Nika Naghavi

Executive Director at MFS Africa

Speaker

Nika is in charge of expanding MFS Africa’s footprint. She is also responsible for building and managing relationships with Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) to unlock growth opportunities and entrench MFS Africa as a key player in the payment ecosystem.

Prior to this, she led the Data and Insights portfolio of the GSMA’s Mobile Money Programme. Here, she supported the growth of the mobile money and digital financial inclusion sectors.

She has authored several key reports including the flagship State of the Industry Report on Mobile Money, strategic publications on potential pathways for evolving the mobile money business model and how mobile money providers can adapt their strategy to a platform-based approach. She produced the very first large-sample quantitative analysis on the expansion of digital financial services in collaboration with Harvard Business School and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. She also published the first-ever comprehensive analysis of the costs of international remittances via mobile money and reports on how mobile money can help to accelerate the digitisation and formalisation of international remittances.

Beyond expertise in research, innovation consulting and frameworks, building teams and operational structures, she has a broad knowledge of ICT4D-related topics. This includes financial inclusion for women and reaching the last mile, digital humanitarian assistance, digital identity, and mobile-enabled utilities.

Nika holds a PhD in Telecommunications Engineering from the Centre for Telecommunications Research at King’s College London.