservation among other responsibilities. Alfred has a degree in Environmental Science and is currently finalizing a Masters Degree Programme on Procurement and Logistics with a focus in Green Procurement. He is also a trained Sustainability Expert, ISO 14001, ISO45001 and ISO 26000 Implementer, Auditor and Lead Auditor.

Alice is a Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) analyst based in Nairobi, and will be supporting the central MEL team and the GSMA Innovation Fund.

Prior to joining GSMA, she was a Monitoring and Evaluation Officer at Energy Intelligence Africa undertaking a mid-term Evaluation for Green port projects at the port of Mombasa, Kenya.

Alice has a background in Economics and she recently completed a Master’s program in Monitoring and Evaluation and Population Development from the University of Nairobi. She has four years of experience working in diverse research projects; programming tools, data collection and analysis. She has also trained and mentored students on quantitative research and taken up several monitoring and evaluation roles.

Ana is the Senior Marketing Manager for the GSMA Mobile Money programme. She is responsible for strategy and delivery of digital campaigns, developing video content and case studies and managing design of publications. Previously she worked with the AgriTech team as the Marketing Specialist.

Previously Ana has worked with a number of charities and social enterprises including a renewable energy start-up where she launched and managed a successful crowdfunding campaign. Working on a wide variety of projects Ana has experience across brand development, social media strategy, press, web, videos, events, and partnerships.

Ana holds a Master of Commerce in Finance and Marketing from the University of Western Australia, along with a Bachelor of Arts; Philosophy and International Relations, and a Bachelor of Commerce; Economics and Management from the same university.

Angela is the Assistant Operations Manager for the Mobile for Humanitarian Innovation team.

Prior to joining GSMA, Angela managed multi-country donor-funded programmes across Africa, Europe, and Asia. Angela has extensive programme management experience, having previously overseen the successful implementation of both Agriculture and Independent Evaluation programmes funded by the FCDO, EU, DGIS, USAID, World Bank and DFAT.

Angela holds a Masters’s degree in International Business Administration from the University of East London.

Angela is the Senior Operations Manager for the Mobile Money team, responsible for operational management across delivery, reporting and business planning.

Prior to this, Angela worked as an Evaluation Manager at Tetra Tech, managing complex multi-country evaluations across Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. She has extensive experience in contract and financial management, stakeholder relations and reporting and compliance from a variety of donors, including the FCDO, USAID, DFAT, BEIS, and the EC.

Angela holds an MA in Social Policy and Development and a BA in History and International Relations.

As Senior Insights Manager for the ClimateTech team, Anna conducts research that identifies and promotes digital innovations that enable low- and middle-income countries to transition to low-carbon and climate-resilient economies.

Anna brings 10+ years of leading complex research projects, focused on communities in developing economies. Anna joins from BBC Media Action, where she managed a diverse portfolio of qualitative and quantitative research that informed, adapted and evaluated social and behaviour change interventions. She worked primarily on projects in Asia and the Middle East, based from the UK, Myanmar, Indonesia and Afghanistan. Anna studied Social Anthropology at the London School of Economics.

Anna-Noémie is an Insights Analyst in the Digital Inclusion space supporting efforts across the Connected Women and Connected Society Programmes and leveraging digital technology to drive socio-economic impact, expand inclusion across underserved population groups in developing markets, and shape the agenda of an industry that has a profound impact on billions of lives.

Before joining the GSMA, she contributed to helping the private sector identify investment themes that have significant potential to advance the SDGs aligned with government policies and sustainable national development needs across the Sub-Saharan African region through her role as an SDG Impact Analyst at the United Nations Development Programme. Her previous experience includes employment with the Mayor’s Fund for London, HSBC, KPMG Côte d’Ivoire and Goldman Sachs.

Anna-Noémie holds a BSc. (Hons) in Accounting and Finance from Bayes Business School (formerly Cass), and an MSc. in Political Economy of Development from the School of Oriental & African Studies in London, specialising in socio-economic and human development, gender and digital inclusion.

As Senior Advocacy Manager, Anne Shannon is responsible for advocating for the digital inclusion of unconnected communities in low- and middle-income countries. She focuses on policy and advocacy to address the usage gap and to further expand connectivity in areas that are not yet covered by mobile broadband.

Before joining the GSMA, Anne Shannon worked as Policy Manager at the global consultancy Access Partnership in London where she focused on digital policy in the tech sector. She developed and executed policy campaigns for the world’s largest technology companies, engaging with international organisations, government agencies and industry leaders to drive change in telecommunications regulation, digital policy, and sustainable development.

Prior to Access Partnership, Anne Shannon worked for a political risk consultancy in London where she focused on risk management for businesses operating in volatile environments.

She holds an MA in International Studies and Diplomacy from SOAS, University of London, and a BA in International Relations from James Madison University in the United States.

Ashley joined the GSMA in 2021 as the Head of Financial Inclusion and AgriTech.

Prior to joining GSMA, Ashley had been living and working in East Africa, championing financial inclusion and the development of agrifood systems across sub-Saharan Africa for over 11 years.  During this time, Ashley designed and managed funds, investing in agribusinesses and fintechs across the continent, with Root Capital and Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund (AECF), to catalyze innovation and growth for wide impact.  Ashley has played key roles in driving and supporting gender lens investing in her work.  She also worked with Mastercard Foundation and Financial Sector Deepening Africa (FSDA), managing large multi-million-dollar programmes, partnering and working with a wide array of implementing partners and key stakeholders in the industry.

Ashley holds a BSc in Management and Finance from the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities (United States) and an MBA from IESE Business School (Spain).

Barnaby joined the GSMA in November 2021 and is now Research and Policy Director of the Mobile for Humanitarian Innovation team. In this role he manages the team developing thought leadership on the role of digital technology in humanitarian crises, research and guidance on mobile technology, and overseeing monitoring, evaluation and learning activities for the M4H portfolio. He also manages M4H’s policy, regulatory and advocacy work to support governments, international organisations and operators in creating an enabling digital environment and overcoming policy barriers to digital inclusion.

He previously worked as a Senior Research Fellow in ODI’s Humanitarian Policy Group, leading research and policy engagement on digital technology and inclusion, reform of the humanitarian system and new business models including public-private partnerships. He started his career with Save the Children and then the UK’s Department for International Development in Pakistan/Afghanistan before working across Asia, Africa and the Middle East for a range of donors, UN agencies, the Red Cross/Crescent movement and NGOs.

Bart-Jan works as a Senior Director for Mobile Money & the Inclusive Fintech, within the GSMA’s Mobile Money Programme. He leads on the engagements with mobile money providers and wider mobile and fintech industry stakeholders on subjects relating to business, innovation, and financial inclusion. He is also responsible for the GSMA Inclusive Tech Lab, the innovation facility in which the GSMA, mobile money providers, tech and fintech companies, and other industry stakeholders work together to develop and trial technological innovations for the industry’s biggest challenges and opportunities related to financial inclusion of the poor.

Before joining the GSMA, Bart-Jan consulted companies around the globe in the domain of mobile and digital payments, including operators, handset manufacturers, banks, and regulators. After, he managed a business unit for UL, working with Apple, Samsung, and over 100 financial institutions to bring their innovative mobile payments services to market in 30+ countries worldwide.

Bart-Jan has worked and lived abroad in various countries, including the US, Brazil, Switzerland, and Sudan. He holds a PhD in Quantum Physics from Leiden University, Netherlands.

Bilal is a Senior Manager for the GSMA Innovation Fund based in Islamabad, Pakistan. He builds and develops relationships with mobile operators and start-ups in South and Southeast Asia. He provides support in recruiting start-ups and then provides consultancy in building their relationships with mobile operators to launch commercially viable products that can also create social impact. His key focus is the Asia Pacific ecosystem.

Most recently, Bilal worked with Karandaaz Pakistan where he led digitisation initiatives to increase digital financial inclusion.

Prior to Karandaaz, he worked for Easypaisa, where he launched Pakistan’s first ‘Pay as you go’ solar system to provide low cost, high quality renewable energy to off-grid areas. Bilal has also worked at UNDP and the World Bank. Bilal has an MBA from Institute of Business Management, Karachi, Pakistan. He has also received training in financial inclusion and policy design from Harvard Kennedy School.

Bryce is joining the M4H team after leading the Digital Inclusion team’s work on the Mobile Coverage Maps and the Mobile Internet Skills Training Toolkit (MISTT). In addition to his experience in mobile infrastructure and digital skills, he has a broad range of experience in the humanitarian sector including disaster preparedness, response, and recovery. Bryce works across the humanitarian sector, mobile network operators, and other industry players within the mobile ecosystem on various M4H programmatic activities relating to humanitarian disaster preparedness and response.

Bryce has worked in the International Aid and Development space for nearly a decade with a focus on leveraging technology to achieve positive social outcomes. He previously worked at the United Nations Secretariat’s Asia-Pacific hub (UN ESCAP) in Bangkok, International Organization for Migration (IOM) Asia-Pacific regional office in Bangkok, the International Federation of Journalists’ (IFJ) Asia-Pacific office in Sydney, and the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF) in London.

Bryce holds a master’s degree in International Development from the National Chengchi University, an honours bachelor’s degree in Applied Linguistics from the City University of Hong Kong, and Associate’s level in Economics and Finance from Franklin University Switzerland. He also studied at Fudan University and Seoul National University.

Bunmi is an Assistant Operations Manager, supporting the GSMA Innovation Fund team.

Based in London, he has background in the education sector, being the assistant operations manager at a national private tuition firm supporting the development of children with various educational needs. Bringing with him 3+ years of experience with leading and training a team of over 30 staff. Within that role, he was also the budget manager which resulted in a sustained growth in membership for over 8 months for the company.

He studied Business Economics at The University of East London.

As Software Innovation Specialist in the Inclusive Tech Lab within the GSMA’s Mobile Money programme, Carlos is responsible for conceptualising, developing and evangelising technological innovations in financial and digital services. He is also responsible for monitoring and researching technological trends in mobile money.

Carlos has over 10 years of experience with strong knowledge in distributed systems, computer networks, information security and machine learning. He is a specialist in the design and deployment of IT infrastructure on cloud or on-premises, focusing on distributed and high availability solutions having performance and security as main goals. Before join GSMA as consultant, he worked as a university professor and technical consultant in innovation projects with global industry players.

Carlos holds BSc in Computer Science from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte and a MSc in Informatics from the Federal University of Paraíba.

Carol is a Market Engagement Manager for the Mobile for Humanitarian Innovation programme. In this role, she is responsible for building and managing strategic partnerships between MNOs and the humanitarian sector for Africa.

