Her Royal Highness Princess Máxima of the Netherlands
United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development
Her Royal Highness Princess Máxima of the Netherlands is an active global voice on the importance of inclusive finance for reducing poverty. Designated in 2009 by U.N. Secretary- General Ban Ki-moon as his special advocate for inclusive finance for development, Princess Máxima works with diverse government, private, and civil society stakeholders to raise awareness and foster action.
As special advocate, Princess Máxima encourages universal access to a wide range of financial services at a reasonable cost, provided by a diversity of sound and sustainable institutions for individuals and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). As a means to an end, financial services can have a powerful impact when they are combined with access to basic needs and services such as shelter, medicine, food, and education. Access to savings accounts is especially important. Princess Máxima promotes best practices for responsible finance. As special advocate and honorary chair of the G20 SME Finance Data Working Group, the Princess emphasizes the need for quality data for decision making.
Princess Máxima also advocates for financial inclusion and education, especially for youth, in her own country. The Princess has served on the Dutch Council on Microfinance since 2006 and became honorary chair of the national partnership “CentiQ, Wiser in Money Matters” in 2010. Princess Máxima previously served on the U.N. Advisors Groups to the International Year of Microcredit (2005) and on Inclusive Financial Sectors (2006-2009).
Njuguna Ndung’u
Governor, Central Bank of Kenya
Njuguna Ndung’u is the governor of the Central Bank of Kenya.
Prior to his appointment in March 2007, Prof. Ndung’u was the director of training at the African Economic Research Consortium (AERC). He has taught economics at the University of Nairobi and has worked at the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), the Kenya Institute of Public Policy Research, and Analysis (KIPPRA).
Prof. Ndung’u is a member of various boards in the financial sector and in the Vision 2030 Delivery Secretariat. He chairs the steering committee of the Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI) based in Bangkok, Thailand.
Prof. Ndung’u is a member of the Committee of Ten (C10), representing the five regions of Africa. The committee, which is comprised of five African finance ministers and five central bank governors, was formed during the global financial crisis to look into ways of mitigating the crisis through appropriate policy response; communicating and coordinating Africa’s response; and required global reforms, especially in the world’s financial architecture.
Prof. Ndung’u is a researcher and trainer in various fields of economics and has published widely in journals and chapters in volumes on inflation, exchange rates, economic growth, and poverty reduction. He holds a Ph.D. in economics from Gothenburg University, Sweden, as well as a B.A. and M.A. in economics from the University of Nairobi. He is an associate professor of economics from the University of Nairobi.
James Mwangi
Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Equity Bank
James Mwangi, a career banker, is the group managing director and CEO of Equity Bank. Dr. Mwangi is credited for providing leadership that has seen Equity Bank transform from a small, technically insolvent building society to one of the largest and most successful microfinance banks in the world. In 2009, Equity Bank was named the Commonwealth Business Council African Business of the Year; Africa Investor’s Microfinance Bank of the Year; and IFC & Financial Times Most Sustainable Bank in Emerging Markets, Africa, and Middle East.
Dr. Mwangi is a member of Frontier 100 Initiative for Global Development, an initiative to bring together frontier market CEOs and U.S.-based CEO’s committed to international development.
In 2010, Dr. Mwangi was named by the Financial Times one of the 50 emerging market business leaders in BRIC countries—Brazil, Russia, India, and China—and other emerging market economies that have shaped the economic performance of their respective regions. In 2009, he was named Africa’s Ai100 Chief Executive of the year by Africa Investor. Dr. Mwangi was a joint winner of the 2007 Global Vision Award alongside the Nobel Laureate Prof. Mohammed Yunus as “initiators of concepts of the future that will shape the global economy.”
Dr. Mwangi has been awarded three honorary doctorates and two presidential awards in recognition of his work. He was appointed chairman of Kenya’s long-term Vision 2030 Delivery Board, which will see Kenya transform into a middle-income country in the next 20 years. Dr. Mwangi served for a period of two years as a U.N. advisor on inclusive financial services.
Jon Eddy Abdullah
CEO, Telenor Pakistan
Chairman, Tameer Microfinance Bank
Jon Eddy Abdullah, CEO of Telenor Pakistan and chairman of Tameer Microfinance Bank, is bringing mobile banking to the unbanked of Pakistan in a very integrated telecomm/banking model.
Mr. Abdullah has been part of the Telenor Group for seven years and CEO of Telenor Pakistan since August 2008. Telenor has telecom operations in 14 countries serving more than 184 million subscribers. In late 2008, Telenor Pakistan took a majority interest in Tameer Microfinance Bank in an effort to leverage its leading brand and extensive distribution network to serve the vastly underserved banking market. The launch of easypaisa in October 2009 has been recognized by several organizations as a brand and model to watch and emulate going forward.
Before joining Telenor Pakistan, Mr. Abdullah worked in the Czech Republic and Malaysia holding chief technology and operating roles. He has more than 16 years in the mobile communications industry.
Mr. Abdullah received his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Montana State University.
Michael Joseph
Chief Executive Officer, Safaricom Limited
Michael Joseph has been the CEO of Safaricom Limited since July 2000, when the company was relaunched as a joint venture between Vodafone UK and Telkom Kenya. He has guided the company from a subscriber base of less than 20,000 to more than 16.5 million subscribers as of July 2010. This phenomenal growth straddling nearly a decade has been motored by the launch of many innovative products and services, such as M-PESA.
