Opening remarks:

         Janine Walz - Program Manager, Private Sector Development, State Secretariat for Economic Affairs SECO, Switzerland  

Janine Walz is program manager in the Private Sector Development team at Switzerland’s State Secretariat for Economic Affairs SECO. She oversees the private sector development portfolio in Central Asia, Switzerland’s institutional relationship with the Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG) and is thematically responsible for financial infrastructure, local currency and infrastructure finance. Previously, she worked at the World Bank and the UNCTAD in the areas of macro-fiscal management and trade diagnostics. Janine has studied Management and Economics with degrees from the Faculty of Business and Economics, Lausanne.

Moderator:

         Matthew Saal - Digital Finance Specialist, International Finance Corporation 

Matthew Saal is a Digital Finance Specialist in the IFC’s Financial Institutions Group. Matthew joined IFC in 2016 and covers digital financial services and credit infrastructure advisory work, partnerships, and investments in innovative financial services and embedded finance     providers. During 2018-   2019 Matthew was a World Bank Presidential Fellow seconded to the Finance Competitiveness and Innovation Global Practice, focused on fintech policy and fintech for inclusion. Prior to joining IFC, Matthew was Associate Director in the Local Currency and Capital Markets Development initiative of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) from 2010-2016. Matthew has had a longstanding focus on inclusive financial services and   financial technology,   having worked in emerging markets finance, private equity, venture capital, strategy and business development, consulting, and international economics, including a private equity fund focused on African banks, LabMorgan (the venture arm of JPMorgan), the International Monetary Fund, and Morgan Stanley. Matthew holds an A.B. in Chemistry from Princeton University and an M.Phil. in Economics from Oxford University (Balliol College), where he studied as a Marshall Scholar. He has published in the areas of fintech, banking, macroeconomic policy, financial systems structure, trade, and monetary policy instruments.  

Speakers:

 Alexandra Mendoza De Castro - CEO - Founder, Liquitech 

 Alexandra Mendoza De Castro is a Business manager with an MBA from the Universidad del Norte, Barranquilla, with specialized studies at Fintech at Harvard University and in International Women’s Leadership at HCN World. With 20 years of experience in the factoring and non-banking financial   services industry, her passion for innovation led her to found Liquitech, a fintech that integrates factoring operations into a technology core for all its stakeholders and build complementary social impact projects through the Young Woman Challenge program of which she is founder. She is the vice   president of the Board of Directors of Colombia Fintech and founder of the Women community at Fintech. Winner of several awards by entities such as MasterCard - Usaid, ASCOLFA (Association of Business Administration Faculties in Colombia) and AMBA (Association of MBA s), United Kingdom. 

         John M. Wilson - Senior Operations Officer, International Finance Corporation

John Wilson is a Senior Operations Officer with the International Finance Corporation, Financial Institutions Group in Latin America, based in Bogota, Colombia. He has over 20 years-experience in the development of legal, regulatory and technology frameworks for commercial financing and asset-based lending for MSMEs, with special focus on factoring and digital financial instruments. Before joining the IFC, Mr Wilson served as Senior Officer with the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law in Rome, where oversaw legislative reform on securities in emerging markets, and before that, as Principal Officer with the Organization of American States, Washington, DC, where he oversaw Private International Law reforms in the Americas. John has served as consultant to several Latin American governments in reforming local financial legislation and practiced law in the United States and Mexico. 

         Karl Boog - Chief Business Officer, Drip Capital

Karl Boog leads Drip’s Global Capital Markets strategy, overseeing funding and strategic relationships with global banks and institutional investors. He also heads Drip’s U.S. Business and Global Partnerships teams. Beginning his career at BlackRock's Credit teams, Karl later held executive roles in  hedge funds and asset management firms. He earned a B.S. from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. 

         Filiz Unal - Deputy Secretary General, Turkish Association of Financial Leasing, Factoring and Financing Companies

Filiz Unal represents the Receivable Finance Sector (factoring) at the Association of Financial Institutions (FKB), with more than 30 years of professional experience in finance. The first 19 years of her finance profession, she worked in banking and non-banking finance sectors, specialising variously in marketing, cross-border trade financing and international correspondent relations. She has also been a Marketing and Development Committee member of the International Factors Group in Belgium during her career in Garanti Factoring as Executive Vice President. Following her private sector experience, in 2010 she has been appointed as the Secretary General of the Turkish Factoring Association. After the restructuring of the professional association she is honoured to be the current Deputy Secretary General at the Association of Financial Institutions which is a semi-governmental organization for all leasing, factoring, financing, asset management and saving financing companies established in 2013 following the Law on Financial Leasing, Factoring, Finance and Saving Financing Companies. She is representing the factoring sector (trade/receivable finance) internally and globally.
In her current position, she has been also working with the regulatory authorities in the legislative arrangements and for development of the receivable/trade finance; manages designing and implementation of new products and fin-tech solutions in the Association such as Central Receivables Recording System, Trade Chain Finance Platform including Supply Chain Finance, Islamic Factoring, - E-invoicing System, Shared Data Center.

         Gianluca Pizzituti - CEO, Velotrade 

Gianluca started his career in the Equity Derivatives desk at Dresdner Kleinwort in London. In 2009, he moved to Singapore where he founded and managed his proprietary trading company, engaging in high-frequency equity and currency derivatives. Involved in Velotrade in Hong Kong since 2014.