Prior to joining the GSMA, Carol worked for Equity Group Holdings Limited in various business functions. Carol joins from Finserve Africa part of Equity Group where she served as a product manager engaged in financial services, emerging technology and spearheaded the Jenga payment gateway platform. Prior to her work at Finserve Africa, Carol was a special projects manager at Equity Bank where she championed social payments projects in East Africa, enabling financial and economic inclusion in marginalized areas. Among successful initiatives that Carol led include cash payments using technology and channel innovations to achieve effectiveness and efficiency in Kakuma, Kalobeyei settlement and in arid Northern Kenya . The cash transfers innovative model was extended to vulnerable children, older persons, persons with severe disabilities and to Refugees in Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda. Carol also led Huduma Kenya Card Payment project and eCitizen platform. Carol was also a co-chair of the East Africa Humanitarian Private Sector Partnership Platform EA-HPPP (2016-2017).

Carol holds a Master’s degree in strategic Management from Catholic University of the Eastern Africa and a Bachelor’s degree in Finance and Accounting from Kenya Methodist University.

Chelsea is the Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) Manager for the Innovation Fund, supporting grantees across all rounds to better understand the impact of their work.

Prior to joining the GSMA, Chelsea spent over six years supporting SMEs in post-crisis countries at Building Markets, an international NGO based in New York. She has worked on projects across Africa, Asia, and the Middle East to promote inclusive economic growth by connecting the local private sector to new markets and new capital. She has worked closely with survey design, database management, and data analysis.

Chelsea is also an avid researcher and led international research initiatives on economic growth in emerging markets. She holds a MPhil in International Peace Studies from Trinity College Dublin and a BA in International Relations from the University of Florida.  

Christelle joined the M4D marketing team in June 2022 and has a central role, working across all programmes.

Before joining the M4D Marketing team, Christelle took on two other roles within the GSMA: in 2019/20, a Senior Marketing Manager role within IoT Marketing team, where she was responsible for implementing the priority Beyond Connectivity campaign, focused on encouraging operators to deliver transformational IoT solutions, and growing the connected skies (Drone) initiative. This role was also geared towards the alignment of IoT solutions to the 17 SDGs. In 2021, Christelle also covered for a senior marketing manager, in GSMA Services.

Before joining the GSMA, Christelle worked in the Telecommunications industry for 15 years, across challenger brands such as Motorola, HTC and Sony Mobile. Outside of Telecoms, she also volunteered and worked for Scope Ltd., a non-profit organisation focused on persons with a disability.

Christelle holds an ‘EGC’ Business School degree, obtained in Reunion island (France), a BA (Hons) in International Trade and Languages and a CIM certification.

On a personal level, Christelle has great passion for sustainability, climate action, Tech for Good and generally initiatives that help make our world a more inclusive and more sustainable place to live in. Christelle is keen to drive the future of connected technologies in a way that is smart, sustainable, accessible and inclusive.

Chris has worked for 3 years in the GSMA’s Mobile for Development team and is a senior insights manager for the Mobile Money programme. He is focused on research projects, disseminating insights and collaboration with multilateral organisations, academia, donors, governments and the private sector. The programme’s work supports the development of commercially sustainable mobile-enabled digital financial services that can drive financial inclusion and improve lives across low- and middle-income countries. He is an author of the State of the Industry Report on Mobile Money.

Chris spent the last 20 years primarily in telecommunications and adjacent industries (media, tech and digital) working in Europe, North America, The Middle East, Africa, Asia and Oceania in strategic roles in network operators as well as for management consulting, analytics and research firms. He also has experience in financial services.

Claire Louise Sterngold is the Market Engagement Manager for the GSMA’s Connected Society team where she oversees the development and implementation of digital skills training and initiatives.

Prior to joining the GSMA, Claire worked for the International Trade Centre (ITC) – the joint agency of the United Nations and the World Trade Organization enabling trade impact for good. At ITC, Claire was part of the Youth & Trade Programme, where she focused on enhancing youth entrepreneurship and ecosystem development for youth-led small business. Claire also engaged in trade assistance and international development projects in the Philippines, Iraq, and across sub-Saharan Africa, to develop training and toolkits to empower youth-led small business.

Claire also managed and oversaw the ITC’s community for young entrepreneurs – the Ye! Community, leading its expansion to more than 40,000 members across 170 countries and establishing 19 local chapters.

Prior to joining ITC, Claire worked for Child & Youth Finance International (CYFI) on advancing financial inclusion and financial literacy for children and youth, as well as developing youth-friendly financial products.

Claire holds a Master’s Degree in Cultural and Social Anthropology from the University of Amsterdam and a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science and Cultural Anthropology from the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Claire is the Head of Digital Inclusion in the Mobile for Development (M4D) team at GSMA. She leads the Connected Women and Connected Society programmes which are focused on accelerating digital inclusion for the underserved in low- and middle-income countries. Connected Women has a specific focus on accelerating digital and financial inclusion for women.

Claire has been working for over 25 years with public, private and international development organisations on social policy and service delivery with a focus on information and communications technology (ICT) policy and practice. She has developed, managed and implemented programmes in Africa, Asia and the UK. Claire holds an MSc in Social Research Methods (2012) and an MSc in Social Policy and Planning in Developing Countries (1997) from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).

Daisy joined GSMA as Assistant Operations Manager for the ClimateTech and Digital Utilities teams in November 2021. She is responsible for supporting programme business planning; monitoring and reporting on the progress of key deliverables and milestones; and ensuring projects are delivered on time and within budget.

Prior to this, Daisy worked at Palladium International in their Humanitarian and Stabilisation Operations Team as a Project Manager, working closely with the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office to provide additional surge capacity and specialist expertise to support UK humanitarian responses.

Daisy holds a Graduate LLB in Law from BPP University and a BA in Classical Studies from Newcastle University.

Daniel joins the GSMA as a Market Engagement Manager within the ClimateTech team. Witnessing the worsening effects of climate change in his home country and globally, he is keen to bring stakeholders together in his role at GSMA to create meaningful solutions to what he believes to be one of the biggest challenges of the century.

Daniel is based in Malaysia and brings with him experience from working on circular economy and community development solutions in the Southeast Asian market. He is passionate about impactful entrepreneurship, having previously spent five years, immersed in the social enterprise ecosystem in Asia as an early employee, entrepreneur, and ecosystem builder.

Daniel earned a Masters in Civil Engineering (MEng) from the University of Nottingham and continues to be involved in social ventures in Malaysia as an advisor.

Daniele oversees the work of the Central Insights Unit and the M&E function in M4D. In his role, he is responsible for engaging with M4D’s funding partners in HQ and regions to deliver research and analysis that address global and regional challenges. Daniele leads the team to produce thought leadership content on frontier technology, digitalisation and their role in progressing sustainable and inclusive development. As senior director for Monitoring and Evaluation(M&E), he also oversees the M&E function of M4D, ensuring that impact measurement methodologies are robust and consistent throughout the M4D portfolio.

Daniele has been at the GSMA since 2015. He has previously managed the insights teams of the GSMA AgriTech and mHealth programmes, producing analysis and intelligence for sector practitioners. Prior to joining the GSMA, Daniele worked as an industry analyst and consultant for the telecoms and media sectors in emerging markets, at Informa Telecoms & Media (now Omdia) and GlobalData. Daniele holds an MSc in new media and information systems from the London School of Economics and an MA from the University of Bologna.

Denna joined the GSMA in January 2022 and supports the C4G team and the M4D marketing team across all programmes.

Prior to working at the GSMA, Denna worked as Director of Content at Rooftop, an agency in South Africa, where she was responsible for developing communication strategies and solutions for organisations such as UNICEF, WHO, UNEP, the Global Fund and the GSMA. Denna holds a Masters in Communication from Nelson Mandela University and a Masters in Development Practice from the University of Pretoria.

Dominica is Senior Director for the Connected Women team. Prior to joining the GSMA in 2012, she worked with a diverse range of private and non-profit organisations, supporting them with strategy, research, implementation and project management. Dominica spent five years as a management consultant at The Boston Consulting Group, working with clients in the financial, charity, healthcare, media, consumer goods and energy sectors. She has also worked for VisionFund International and Shell’s Future Fuels team. Prior to this she founded a wedding and events business and competed internationally as part of the British Sailing Team.

Dominica graduated from Oxford University with a BA in Geography and an MSc in Environmental Change and Management.

Dulip is the Senior Market Engagement Manager for the ClimateTech programme based in Kandy, Sri Lanka. He works closely with mobile operators, technical partners and other key stakeholders in the private and public sectors to unlock and enhance the role of digital technology as enabler in the world’s transition to the low carbon economy. In his role, he supports MNOs in their efforts to establish stronger environmental management processes with an additional focus on e-waste management and off-grid green power solutions. In his previous role for GSMA, Dulip managed the Humanitarian Connectivity Charter under the Mobile for Humanitarian Innovation programme and supported mobile operators, technical and humanitarian partners to collaborate and work towards more innovative and resilient digital solutions for communities faced with sudden onset disasters and protracted crisis situations.

Dulip worked with Axiata Group in Malaysia and its OpCo Dialog in Sri Lanka managing their sustainability reporting process. He also set up the sustainability strategy for the Axiata Group. Dulip’s first degree is in Natural Sciences. He’s a trained GRI professional, ISO 9001 and SA8000 auditor.

Dulmi is the Marketing Manager for Mobile for Development ClimateTech Programme and the Central Insights Unit. She brings with her over 20 years international marketing, communications, PR and branding experience. Previously she worked as the Head of Group Corporate Communications for a software vendor working in the MNO (Mobile Network Operator) space, where she was responsible for positioning the brand on a global stage and worked on projects with operators and stakeholders on advocating digital innovation through software solutions. She is an experienced marketer in multiple sectors – in technology, telecommunications, aviation, consultancy, banking,  and software, and has worked with global trade organisations and client portfolios across Europe, US, APAC, Latin America and Africa. She is an MBA holder, and a graduate of The Chartered Institute of Marketing (UK) with qualifications in digital marketing. Dulmi is an member of the Lions Club International where she volunteers on multiple social impact and charity projects.

Duncan joined the GSMA in 2021 as an Operations Coordinator for the Mobile Money team. Before joining the GSMA, he studied BSc International Disaster Management and Humanitarian Response at the University of Manchester. During his studies, he was in charge of fundraising for the Universities hockey teams and more than doubled fundraising targets. He also studied at IOM’s summer school on migration studies in partnership with the Charles University in Prague.

Duncan has also been a Project Leader with ReachOut, leading weekly sessions of mentors and mentees. He was an intern at Mayors for Peace and the Nuclear Free Local Authorities (NFLA) for some time, gaining invaluable experience in the workings of how INGOs facilitate new projects during their new ‘European Chapter’ and gained insights into council logistics. He recently worked his way up from a porter to an Assistant Business Manager as an agency worker at SEN schools around East London, the Lime Academy.

Dunstan is a Market Engagement Manager for the AgriTech programme, based in Nairobi, Kenya. He supports organisations in developing and scaling innovative agritech products, such as last mile agribusiness enterprise solutions (B2B2C), financial services (B2C) and smart digital agronomic advisory amongst many others.