Mr. Joseph has also led the evolution of Safaricom from a traditional mobile phone company into a totally integrated communications operation with an enviable fixed and mobile data service portfolio for individual, small business, and corporate customers. Today, Safaricom is one of the leading companies in East Africa and the most profitable company in the region.
Mr. Joseph has extensive international experience in the implementation and operation of large wireless and wire-line networks.
Mr. Joseph has a bachelor’s degree (cum laude) in electrical engineering from the University of Cape Town and is a member of the I.E.E.E. and I.E.E. (U.K.). He also has an honorary doctorate (Doctor of Letters) from Africa Nazarene University, bestowed to him in recognition of his contribution to the growth of Safaricom from very humble beginnings to becoming the most innovative, influential, and profitable company in the East African region.
Chris De Noose
Managing Director, World Savings Banks Institute and the European Savings Banks Group
Chris De Noose has served as the managing director of the European Savings Banks Group (ESBG) and the World Savings Banks Institute (WSBI) since 1994, when the two organizations associated to form a joint office in Brussels.
Since January 2002, Mr. De Noose has also been chairman of the management committee of Euro-Sofac, a company providing international assistance and consultancy to SMEs, a joint subsidiary of the Belgian, French, German, Italian, and Spanish savings banks. In June 2003 he became a board member of Eufiserv, a joint venture owned and controlled by members of ESBG. Mr. De Noose holds membership in the European Banking Industry Committee (EBIC), the European Payments Council (plenary, coordination committee, and nominating and governance committee), and the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group EFRAG (supervisory board and budget board). He is also a member of the Kuratorium of the Foundation for International Co-operation of the German Savings Banks.
Mr. De Noose began his professional career in a Belgian savings bank in 1974 as adviser to the chairman. From 1980 to 1994, he was CEO of the Belgian Savings Banks Group.
Mr. De Noose holds master’s degrees in economics and finance, consular science, and commercial engineering and an M.B.A. from the Flemish University of Brussels.
Luis Urrutia
President, Financial Action Task Force
Luis Urrutia was appointed president of Financial Action Task Force (FATF) in July 2010, after serving as vice president in 2009. Prior to this appointment, Mr. Urrutia was head of the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) of Mexico. He has led the Mexican delegation in FATF since 2007 and has coordinated with competent authorities of Mexico on the implementation of FATF standards.
Prior to becoming head of the FIU, Mr. Urrutia was involved in financial legal affairs of the Mexican Ministry of Finance and Public Credit and the Central Bank, and worked for the World Bank and the Corporación Andina de Fomento (CAF). He served as president of the Financial Action Task Force of South America (GAFISUD), and chair of the Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units from 2009 to 2010.
Stuart Rutherford
Founder, SafeSave Bangladesh
Stuart Rutherford, founder of SafeSave Bangladesh, is currently focused on developing and testing new and appropriate savings and loan products for poor and very poor people, delivered by both mobile phone and more traditional methods.
Mr. Rutherford has been researching how poor people manage their money for more than 30 years as a writer, consultant, practitioner, and part-time academic. He is a senior visiting fellow at the Brooks World Poverty Institute at the University of Manchester.
Mr. Rutherford spent many years living in Bangladesh, where he was a member of the board of ASA and worked with most of the principal microfinance institutions in the country. For several years, he taught at the Boulder Institute of Microfinance and has carried out consultancy work for many of the principal donors and other industry bodies. His best-known book is The Poor and Their Money, and he is a co-author of the recent Portfolios of the Poor. He has also written on the history of microfinance in Bangladesh from the point of view of the development of ASA.
Mr. Rutherford was educated at Cambridge in his native United Kingdom and later went on to qualify and practice as an architect.
Jonathan Morduch
Professor of Public Policy and Economics, New York University
Managing Director, Financial Access Initiative
Jonathan Morduch, professor of public policy and economics at the NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, is managing director of the Financial Access Initiative, a consortium of researchers focused on financial inclusion. His research centers on microfinance, social investment, and the economics of poverty. His current work focuses on how governments and philanthropists can use market forces to create social change.
Mr. Morduch is co-author of Portfolios of the Poor: How the World’s Poor Live on $2 a Day (Princeton 2009) and The Economics of Microfinance (MIT Press 2005, 2nd edition 2010). He has taught on the economics faculty at Harvard University and has held visiting positions at Stanford, Princeton, and the University of Tokyo. He has worked with the United Nations and World Bank, and advises global NGOs.
Mr. Morduch earned a B.A. from Brown and a Ph.D. from Harvard, both in economics. He was awarded an honorary doctorate from the Université Libre de Bruxelles in December 2008 in recognition of his work on microfinance.
Vinod Parmeshwar
Deputy Director - Community Finance, Oxfam America
Vinod Parmeshwar, deputy director - community finance, is responsible for overall program management of Oxfam America’s Saving for Change program, including developing manuals, training staff, information systems, and financial management.
Mr. Parmeshwar has significant expertise in program design, adult learning pedagogy, financial analysis, and project management. He worked with Catholic Relief Services, SEWA Bank, and Citibank before joining Oxfam. Mr. Parmeshwar is an adjunct faculty at Brandeis University and has taught at Southern New Hampshire University’s Microenterprise Development Certificate in Africa.
Mr. Parmeshwar has made presentations and trained people in microfinance in Bangladesh, Cambodia, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Guatemala, India, Kenya, Liberia, Macedonia, Mali, Peru, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, and the United States.
Mr. Parmeshwar holds an M.B.A. from the Indian Institute of Management-Calcutta.