Gerda

Gerda Piprek

Gerda is the founding Director of Marketworx Africa, a boutique economic development consulting company based in South Africa. Gerda has more than 30 years’ experience in the financial sector in sub-Sahara Africa and beyond. She has broad experience in financial sector and MSME development, ranging from the design and implementation of qualitative research, large quantitative surveys, the development of national strategies, policy advice, sector mapping and analyses, impact evaluations and project design. Key focus areas include financial education and consumer protection. Gerda holds a B.Econ from Stellenbosch University (1984) and an MBA from Georgetown University, Washington DC (1995).

Reuben

Reuben Jessop

Reuben has more than 25 years professional experience in international programmes in the banking, finance, and equity sectors. He started his career in international development by working for the US government. His financial industry career started with the Chase Manhattan Bank where he gathered in-depth banking experience in credit risk analysis and management and bank marketing for 6 years. After commercial banking he spent 6 years working in the equity brokerage business. Since 2000 he has been engaged as an independent consultant working with both private and state-owned financial institutions. He has worked in numerous Asian and African countries.

Ingrid

Ingrid Smit

Ingrid Smit has been working in finance since 1997, with a focus on developing countries. In the last 15 years she specialised in micro and SME finance. Since June 2012 she has been operating a consultancy firm in micro and SME finance in Nairobi and has been working on numerous assignments in Sub Saharan Africa and other regions. Her various projects have included due diligences of microfinance institutions, market studies for investors, capacity building assessments, financial literacy training, social performance management audit & training. Priorly, Ingrid was Director Sub Saharan Africa at Planet Rating, a global rating agency specialised in microfinance, and worked with MYC4, Shell Foundation, Enda Inter-arabe, Oxfam Novib and FMO. Ingrid has lived in Tunisia and Kenya and is currently based in South Africa.