Prior to joining the GSMA, Dunstan worked as a Senior Account Manager at Wefarm, an AgriTech start-up providing farmers with access to information and resources to make them successful. His key responsibilities included agricultural value chains stakeholder relationships management, gathering and analysing farmer and agribusiness insights, UX research and advocacy and knowledge sharing. He also worked as a Field Coordinator at the International Center for Insect physiology and Ecology (ICIPE), where he was involved in the development, dissemination and impact assessment of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) technologies targeting smallholder farmers in East and West Africa.

Dunstan holds a Bachelor’s of Science Biology (Crop Protection) degree from Kenyatta University.

As Head of Marketing, Edele is responsible for global marketing and communications for the GSMA’s Connectivity for Good pillar, as well as executive communications for the Leadership Team.

Edele joined the GSMA in 2013 as mHealth Marketing Manager, focused on mobile nutrition in Sub-Saharan Africa, and then held several Connectivity for Good Marketing Director roles before her current position. Prior to joining the GSMA, Edele spent time dedicated to sales and marketing in the premium FMCG sector in Spain, the UK and Ireland, as well as at a start-up focused on international airtime transfer to emerging markets.

Edele holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree and an MA in Media and International Conflict, both from University College Dublin.

As Head of Subgrants Compliance, Elizabeth provides advisory and compliance oversight to the GSMA Innovation Fund team and Fund recipients.

Elizabeth joined GSMA in 2015, initially supporting the M4D teams in areas of procurement, grant and budget management, and donor reporting.  Prior to joining GSMA, she worked a not-for-profit mental health clinic and therapeutic agricultural centre in Atlanta, Ga., where she was responsible for leading the organization in areas of finance, HR, development, and compliance. She brings over 20 years of experience in finance and compliance leadership for non-profit and social service agencies.

Elizabeth is a native of Atlanta, Georgia. She is a Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE) and has a Bachelor of Science in Human Services with a concentration in International Affairs from Kennesaw State University in Kennesaw, Georgia and a Master of Business Administration from Shorter University in Rome, Georgia.

Emily is an impact analyst and monitoring & evaluation (M&E) specialist. In her role as M&E Manager, Emily will provide support to the AgriTech programme, particularly on their innovation fund, and the Mobile Money programme. She will design and support programme level M&E strategies, including frameworks to monitor progress towards targets, as well as strategies to measure project impact.

Emily was previously based in Bangkok, where she consulted with UNCDF, designing and providing support to M&E on the CleanStart innovation fund portfolio. She also supported UN Women as a Gender Analyst and has qualitative field research experience in Uganda, as well as in informal settlements in Ajmer, India.

Emily holds a Masters in Development Practice from Trinity College Dublin and University College Dublin, and a Masters in European Studies from Freie Universität Berlin.

Adem is a seasoned professional serving as the Senior Insights and Market Engagement Manager within the Connected Women programme. In this capacity, she collaborates closely with mobile operators to enhance the outreach to women micro-entrepreneurs, focusing on fostering digital and financial inclusion through informed research and strategic initiatives.

With an impressive career spanning over 8 years in both the Telecommunication and NGO sectors, Adem has cultivated a wealth of expertise. Prior to her tenure at the GSMA, she made significant contributions to organisations such as BRAC International, Safaricom PLC, and Sterling Capital. In these roles, she led process automations and worked on driving the expansion of digital financial services to empower women entrepreneurs, particularly those at the base of the pyramid in rural areas.

Her dedication and accomplishments have garnered international recognition, with the Global CIO Forum honouring her with the prestigious ‘Next Generation Global CIO’ awards for two consecutive years: 2022 and 2023.

She is currently pursuing a master’s degree in project management at Liverpool John Moores University (UK), building upon her strong academic foundation in Finance from Strathmore University, where she earned her Bachelor’s Degree. Additionally, she holds a CPA (K) qualification.

As Senior Engineering Manager, Inclusive Fintech in the Mobile Money Programme, Eudis is responsible for building and managing relationships with a broad range of stakeholders (e.g. mobile network operators, grantees, service providers, etc.) in order to identify and catalyse strategic opportunities. He is also responsible for running the Inclusive Tech Lab team, taking a hands-on approach to develop, support, and ensure the delivery of inclusive solutions of the future for mobile money technology.

Eudis has an extensive research background which he applies in commercial environments for greater creativity, independence, user experience, critical thinking, and initiative. Before joining the GSMA, he worked as a university professor, technical consultant and engineering manager in multidisciplinary IT and engineering projects. Key to this was developing and implementing innovation strategies for software and hardware technologies at both local and global levels.

Eudis holds a PhD in Information Science and Technology from the University of Coimbra and a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the Federal University of Paraíba.

Eugénie is an Insights Manager for the he Central Insights Unit, having joined the GSMA in February 2022 as an Insights Analyst. In this role, she is responsible for supporting research as well as developing and disseminating insights on the role of mobile and digital technologies in sustainable development in low- and middle-income countries.

Before joining GSMA, Eugénie worked at the French Development Agency, where she supported various projects focusing on crisis-affected countries in Africa and the Middle East. She was previously a Graduate Consultant for the provider of water and sanitation services in Buenos Aires, where she developed a methodology for impact assessment, and has also worked for a non-profit tackling youth and children issues.

Eugenie holds a MSc in International Development Management from the London School of Economics and a BA in Politics, International Studies and Hispanic Studies from the University of Warwick. She also spent some time studying and travelling in Latin America.

Ezra is a Manager for the GSMA Innovation Fund.

Prior to joining the GSMA, Ezra worked at the UN Sustainable development Solutions Network (UNSDSN) as the Project Lead of the Global Youth Networks program supporting youth in 85 countries to pioneer innovative solutions for the SDGs and the Paris Climate Agreement. Previously, he worked as Project officer at the UNSDSN – Africa Regional Office, Youth Program Coordinator at the Strathmore Centre for Sustainability Leadership and undertook an year-long Youth Advocacy programme at UNICEF Kenya.

In 2020, Ezra was appointed by H.E. President Uhuru Kenyatta to sit on the Generation Unlimited Kenya Presidential Steering Committee to provide strategic leadership and oversight of the initiative. In addition, UNICEF appointed him as a champion for its Global Development Commons (GDC) Initiative. Furthermore, the Ministry of ICT, Innovation and Youth Affairs and UNFPA recognized him as one of Kenya’s Top 35 under 35 Young Leaders in 2020.

Ezra holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree with a specialization in Entrepreneurship and a Diploma in Business Management both from Strathmore University, Kenya.

Falah is a Manager for the GSMA Innovation Fund, based in Jakarta, Indonesia. Starting his professional career journey with an obsession for growing Indonesia’s digital economy, he joined the team in early 2022 to support impactful innovation to scale in the Asia Pacific region.

Prior to joining the GSMA, Falah worked closely with pre-seed to seed-stage start-ups in Indonesia with his former teams at Telkom Indonesia. He has mixed experience in managing corporate innovation programs and proficiency in analysing start-up growth in various approaches to validate innovation scalability models.

Falah brings a strong interest in entrepreneurship and a passion for business strategy, which he has been putting into practice since holding a Bachelor’s degree in Business Economics from Prasetiya Mulya University, Indonesia.

Gagandeep joined the GSMA as Marketing Engagement Manager for Connected Women and Connected Society in the New Delhi Office, India.

Gagandeep brings with him vast experience in the telecom domain and has led various projects in the Telecommunications and Insurance industry in India and abroad.

Prior to joining the GSMA, he was leading the execution of Facebook’s Digital Literacy project (internet1o1) in Myanmar, Indonesia, Zambia and Bangladesh. Prior to that, he was leading global operations for MicroEnsure, a microinsurance company, headquartered in the UK with their operations in UK, Asia and Africa.

Gagandeep holds a Master’s degree in Marketing from London, UK and brings in deep understanding in improving customer sentiment, understand problems at hand and carries a solution-orientated approach.

George Kibala Bauer is a Director in the GSMA Digital Utilities programme. In this role, he focuses on developing and managing strategic research and advocacy partnerships, conducting research on the role of digital solutions and innovative partnerships in essential urban utility service provision, supporting utility start-ups in low- and middle-income countries in their journeys to scale, and representing the Digital Utilities programme at external events. George joined the GSMA in August 2018 as a Knowledge Manager on the programme.

Prior to joining the GSMA, George gained experience in consulting and strategic communications with Portland Communications, economic research with Euler Hermes, development finance with the European Investment Bank, and government affairs with the Ministry of Economy in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

George holds a MSc in international economic policy from Sciences Po Paris, a BA in economics from McGill University, as well as certificates in project finance, impact evaluation, and urban planning. He was also selected to take part in the On Deck Climate Tech Fellowship, a programme bringing together start-up and climate experts to catalyse climate tech innovations.

Gianluca is a Senior Data Analyst for the Mobile Money programme. He executes quantitative analysis in the Data and Insights team. He is also responsible for the collection, cleaning and analysis of data used for the annual State of the Industry Report on mobile money.

Before this, Gianluca worked at Pula Advisors, where he produced feasibility studies, insights reports and blogs on agricultural insurance as part of the research and consulting team. Prior to Pula, he was a Senior Research Analyst at a transaction advisory company. There, he generated investment marketing materials for African start-ups seeking to raise capital. Gianluca’s previous experience includes roles as an independent research and economic consultant for USAID, among others. He has worked in executive education and training too.

Gianluca holds a BSc in Economics and an MSc in Economic Policy – both from University College London, where he completed a dissertation on alternative insurance mechanisms in rural Tanzania.

Gregory is a Senior Manager within the GSMA Innovation Fund.

Previously, Gregory was a Market Engagement Manager for the Ecosystem Accelerator Programme, based in Nairobi. His key roles were identifying and coaching applicants to the Innovation Fund, mentoring startups, supporting regional and local operators in their efforts to develop start-up friendly strategies, promoting robust partnership between startups and mobile operators, building and managing other relationships with regional and local stakeholders.

Prior to joining GSMA, Gregory was the Innovation Engagement Officer – Africa at Ushahidi under the Making All Voices Count Programme, an international initiative that contributes towards effective governance and accountability by enabling citizens engagement and open, responsive government in 12 countries in Africa and Asia, his key roles involved identifying, assessing, selecting, contracting, and managing grantees. He has also worked as a Research Assistant at @iLabAfrica, an innovation research centre at Strathmore University. Gregory holds a Masters of Science Degree in Mobile Telecommunication Innovation and a Bachelors of Science Degree in Business Information Technology, both from Strathmore University, Kenya.

Guy joined the Mobile for Humanitarian Innovation Fund team in March 2020, having previously worked in the Digital Identity team at GSMA. As Senior Market Engagement Manager, Guy mentors Innovation Fund grantees and is involved all aspects of the Fund lifecycle, including the application and selection process, due diligence, and monitoring and evaluation. Prior to joining GSMA in 2018, Guy worked at Vodafone, firstly at Vodafone UK and more recently at Vodafone Group. While at Vodafone, Guy was a Digital Product Owner for the My Vodafone app, managing the delivery of components to be used in local market apps around the world and leading on strategy regarding the types of components that were relevant for each market. Guy has also spent significant time living and working in East Africa. Guy holds a BA in History from the University of Exeter.

As MEL Manager for M4H programme Hector is responsible for the programme’s monitoring, evaluation, and learning activities. He supports the team to use quantitative and qualitative tools that monitor the impact of their projects, document best practices, and share evidence and learning to their global network. Hector works closely with the M4H Insights team to extract lessons from the wide portfolio of M4H projects, develop thought leadership pieces and steer programme level strategic decision making.

Hector has a broad background in research and evaluation having previously worked for a number of global insight, innovation and development organisations. He has hands-on qualitative and quantitative fieldwork experience working on projects that have covered a variety of subjects and involved people and places around the world. Hector holds a BA in Geography and Marketing from the University of Hull and before starting this role spent several years living and working in Dakar, Senegal.

Henry joined the GSMA in September 2018 as an Assistant Operations Manager for the Digital Utilities team. He now works as Operations Manager across the ClimateTech and Digital Utilities teams. His role includes supporting the portfolio management of the grantee investments by managing risks and issue, new contracts with suppliers, finances and reporting on progress of key deliverables and milestones in the programme. In addition, Henry supports the future planning processes for the next financial year. Henry previously worked in the Network 2020 programme at the GSMA, project managing the global RCS (Rich Communication Services) specification creation. This role focused mainly on interoperability and defragmentation of operator services in order to have a strong collaborative communication platform to build upon and create new competitive services. Henry holds a BSc in Economics from Cardiff University, and is Prince2 certified.

Ida joined the GSMA Mobile for Humanitarian Innovation team in January 2022. She is currently responsible for accelerating the delivery and impact of digital humanitarian assistance through catalysing partnerships and innovation for new digital humanitarian services.

Since June 2015, Ida has led different initiatives for Safaricom and M-PESA Foundations including ISO 26000 on Corporate Social Responsibility, Monitoring and Evaluation, documentation, programmes and partnerships with the community, peer corporates and corporate foundations, the Civil Society, National and County governments among others.

Ida holds a postgraduate diploma in Project Management (Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology) and a bachelor’s degree in Public Administration and Sociology (University of Nairobi). She also holds a diploma in Legal Studies (Kenya School of Professional Studies). She has also completed other key courses namely: African sustainability implementers programme, Social Return on Investment (SROI), ISO 26000 Lead Auditor, Monitoring & Evaluation among others.

Isabelle joined the GSMA in October 2020 as Insights Director for Connected Society and Connected Women. In this role, she leads on the Insights deliverables across the teams to identify synergies and generate broader insights on how to drive digital inclusion in low- and middle-income countries. She is currently focused on applying these insights and data to support the GSMA’s efforts to address the barriers facing underserved populations to access and use mobile technology.

Prior to the GSMA, Isabelle led an insights team at a non-profit think-tank focusing on digital skills, financial inclusion and innovation ecosystems in Africa. Previously, as the Technical Director for Evaluation at World Vision International, she collaboratively built and scaled a global measurement system used by 64 country offices to measure change in well-being.
She holds an MSc from LSE in Development Management and a BA in International Relations with Development Studies from Sussex University. She has lived and worked in Africa and South Asia, most recently in Zambia and South Africa.

Isobel is the Marketing Specialist for the GSMA Central Insights Unit programme. She is responsible for creating and delivering digital campaigns, coordinating with stakeholders to develop video content, blogs, reports and managing design of publications.

Previously Isobel worked for the GSMA at the 2023 edition of Ministerial Programme, where she co-ordinated delegates across Sub-Saharan Africa and francophone Europe. She holds a degree in French and Russian from the University of Birmingham. She lived in France and Russia over the course of her degree, before spending a year teaching at the University of Lyon post-graduation.

Jackline joined the GSMA in July 2022 as Assistant Operations Manager for the Connected Society team. She is responsible for monitoring key activity deliverables and ensuring projects are delivered on time.

Currently pursuing an MSc. In International Development at the University of Reading.

Prior to that, worked as project manager with a Financial Services Provider in Uganda where she spent 4 years supporting and implementing projects to drive financial inclusion through innovation.

She is a member of Rotary International where she volunteers to support rural communities and the underprivileged.

James joined the GSMA in July 2020 and supports generating impact evidence for the Agritech team. In this role, he also advocates for data-driven decision making by providing insights on product usage by analysing business intelligence data to inform product development. As a monitoring and evaluation analyst, James also works under the GSMA-FCDO Strategic Partnership to support programmatic learning, adaptive programming and evidence impact of digital solutions geared at delivering socio-economic impact in underserved communities.

James has a strong quantitative background having previously worked as a Statistician with Kenya’s agri-industry regulator evaluating new seed varieties to ensure local farmers had access to high-yielding seed varieties. He specializes in performance monitoring, learning, and generating evidence from programmes under implementation. His areas of expertise include change management, data analysis, performance monitoring, evaluation, and surveys.

He has an undergraduate degree in Applied Statistics and an MSc. in Finance and Economics from KCA University. James has also completed several courses in MEAL, product management and data management

Jasmine started working for GSMA December of 2022 as a Subgrant Compliance Manager to assist our Innovation Fund and finance team with fidelity amongst subgrants recipients.

Prior to GSMA, Jasmine worked as a Senior Consultant for one of the Big 4 accounting firms globally. Additionally, Jasmine has managed and monitored grants for the leader in Public Health amid a global pandemic and has assisted non-profit, state, and federal grant recipients with compliance, management, and technical assistance for their grant funded programs.

Jasmine received a Bachelor’s of Sociology from Georgia State University in Atlanta, GA and has completed several hours to receive her PMP certification.

Jerioth is a manager for the GSMA Innovation Fund, where she provides the grant management and technical assistance to utilities and climate tech innovators.

Jerioth is a Technology for Development specialist with extensive experience in designing, implementing, and evaluating innovative development programs in Africa. She has a strong background in program management, with a particular focus on market sector development, youth employment, and technology programs.

Jerioth previously worked as a Technology for Development Advisor and Team Lead of the youth employment program portfolio at Mercy Corps, where she spearheaded technology adoption and private sector engagement across 17 countries in Africa. Before joining the development sector, Jerioth was as a Management Consultant at Open Capital Advisors where she provided growth strategy and investment readiness support to SMEs across Eastern and Southern Africa. She holds an MSc. in Digital Development from the University of Manchester, a BSc. in Actuarial Science from Jomo Kenyatta University and is a Certified Public Accountant.

Jerioth is an avid traveler who enjoys exploring new cultures and spaces.

As the Senior Market Engagement Manager, Lema is responsible for engagement with key industry stakeholders in digital, energy, water and sanitation to achieve the objectives of the programme. Lema joined the GSMA in 2018 as the Lead for the Instant Payment Notification (IPN) Hub, an industry utility developed by the GSMA to support the PAYG solar sector to integrate more seamlessly with mobile money services through a unified API. Lema was responsible for the scaling of the IPN Hub to 5 markets in Sub-Saharan Africa, and its eventual transition from the GSMA to the Industry.

Prior to joining the GSMA, Lema worked with Fenix International, a company of Engie, to scale its operations in several markets, including Uganda, Kenya, and Zambia. Previously, Lema worked at the Equity Group Foundation where he led digital innovation projects geared towards transforming the livelihoods of low income individuals in Africa through financial inclusion. Before that, Lema worked at Intel Corp (UK), and InMobi Africa.

Lema holds a BSc in Management Science and Engineering from Stanford University.

Joanne Kiarie is a seasoned public policy and public administration professional with over 12 years’ experience in this space. She currently serves as the Senior Policy and Advocacy Manager for GSMA’s Mobile for Humanitarian Innovation (M4H) Programme. In this role, she works with governments to develop and implement policy interventions that improve disaster risk management response, management of forcibly displaced persons, and their nexus with mobile connectivity.

Prior to joining GSMA, Joanne led policy, advocacy and government partnerships at Sanergy, a social enterprise involved in sanitation and circular economy. During her time at Sanergy, she worked in concert with the Kenyan government to institutionalise the National Sanitation Management Policy and the Sustainable Waste Management Act, legislation that incentivise private sector participation in the circular economy.

 Joanne’s public administration and public policy experience also includes working in various capacities in the Kenyan Presidency spanning over 8 years. While at the Presidency, Joanne led various aspects of the implementation of the “whole–of–government” approach to service delivery, specifically in the policy and regulatory sub–sector.

She holds an undergraduate degree in Actuarial Science from Jomo Kenyatta University and Technology, a qualification in Applied Accounting from Strathmore University, and is completing a Master’s Degree in Public Policy & Management from Strathmore Business School.

Joshua is an Insights Manager for the Connected Society programme, where he provides strategic research and analytical outputs on how to drive digital inclusion of underserved populations in LMICs. He also leads on insights relating to the Innovation Funds for mobile internet usage and assistive technology.  

Joshua has a strong background in academia and international development. His PhD from Northumbria University examined innovative business models for delivering mobile services in emerging markets, with a focus on Sub-Saharan Africa. Prior to joining GSMA, Joshua worked as a consultant and World Bank Group Africa Fellow at the International Finance Corporation, Washington DC, where he specialised in the development impact of digital infrastructure and technology projects across developing countries. Joshua has also taught and researched on a wide range of topics at universities including Newcastle Business School and Lagos Business School. He holds an MSc in Information Systems Management and Innovation from the University of Warwick and a Bachelor’s in Information and Communications Technology from the Federal University of Technology Yola, Nigeria.

Joyce Chepkorir is a Monitoring and Evaluation specialist with over 10 years of experience in monitoring and evaluating multi-country projects. She previously worked with Hand in Hand Eastern Africa, Action Aid International Kenya and African Women development and communication Network (FEMNET) in different positions within MEAL functions. Joyce is passionate about building MEAL systems, impact documentation and building learning organizations. Joyce enjoys travelling, nature and spending time with family.

Julie has extensive UK and international leadership experience in programme and project management. She joined the GSMA in 2017 after spending four years in Afghanistan as the head of Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E)/Communications for several USAID-funded development programmes. Previously, she gained strong business development and stakeholder management skills working with US- and UK-based international NGOs.

Julie oversees operations across her portfolio of five M4D programmes and the M&E team, and also works closely with Heads of Programmes to support strategy development. She holds a Master’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University in Washington, DC and is MSP certified.

Kara is an Insights Manager for the Mobile Money team. Prior to this, Kara was the Assistant Operations Manager for the AgriTech programme, where she assisted in project management, research and insights, and engagement activities.

Previous to joining GSMA in December 2019, Kara was based in the Netherlands completing a Double MSc in Public Policy and Human Development with the United Nations University – MERIT/Maastricht Graduate School of Governance. Here she specialised in Risk and Innovation, and completed a thesis in Artificial Intelligence policy.

Kara also has a Bachelors in Law and Philosophy in which she gained from Kent University in 2016.

Karen was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia. She holds a Master’s of Business Administration degree from Kennesaw State University, and a Master’s of Accounting degree from Kennesaw State University.

Previously, Karen spent almost seven years as a Grants Accountant with the Cobb County School District where she was responsible for various federal, state and local grants, and one year as a Grants Accountant with the Georgia Aquarium.

Karen enjoys spending her free time with her husband and three dogs, and in the fall she spends every Saturday cheering on her University of Georgia Bulldogs football team.

Kate is the AgriTech Senior Operations Manager based in London. Since joining the GSMA in 2017, she has been overseeing the implementation of the AgriTech programme. Kate has extensive UK and international experience in project and programme management solving complex delivery challenges in the development sector, and she holds an MSc in Biology from University of Freiburg in Germany, and MSc in Globalisation from University College London and a Postgraduate Diploma in Business Administration from Massey University/New Zealand.

Kevin is a Market Engagement Manager for the AgriTech programme based in Nairobi, Kenya. He provides consultancy and implementation support to partner mobile operators and AgriTechs in Asia and Africa. Kevin supports the operators with the design, development, launch, and scaling of cutting-edge AgriTech solutions.

Prior to joining GSMA, Kevin has worked as an Inclusive Finance and Growth consultant supporting varied initiatives including as a Project Manager at the Mastercard Foundation’s Fund for Rural Prosperity Program which facilitates access to financial services and products by the underserved rural population in 15 countries across sub-Saharan Africa, as an Inclusive Finance consultant at MicroSave Consulting Company, as a Training Needs Assessment lead for UNITAR and UNDP’s women entrepreneurs literacy program, as an MSME Officer at Kenya Commercial Bank, among other Digital Finance Service project roles.

Kevin holds an MBA in Operations Management from the University of Nairobi and an Honours Degree in Foods and Nutrition from Egerton University -Kenya. He is currently pursuing an MSc in Agriculture and Applied Economics from the University of Nairobi and the ACCA accreditation from Strathmore University.

Kim joined the Assistive Tech team in 2019, supporting Mobile for Development’s efforts to drive social and economic inclusion of persons with disabilities through innovative digital solutions. In her role as Senior Market Engagement Manager Kim leads the development of the market engagement strategy and advocacy agenda to advance inclusion for persons with disabilities through mobile.

Prior to joining the Assistive Tech team, as an Insights Manager for the mHealth Programme, Kim provided thought leadership on business models and implementation strategies for delivering impactful digital health solutions at scale. Kim also previously worked as Business Intelligence Manager for the GSMA mNutrition Initiative. In this role she managed the design and implementation of the business intelligence, and monitoring and evaluation work streams producing actionable insights to inform the optimisation of mHealth services across eight markets in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Kim holds a BSc in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Stellenbosch and a wealth of experience in the digital health and mobile telecoms industries. She is passionate about creating socio-economic impact in emerging markets.

Kimberly joined the GSMA in July 2020 as the Head of Mobile for Humanitarian Innovation. Before GSMA, she was the Head of Humanitarian Policy at the British Red Cross, where she led the department responsible for policy, advocacy, and research on international humanitarian issues. She acted as adviser to the Chairman on the organisation’s role on the Governing Board and General Assembly of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).

Kimberly has worked for several humanitarian organisations, with a focus on building partnerships in multilateral processes and negotiations. She has worked on the Sustainable Development Goals, the New York Declaration on Refugees and Migrants, the Grand Bargain (World Humanitarian Summit), the Paris Climate Agreement, the Mine Ban Treaty, and the Convention on Cluster Munitions. Kimberly worked in Asia-Pacific with the IFRC, during the time of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, where she carried out advocacy on global disaster preparedness guidelines. She has also focused on humanitarian issues such as children in armed conflict, principled humanitarian action, and protection of civilians.

She holds a BA in Psychology from UBC (Vancouver), a MA in International Development Studies and Political Science from Chulalongkorn University (Bangkok) where her thesis focused on displacement of Myanmar refugees in Thailand. In July 2020, she completed an Executive MBA at London Business School. She has been deployed to, and worked across, several humanitarian contexts in Africa, Asia, and the Middle-East.

As the Market Engagement Manager, Lauren is responsible for leading the ClimateTech programme’s engagement with MNOs. The key focus for MNOs within the programme is based upon green energy, natural resource management and e-waste. Her role includes the set up and management of stakeholder working groups for these topics and to ensure that the ClimateTech messages are disseminated. Additionally, in building relationships with these stakeholders, the team are able to garner greater participation and interest in their projects.

Prior to joining M4D, Lauren worked as a Project Manager in the IoT Programme at GSMA. She worked in this programme for 4 years and managed the work on Mobile IoT and the deployment of NB-IoT and LTE-M networks across the globe.

Lauren is a qualified Project Manager with both Prince 2 and Agile qualifications. Prior to starting her career in project management, she qualified as a Veterinary Nurse.

Lauren joined the Central Insights Unit as an Insights Analyst in April 2023. Here, she is responsible for supporting research as well as developing and disseminating insights on the role of digital technologies in sustainable development in low- and middle-income countries.

Prior to joining the Central Insights Unit, she worked in the Mobile for Humanitarian Innovation programme as Operations Coordinator. Lauren is also a volunteer researcher and writer at Restless Beings, a human rights organisation. Focusing on South Asia, she works towards amplifying the voices of marginalised communities in the region, including tracking human rights abuses and disseminating information about such situations to the public.

Lauren holds an MA in Conflict, Displacement and Human Security from the University of East London and a BSc in Psychology from Newcastle University.

Leila joined GSMA in April 2022 as the Insights and Advocacy Manager for Climate Tech. She is responsible for conducting and disseminate research and advocating for climate tech solutions in low- and middle-income countries.

Prior to joining the GSMA she consulted on initiatives working with for example gender and climate in impact investing. She has a background in the Swedish government where she for example worked for the Embassy of Sweden in Angola focusing on trade and investment. Here, her main focus was on the tech and telco markets where she established a strong relationship with the Angolan government and collaborated with international stakeholders such as UNDP. Before working in Angola she worked with policy analysis and evaluation for the Swedish Unemployment Insurance Board.

Leila spent the earlier part of her career working for an Africa focused NGO as well as for a consultancy focusing on capacity building programmes in low- and middle-income countries financed by Sida. She holds a Master’s degree in political science from Uppsala University and is based in London.

Leonard is a Senior Manager for the GSMA Innovation Fund.

Prior to joining GSMA, Leonard worked as the senior analyst for telecoms at International Data Corporation (IDC) in charge of the East Africa region. Leonard worked with telcos in consulting, research and advisory projects focusing on a variety of topics such as IoT, mobile money, broadband strategies, competitive analysis, opportunity assessments and Go-To market strategies. He also carried out workshops with telcos, wrote thought leadership reports and was a speaker at events. Leonard has also worked as a grantee mentor short term consultant for Ushahidi under the Making All Voices Count Programme, helping a startup receive funding of an ICT for health project.

As an Insights Manager for the AgriTech programme at the GSMA, Lisa drives industry research and intelligence projects to uncover opportunities in digital agriculture. Her analysis aims to enable impactful and commercially viable digital solutions for smallholder farmers in LMICs. A qualitative and human-centred research expert, she brings an understanding of how to design value propositions and business models to best serve smallholder farmers, especially women farmers.

Lisa has more than 10 years of experience in inclusive finance, leading implementation and research projects across a range of topics, including digital payments, digital credit and savings, policy and regulations, agent networks and microinsurance. Before joining GSMA, Lisa was a Partner and senior consultant at PHB where she led research and technical assistance to develop digital financial services and strategies for microfinance institutions, mobile network operators and governments across Asia and Africa. She also served as a microinsurance specialist at MicroSave and the Microinsurance Network. She holds a Master’s in International Cooperation and Economic Development from Sciences Po Toulouse.

Originally from Caracas Venezuela, Lorena moved to the USA in 2007. She earned her Bachelor in Accounting and Administration from Universidad Catolica Andres Bello in Caracas, Venezuela.

Lorena started at GSMA in 2012 and came with over 10 years of Finance & accounting and 5+ years of grant management including US Government and private Foundations.
During her time at GSMA, her experience has expanded to manage a portfolio of over $130m in grants from a variety of donors including US private foundations, US government agencies and international governments such as UK (FCDO), Germany (GIZ), Sweden (SIDA), Norway(NORAD), Australia (DFAT) etc.

Since becoming the mother to a very special girl, Lorena discovered her passion for volunteering. She currently serves as a member of the Cardiac Family Advisory Council and Family Advisory Council for Children’s Health Care of Atlanta. She is also member of the ELC (Emerging Leaders for Children’s Health Care of Atlanta).

Another one of her passions is traveling and creating memories with her Family.

Madiha Parvez is a Market Engagement Manager – Mobile Money for Asia, where she works across the mobile money industry on commercial, regulatory, and technology issues to encourage the growth of the mobile money ecosystem to reach the underserved across Asia. She works towards defining and evolving the strategic direction of the Mobile Money Programme as a whole and provides mobile money expertise to other GSMA Mobile for Development Programmes and the broader GSMA in Asia.

With over 14 years of leadership experience in business design, commercializing digital products and corporate innovation, Madiha has worked with & mentored over 700 tech-startups in Pakistan & trained over 1,000 women micro-entrepreneurs. As a thought leader,  she spoke regularly on the significance of entrepreneurship & innovation at various national & international conferences.

Prior to joining GSMA, she worked as Head Corporate Innovation at Telenor Pakistan, and led their accelerator program, Velocity, by recruiting tech start-ups, accelerating experimentation & piloting new technologies, developing a network of mentors, investors, and institutional partners, helping Telenor staying relevant in the digital & startup ecosystem.

A Fulbright scholarship awardee, Madiha has an MBA in Entrepreneurship from Rochester Institute of Technology, New York.

Majdi Hassen is an experienced Associate Professor and PhD holder specialised in Economics and Finance. Along with his teaching duties, he is also an Executive Counsellor of The Arab Institute Of Business Leaders (IACE), an independent Business Think Tank, that promotes innovation and advocates for a better thinking and thus a better economy .

Throughout the years, Majdi has been contributing in the enrichment of the Tunisian economy by bringing together thousands of business leaders, experts and decision makers on both national and international level through the events and forums organized within the Think-Tank in order to exchange ideas and offer solutions to development related issues. Having a keen eye for opportunity and innovation, Majdi also managed to make a great contribution to the higher education by conceiving a new Master’s degree in ‘NGO Management’, a first in the MENA and Africa regions.

Mark Muhia is a GSMA Innovation Fund Manager based in Nairobi. His key roles are identifying and coaching applicants to the Innovation Fund, mentoring start-ups, supporting regional and local operators in their efforts to develop start-up friendly strategies, promoting robust partnership between start-ups and mobile operators, building and managing other relationships with regional and local stakeholders.

Prior to joining GSMA, Mark worked for ABSA Bank (formerly Barclays Bank) as a Commercial Relationship Manager where he managed commercial enterprises with the aim of supporting their growth through funding and advisory. He brings on board expansive experience in financial analysis and modeling (like Financial statements analysis, ratio analysis, solvency analysis), deal origination and structuring, portfolio monitoring, due diligence checks. Previously, Mark Muhia worked for KCB Bank where he held various roles among them spearheading the uptake of alternative banking channels like mobile banking, online banking and agency banking leading to accelerated financial deepening and inclusion, worked with SMEs and start-ups to support their growth through funding and advice-giving. He was also in charge of a portfolio of USD 70million drawn from clients in the following sectors; mobile phone aggregators, manufacturing, agribusiness and trade services.

Mark holds a Bachelor’s degree in Actuarial Science from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology and currently finalising his MBA-Finance from the same University. He has also undertaken various certification courses among them Certificate in Commercial Credit and Credit Skills Development from Moody’s Analytics.

Martin is a Director for the GSMA Innovation Fund.

Prior to this, he was the Senior Market Engagement Director for the Ecosystem Accelerator programme, based out of Nairobi. He is in charge of leading the Market Engagement team who build and develop relationships with mobile operators and start-ups in Africa and South and Southeast Asia, and supports the start-ups the programme funds through its Innovation Fund, and beyond.

Before joining GSMA, Martin has worked for Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Symantec Corporation, Airtel Africa, and Orange Telkom Kenya among others, and brings a expertise in the ICT/Telecom industry across Sub-Saharan Africa, including Marketing and Business Development, Product Development and Technology Distribution. Martin holds a Degree in International Business Administration from United States International University Nairobi, Kenya, and a Diploma in Technology Distribution from Global Technology Distribution Council, Grenoble France

Mary is the Advocacy Manager, Mobile Money programme.  

She is a seasoned telecommunications and financial services policy expert with over 7 years of experience.  

Mary has been at the forefront of the development and formulation of ICT and financial sector policies and regulations, such as data protection regulations, consumer protection policies and guidelines, to promote a sustainable ecosystem for technology and telecom companies.  

She holds a ‘Social Science degree and is currently pursuing a postgraduate diploma in law. She is also an alumna of the Strathmore Public Policy Executive Programme, a member of the International Association of Privacy Professionals, Nairobi legal hackers, and All Tech is Human. 

Matt is an Assistant Operations Manager for the GSMA Innovation Fund. Matt supports the operational elements of each project cycle and contributes to internal and external reporting processes.

Before joining GSMA, Matt worked for Consumers International where he focused on implementing cross country projects to build the capacity of consumer associations in LMICs on topics such as financial inclusion and sustainable consumption.

Matt holds a bachelor’s degree in International Relations from the University of Birmingham. He graduated in 2019.

Matt works as a Senior Insights Manager within the Digital Inclusion team. Prior to this, Matt was an Insights Analyst working in the Connected Women team, supporting the team across their analytical work, in particular on the annual GSMAi Consumer Survey, and the analysis of mobile operator transactional data.

Prior to joining at the GSMA, Matt worked in Debt Capital Markets at Société Générale as a Trainee Analyst. He helped consult corporate clients on structuring sustainable debt funding profiles and providing regular market research.

Matt holds a MEng in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Warwick where he also undertook technical consulting work on a renewable energy project in rural Uganda, driving the provision of low-cost, sustainable energy to off-grid communities.

Matthew is the Market Engagement Director for the AgriTech programme based in London , leading the market engagement workstream for the programme.  Since joining the GSMA in 2015, Matthew has  supported agritech stakeholders with the implementation of product initiatives through human centred research, product innovation and commercialisation support.

Previously, Matthew lived in Malawi and Tanzania working with smallholder tea farmers as an organisational development consultant to improve access to Information for farming best practices.

In his early career, Matthew worked as a Business Development Manager with a number of digital consultancies. Matthew holds an MBA and Bachelor of Science degree.

Matthew joined the GSMA in 2018 and works as a Senior Insights Manager for the Mobile for Humanitarian Innovation programme. In this role Matthew designs and delivers research and evidence related to the use of mobile technology for the delivery of humanitarian assistance and by people affected by crisis. Matthew’s research interests include digital and financial inclusion for crisis affected people, extending and upgrading connectivity to fragile settings, and partnerships between humanitarians and the private sector. He also has overall responsibility for the programme’s monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) strategy. 

Prior to the GSMA, Matthew held several research and evaluation positions, including with the British Red Cross and a leading social research consultancy. He has a MSc in Politics of Population, Migration & Ecology from Birkbeck, University of London and a BA (hons) in International Relations and Politics from the University of Sheffield. Matthew is also a trustee of two charities.

Meikha is the Insights, Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (IMEL) Manager for Mobile Innovation Hub (MIH) Indonesia. Her role includes developing the IMEL strategy, managing the research activities, monitoring project progress, recording socio-economic and climate impact and documenting learnings in-order to scale or consolidate projects in the future. Meikha is someone who believes that well-designed and implemented project monitoring and evaluation would make a successful project into an impactful project.

Prior to GSMA, Meikha worked as the Evaluation Manager for one of the Indonesian Government’s projects focusing on the labour force’s competence improvement. Before this, she also played a pivotal role as the Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Lead in a growing education technology start-up. In both roles, Meikha used multiple M & E methodologies to monitor and evaluate education, training, and human development projects that implemented digital technology across the country.

Meikha holds a master’s degree in Economics specializing in Economic Development from Kyoto University, Japan, and a bachelor’s degree in Economics from Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia.

Melle Tiel Groenestege is the Policy & Advocacy Director within the Connected Society and Connected Women programmes at the GSMA. He works on policies and advocacy campaigns to address the barriers to mobile internet adoption, bridging the digital gender divide and expanding mobile broadband coverage in rural areas.

Before joining the GSMA, Melle was responsible for Government Relations at the headquarters of VEON, where he supported senior executives on engagements with high level officials, managed relations with key international partners including the WEF, ITU and the GSMA, and worked with all markets to support local policy strategies. As a Digital Policy Advisor, Melle worked on a range of digital policy topics, including national digital strategies, financial inclusion and the promotion of a stable investment climate. Prior to VEON, Melle worked at ITU on corporate strategy, focusing on advancing the UN Sustainable Development Goals through the use of digital technologies.

Melle holds a Master’s degree in Business Information Management from the Rotterdam School of Management, two Bachelor degrees, in International Business Administration from the VU Amsterdam and Political Science from the University of Amsterdam, and studied at the National University of Singapore.

Nadia joined GSMA in November 2020. As Insights Manager, Nadia aims to help generate insights and learnings through research into how we can further close the mobile gender gap in low- and middle-income countries.

Having graduated with an MSci in Zoology from University College London in 2019 and spent a year studying at the University of Queensland in Australia in 2018, Nadia has a passion for the environment. This led her to work in Costa Rica for a non-profit organisation carrying out conservation research. Following this, she worked in Research and Development for the Lotus Project, a charity aiming to alleviate poverty amongst rural communities in Vietnam through renewable energy sources.

Nadia now works in the Connected Women team supporting Mobile for Development’s goals to empower more women, socially and financially, through mobile solutions.

As a Senior Manager for the GSMA Innovation Fund, Nafeesa supports both innovation fund grantees and mobile operators to leverage commercially sustainable partnerships, infrastructure and synergies that unlock access to energy, sanitation and water services for underserved populations.

Nafeesa has worked with mobile operators in diverse emerging markets including Afghanistan, Tanzania, Uganda and Burundi. Her experience with both corporate and start-up companies has offered Nafeesa the opportunity to be part of and lead several large scale projects within the areas of in Corporate Strategy, Management Reporting, Business Development and Investor Relations. More recently, Nafeesa was a telecommunications consultant with Industrial Promotion Services (IPS) where she supported due diligence projects for 3 operations in East Africa. Nafeesa hold a Bachelors in Health Sciences degree from Western University in London, Ontario (Canada).

Nigham Shahid is a Senior Insights Manager at the Central Insights Unit (CIU) at GSMA Mobile for Development. She has broad-ranging research experience in digitalisation for development, with expertise in digital financial services, the digital transformation of economic sectors and frontier technologies for sustainable, inclusive socio-economic development in low and middle-income countries. Her work at the CIU supports GSMA M4D’s partners build capacity in the countries they serve and enables governments and private sector organisations implement digital solutions to national challenges.

Prior to her role at the GSMA, Nigham has over a decade of experience in the development sector, in education and enterprise development. She holds an MA in Sociology from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst and an MA in Quantitative Research Methodologies from Columbia University in the City of New York.

Nyiva works as a Senior Market Engagement Manager within the GSMA’s the Mobile Money Programme. She is responsible for developing recommendations for the strategic direction for the Mobile Money Market Engagement team in sub–Saharan Africa. She is also responsible for building and managing strategic relationships with operators, fintechs, public sector actors, and other key stakeholders to identify strategic opportunities and developing initiatives that align and feedback into the programme’s core objectives.

Prior to joining GSMA Nyiva worked in the telecommunications industry with Vodafone and Safaricom, where she’s worked as both Regional Account Manager across Africa and Middle East and National Account Manager, providing ICT solutions to various INGO’s and multinationals, developing value propositions and maintaining strong relationships.

Nyiva holds a Degree in International Relations and Diplomacy as well as a Diploma in Law from the Chartered Institute of Legal Executive (CILEX).

Oduntan joined the GSMA Foundation team in 2019 and is currently a Finance & Compliance Business Partner. His role primarily focuses providing support to the program team to ensure proper management use of donor funds.  He has over 20 years of NGO experience that includes organizations such as CARE International, The Martin Luther King Jr Center and The Salvation Army.

Outside of work, Oduntan enjoys community outreach activities with local charities, exploring the world to learn and experience different cultures and music festivals.

As Operations Manager for the Ecosystem Accelerator GIZ Tunisia project and Central Insights Unit (CIU), Orla has worked with both teams to ensure delivery of key project objectives on time and within budget, with a focus on delivering benefits to members and the mobile industry.

Orla joined the GSMA in 2003 and has held various roles in project and event management across multiple geographies in GSMA Working Groups (WAS), External Affairs and Industry Purpose team supporting the International Relations and Capacity Building team, technology and advocacy programmes.

Panos is Director, Financial Inclusion for the GSMA Mobile Money and AgriTech programmes. He leads GSMA’s partnership with Visa that has the objective to develop mobile-enabled financial education and drive scale among the unbanked and underserved in low- and middle-income countries. Panos also leads AgriTech’s insights function across multiple funding streams and is responsible for developing and delivering the programme’s learning agenda.

Before joining the GSMA, Panos spent several years in leading analyst and consultancy firms with a special focus on mobile operators’ digital strategies. Panos holds a Master’s degree in Plant Science from Imperial College London and an MBA degree from the University of Manchester.

Philippe leads the Operations of the various M4D programmes in collaboration with the wider GSMA organisation, GSMA members and partners.

He also leads the GSMA Innovation Fund, providing funding to innovators in low and medium-income countries.

Philippe joined the GSMA in 2012 and held various roles including Project Manager for IP Interconnection and Programme Manager for Mobile Money. Prior to GSMA, Philippe worked 10year in various project management roles within Orange, He managed commercial projects on B2C rich communications services (RCS) and B2B voice and data services. He was also responsible for the modelling of termination costs for Orange France. Philippe has a Master in Business Administration from the University of Warwick and a Master of Science from the University of Bristol.

Phillip is the Senior Marketing Manager for the ClimateTech and Digital Utilities programmes. He is accountable and responsible for all marketing strategy and planning, as well as tactical delivery specifically for Digital Utilities. He has previously been responsible for the Central Insights Unit, Connected Women, Digital Equity Initiative, Disaster Response, Ecosystem Accelerator, GSMA Innovation Fund, mAgri and mHealth programmes. Phillip joined the GSMA in 2016 as a Marketing Specialist.

Prior to this, Phillip has worked in multiple sectors for a variety of organisations, including financial services, education, publishing and market intelligence, totalling 12 years of marketing experience, which covers all aspects of the profession.

Phillips holds a BA in Law from Kings College London, along with a Legal Practitioners Course qualification from the College of Law, London.

Pippa McDougall is the Senior Advocacy Manager for the GSMA’s Connected Women team, advocating for the digital and financial inclusion of women and girls in low-and middle-income countries.

Prior to joining the GSMA, Pippa worked as an International Consultant for SheTrades Initiative at the International Trade Centre (ITC), which is a joint agency of the United Nations and the World Trade Organization, based in Geneva, Switzerland.

Whilst at ITC, Pippa managed and implemented numerous projects and SheTrades Hubs aimed at empowering women economically through trade and e-commerce across sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. In this capacity, Pippa also worked closely with the GSMA on advocacy related to bridging the digital gender divide as ITC’s focal point for the EQUALS Global Partnership. She also spent 6 months as the gender advisor to ITC’s Executive Director where she drafted numerous speeches and briefing notes on women’s economic empowerment and digital and financial inclusion.

Pippa has also spent a significant of time working and traveling across Asia and Africa including 4 months in Botswana working for a local human rights organization and a few weeks in Pakistan, Liberia, Kenya and Egypt working with rural women farmers, artisans and entrepreneurs. In 2016, Pippa was selected to represent Canada at the G(irls)20 Summit in Beijing and in 2017, she delivered a keynote speech at Alibaba’s Conference on Women’s Entrepreneurship in 2017 in Hangzhou, China.

Before joining ITC, Pippa worked for the Government of Canada on public policy as a Legislative Assistant to a Member of Parliament.

Pippa holds a Master’s degree in the Political Economy of Emerging Markets from King’s College London (United Kingdom), and a Bachelor’s degree in International Development and Political Science from Queen’s University in Canada.

Praveen holds the position of Director of Operations and Innovation Fund. He leads the delivery of Mobile for Humanitarian Innovation fund and oversees the operations function for the Mobile for Development team.

Prior to this, Praveen was the Operations Director for the Financial Inclusion work streams, responsible for the delivery of multiple grant funded programmes.

Praveen joined GSMA in 2019. Prior to GSMA, he managed the acquisitions programme for the UK arm of a large French multinational corporation. He is excited to be given the opportunity to be part of an organisation that uses the powerful & important medium of mobile technology to improve people’s lives.

Praveen holds an MBA from the Warwick Business School in the UK.

Radhika is a Senior Manager for the GSMA Innovation Fund. She manages, facilitates and supports mobile-based innovations in energy, water and sanitation across the Asia-Pacific region.

She supports the programme by managing a selection of Innovation Fund grantees, share key learnings & insights from grantees and map out industry trends so as to understand and showcase how the mobile industry can support commercially viable energy, water and sanitation services for the underserved. Prior to the GSMA, Radhika has worked in healthcare consulting at IPE Global, New Delhi and telecommunications at Vodafone UK, England. She has built expertise in healthcare consulting, private sector led sustainable social enterprises, mobile product pricing and large-scale fixed & mobile commercial solutions. Radhika graduated in Economics from St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai and holds an MSc in Economics from the University of Warwick, United Kingdom. She speaks fluent Hindi and English.

Rebecca is the Senior Advocacy Manager at the Mobile Money Programme in Mobile for Development at the GSMA since 2023. She represents the GSMA externally, builds a broad network of private and public partners and facilitates policy research. Rebecca has over 10 years of experience in international affairs, partnerships, corporate strategy, international development, and project management.

She is passionate about making a difference to inequalities which is how she started her career and led her to work at the World Bank Group and United Nations. Prior to the GSMA, Rebecca worked at the World Bank Group in Washington, D.C. and in New York City, at the corporate strategy level for over 5 years leading engagements with the UN and as a core member of staff to the SVP on the SDGs and 2030 Agenda. Prior to that, Rebecca worked with the UN for 6 years at the project level in Cameroon and Austria. At the UN, Rebecca led projects in several African countries ranging from government capacity building to development of agribusiness value chains.

Rebecca has a particular interest in women’s empowerment and gender equality. One of Rebecca’s assignments was with UN Women in Yaoundé, Cameroon, at the inception of the new office. Rebecca holds an MSc in International Development from the London School of Economics (LSE) and a Bachelors degree in International Relations. Rebecca is both a UK and Dutch national.

Regina works as an Operations Manager for the Central Insights Unit and the Monitoring and Evaluation function within Mobile for Development Foundation. She holds a Master’s degree in International Politics from Newcastle University. Throughout her career, she worked in both governmental and non-governmental organisations. During her time at the GSMA, she’s been a part of such teams as the Ministerial Programme, Mobile for Humanitarian Innovation Programme, Project Services, and Technology. She speaks Russian, English and Spanish languages.

Rishi is the Senior Data and Insights Manager for the Mobile Money programme. He is responsible for leading the programme’s data and insights work, and the annual State of the Industry Report on Mobile Money.

Before this, Rishi worked for Pula Advisors, an insurtech that provides insurance to smallholder farmers, and the Mobile Money and AgriTech programmes at the GSMA. He has worked as an independent consultant too, in particular for the World Bank and Caribou Digital. His previous experience includes roles at McKinsey, Willis Towers Watson and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.  

He holds a BA from SOAS, University of London, and an MA from the University of Groningen. In 2020, Rishi became a Certified Digital Financial Practitioner. He speaks French and Kiswahili. 

Robin joins the GSMA with over 14 years’ experience in finance and accounting. Most recently while employed at CARE, INC, Robin was responsible in managing the U.S. Government grants portfolio that consisted of over $70 million in funds that was utilized in global projects that assisted underdeveloped countries in sustainability, educational, and economic growth. Before joining CARE, Robin was employed at Metropolitan State College where she managed the Federal Pell Grant and Student Loan programs and was soon promoted to the Grants Mangers where she primarily focused on the Upward Bound & Trio programs and grants awarded by other institutions.

Robin holds four college degrees including a Bachelor of Accounting & MBA both from Strayer University and a Master of Education awarded by Ashford University. Robin’s passion for education and teaching is also exhibited through her role as a Business Information’s Adjunct at Georgia Piedmont Technical college since 2014.

Whenever Robin is not pursuing one of her educational or professional endeavors, Robin enjoys traveling with her family and visiting different beaches throughout the year.

Rosie is the Senior Marketing Manager for the GSMA Connected Women and Connected Society programmes. She is responsible for strategy and delivery of digital campaigns, developing video and other multimedia content and managing the design and promotion of publications. Rosie joined the GSMA in 2017 and spent the first year and a half as marketing manager in the Future Networks team. Her interest in international development led her to join M4D in 2019.

Previously, Rosie has worked in a number of tech companies, including Google, and in the travel industry. Through working in marketing teams on a variety of projects Rosie has experience across web, social media strategy, graphic design, events and brand development.

Rosie holds a degree in Spanish and International Management from the University of Bath.

Ruth joined the GSMA in May 2022 as the Director or Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning. She leads M4D’s MEL strategy and portfolio-wide impact assessment, evidence building, and learning. Prior to joining GSMA Ruth lived and worked in different parts of the world, specialising in pragmatic and adaptive MEL and research across a broad spectrum of themes including systems change, financial inclusion, hostile state information operations, health, and education.

Ruth has an Executive Global Masters in management from the London School of Economics, she has studied in the UK, Italy and the US. She grew up in Manchester and unsurprisingly supports Manchester United.

Sam is the Marketing Manager for the GSMA Innovation Fund team.

Prior to this, Sam was a Marketing specialist working across Ecosystem Accelerator programme. She is responsible for developing marketing content, delivery of digital campaigns, strategising and managing design of publications.

Before joining GSMA, Sam was working at Santok (UK) Limited as a Marketing Manager. Her duties included managing the production of all marketing and promotional materials, planning and executing marketing campaigns, web content management, social media analytics, digital content planning, market research and so on. Working for multiple sub-brands within the company, Sam has experience across brand development, social media strategy, web, supply chain management and partnerships across multiple functions.

She holds a Doctorate in Business Administration (DBA) from the University of the West of Scotland and MBA with a specialisation in Marketing from the Cardiff Metropolitan University.

Sam joined the GSMA in March 2018. He took over operations for the Connected Society programme in December 2018 and the Connected Women programme in June 2021. As Senior Operations Manager, Sam is responsible for supporting the Digital Inclusion programmes to deliver on their objectives on time, within scope and budget.

Before joining the GSMA, Sam was the Project Manager for a coffee growing company in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and prior to that, the Project Coordinator for a NGO working in Western Uganda. Sam holds an MA in International Development from The University of Manchester, and an MA in Anthropology from The University of Edinburgh.

Sami joined the GSMA in 2023 as Assistant Operations Manager across the ClimateTech and Digital Utilities teams. Sami has over 10 years’ experience within operations in the not-for-profit sector and previously held the role of Operation Managers at Education Partnerships Group, delivering education programmes in LMICs, where she effectively managed several projects and workstreams, such as implementing and executing business process mapping. She also spent 7 years at Business in the Community, supporting organisations on the responsible business agenda, where she managed budgets, generated sales reports and delivered against business plan.  Sami holds certifications in Prince2 and Agile PM.

Samir joined GSMA as the Climate Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Manager in London in April 2022. He is responsible for providing climate resilience and mitigation MEL support to the Climate Tech programme, Innovation Fund grantees, and wider M4D department.

Prior to this, Samir served as a Researcher on Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning at ALNAP – a global network of humanitarian organisations. He has previously worked in NGOs in various roles, including the British Red Cross, Save the Children UK, and most recently WaterAid, where he was Planning, Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting Officer in their central Programme Support Unit. Samir is currently studying for a Masters in Climate Change at Birkbeck University of London.

Samy is a Software Innovation Developer within the Mobile Money Team at GSMA. He focuses on developing code, testing technical projects and researching new financial technology trends.

Samy has previous experience gained working for a global wireless solutions provider, where he was part of the software development team working on wireless radio and antenna technologies in readiness for 5G networks. In addition, he was responsible for identifying areas for modification to improve customer experience.

He hopes to leverage his skills to help create highly-innovative technical services to drive global financial inclusion.

Sheila is the Senior Operations Manager responsible for overseeing the implementation of the Mobile for Humanitarian Innovation programme. Since joining GSMA in September 2017, she has worked across the Mobile Money,  Assistive Tech and Connected Society programmes where she managed operations across various workstreams to ensure projects objectives are met on time, within scope and budget.

Prior to joining GSMA, Sheila worked in grant-making with focus on scaling innovation and strengthening health systems at Comic Relief and Vitol Foundation. She has extensive programme management experience, having previously overseen the implementation of public health projects at Options for 11 years across Africa, Asia and the Caribbean funded by UKAID, EU, GIZ and German development bank KFW. Sheila holds an MSc in Development Studies from the University of Bath and a BA in International Business from Richmond, the American International University in London.

Simone is an Insights Manager for the GSMA Innovation Fund. Her role involves providing mobile operators and start-ups across Africa and Asia with innovation intelligence. She participates in the research, analysis and production of key insights and learnings related to the start-up ecosystem.

Prior to joining GSMA, Simone spent two years working with a solar company in South Africa that specialises in informal settlement electrification by installing PV solar sub-centralized stations in densely populated communities. Simone holds an MSc in Africa and International Development from the University of Edinburgh, as well as an MA in Journalism from Edinburgh Napier University.

She also holds a Bachelor of Commerce in Management Sciences from the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa.

Sophie joined the GSMA in April 2018 and has previously led the marketing strategy for Digital Identity, Assistive Tech, and ClimateTech. Since December 2021, Sophie has led marketing and communications for the Mobile for Humanitarian Innovation (M4H) programme. She is responsible for the strategy and delivery of digital advocacy campaigns, developing video content, infographics, blogs and other multimedia content, as well as editing and managing the design of programme publications.

Following university where she studied history, Sophie started her career at Condé Nast before joining the Marketing and Subscriptions team at The Spectator. She joined the GSMA from a creative digital agency called Forge – as a Campaign Manager she was responsible for marketing strategy, content creation and project management for a number of different clients. Sophie recently added to her qualifications and skillset on completion of a graphic design course at Shillington College. Sophie is passionate about the impact of Mobile for Development’s work and is excited to continue to learn more about the development sector at large.

As an Insights Manager in the Mobile for Humanitarian Innovation (M4H) team, Susanna is responsible for engaging with the mobile and humanitarian sectors to deliver research projects and evidence on humanitarian connectivity and digital humanitarian assistance. Her work aligns with M4H’s priority themes including forced displacement, cash and voucher assistance, climate change, disaster response, global hunger, and gender.

Susanna joined the GSMA in 2019, working with the Innovation Fund and Insights teams in M4H. She has also worked as an Analyst in the Central Insights Unit at the GSMA, researching frontier technologies in emerging economies and engaging with partners to deliver capacity building workshops with the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office country posts. Previous to the GSMA, Susanna has worked in Senegal on youth employment and sexual health, and on the refugee crisis in Greece in aid logistics and women’s empowerment.

Susanna holds a Masters degree in Conflict, Security and Development from the University of Sussex.

Tanvi is an Insights Manager for the Central Insights Unit within GSMA Mobile for Development. In her role, she is responsible for conducting and disseminating research and insights on the role of mobile and digital technologies in advancing sustainable and inclusive development. Before joining the GSMA, Tanvi worked with Intellecap, a development advisory firm working across Asia and Africa, where she supported projects around the use of technology at the last mile in the agriculture, food systems, and climate resilience sectors and worked closely with the technology startup ecosystem in India. She has also previously worked on public policy research and analysis in for an independent policy research company India.

Tanvi holds a Bachelor’s degree in International Studies from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and an MBA from the Indian School of Business in Hyderabad, India.

Tarek is a Senior Market Engagement Manager within the GSMA Ecosystem Accelerator programme. His responsibilities involve managing relationships between start-ups and mobile operators through the GSMA partnership with GIZ by organizing capacity building in the mobile ecosystem as well as encouraging public-private dialogue and collaboration.

Before joining GSMA, Tarek co-launched Flat6Labs in Tunisia, the leading accelerator and Venture capital fund in the Middle East and North Africa funding 51 tech start-ups and supporting over 250 founders by structuring acceleration programs for organisations such as IFC, UNICEF, Hivos, and the EU.

Tarek majored in International Business from the Kedge Business School of France and is fluent in French, Arabic, English, and Spanish.

Vincent is the Marketing Specialist for the GSMA Mobile Money programme. He is responsible for creating and delivering digital campaigns, coordinating with stakeholders to develop video content, blogs, reports and managing design of publications.

Previously Vincent has worked for PepsiCo Shanghai and many start-ups in China, Hong Kong, and the UK. Having been immersed in different business verticals across strategy, design, analytics, events, sales , and more, he once led the launch of an E-event that attracted over 2.2 million viewers in Hong Kong, China, Taiwan and Malaysia.

Vincent holds a Master’s Strategic Marketing from the Imperial College London, along with a Bachelor of Arts; Marketing from Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, during which he completed a one-year exchange programme at UCL School of Management, University College London.

Wadé is a Director for the GSMA Innovation Fund which supports innovative digital solutions with positive socio-economic impact in low- and middle-income countries. As part of this team, Wadé focuses on developing and managing the Fund’s strategy, is responsible for shaping the support provided to early-stage start-ups and oversees the insights and MEL (monitoring, evaluation, and learning) strategy.

Wadé has over 10 years of experience working in the telco industry, initially with mobile operators across Europe, US, and China on industry initiatives like Rich Communications Services (RCS). In 2016, Wadé joined GSMA Mobile for Development where he has worked across M4D Utilities and Ecosystem Accelerator to support start-ups and innovators before taking up his current role.

Wadé holds a degree in Business and Marketing from London Metropolitan University and is Prince2 and AGILEPM certified.

William is a Senior Manager for the GSMA Innovation Fund.

Prior to GSMA, William worked as a programme Manager at The Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund, where he led in the design and operationalization of the KKCF Program (a five-year program is designed to support private sector investment and unlock the economic potential of refugees and their hosts, in Kenya’s Turkana County).

Previously, he worked at KPMG – International Development Advisory Services, as a Senior Associate in-charge of the Renewable Energy and Climate Technologies portfolio (REACT). He was instrumental in the implementation of REACT round 3 competition which targeted four countries; Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. Prior to this, William worked with Price Waterhouse Coopers (PwC) Kenya as a regional grant accountant in charge of the Northeastern region in Kenya.

William has a degree in Bachelor of Arts (Economics) and currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Economics and Finance at Kenyatta University and passionate about development finance. He is also a certified public accountant (CPA-K).

Winnie is the Mobile Money Regulatory specialist at GSMA. She is involved in developing and implementing engagement strategies to advance GSMA’s mobile money policy and regulatory positions with regulators and governments. She is also involved in building and managing relationships with operators, financial regulators and other key stake holders in identifying strategic opportunities. 

Winnie has over 13 years of experience in the financial sector as an in-house counsel, particularly in fintech, banking, and insurance. Prior to joining GSMA, Winnie was the global legal and regulatory advisor at Exinity. Prior to that Winnie worked at DT-One as their senior legal counsel where she was engaging different stakeholders in managing regulatory and product development matters with MNOs in EMEA, APAC, and LATAM.

Winnie has pursued her MBA at Strathmore Business School and a global EMBA module at IESE. 

As a Senior Insights Manager, Zach focuses on conducting research related to how digital tools can be effectively leveraged to improve services for people in low- and middle-income countries across the M4D Utilities service areas.

Zach was previously a Senior Consultant with Oxford Policy Management and supported a range of clients including the Collaborative African Budget Reform Initiative, DFID, The World Bank, UNICEF, and USAID. He conducted research and evaluations related to extending basic services in low- and middle-income countries. Prior to OPM, Zach was a Research Officer with WaterAid’s Global Policy Team based in London and Delhi.

Zach holds a First Class Joint Hons BA in Economics and Economic History from the University of York. He also has postgraduate training in evaluation methodologies for development programmes and public financial management systems.

As a Senior Insights Manager, Zoe is responsible for designing and delivering a range of research projects, aligned with the M4H team’s priorities. Her work builds on experience at the intersection of participatory research methods, communication technologies and the rights of vulnerable or marginalised groups.

Previously, Zoe worked as a Program Design and Insights Manager, creating and evaluating communication technologies for a wide range of social development issues across West Africa and South Asia. She has also worked as a Fulbright Scholar in India, a UNFPA researcher, and an independent documentary filmmaker, researching issues of sexual and reproductive health and rights.

Zoe holds a MSc in International Development Management from the London School of Economics and a BA (Hons) from Middlebury College in Political Science and French.

Zohaib Jawed is a GSMA Innovation Fund Manager with a focus on Mobile for Humanitarian (M4H) based in Islamabad, Pakistan.

He manages engagements in APAC for the M4H programme with innovative tech-startups, NGOs, social entrepreneurs, Government Institutions, and multilateral organizations to foster the future of digital humanitarian response.

He is passionate about technology and how it can be leveraged for development and humanitarian assistance to communities. He has developed deep expertise in fintech product management through stints with Easypaisa, as Assistant Director – Products where he launched industry-first initiatives such as Instant Payment Scheme (Raast) and Open Banking and has also worked as a Product Manager for Digital Wallets at JazzCash. Zohaib has been instrumental in designing social sector interventions, programme management and managing innovation funds at Karandaaz, where he led four fintech innovation challenges. Zohaib was also associated with the World Bank, working on provincial development programmes. He has authored academic papers, research studies, and reports in his previous roles.

Zohaib has a Master of Science in Economics from the Institute of Business Administration (IBA), Karachi, and has received training at “The Design Thinkers” academy on Design Thinking from Amsterdam. In addition to this, he has various certifications on Agile framework for Product Owners, Project Management, and Leadership.