AllianceDFA is delighted to welcome Mayada El-Zoghbi to its Board. Mayada is a globally recognised leader in inclusive finance, bringing more than two decades of experience advancing financial inclusion, digital equity, and women’s economic empowerment across emerging markets. Throughout her distinguished career, she has helped shape global thinking and practice on how financial systems can better serve underserved communities, while fostering collaboration across the public, private, and development sectors.
Mayada is the author of Power, Platforms and Participation, which presents both a vision and a practical framework for building a digital economy that works for everyone. Her work has consistently focused on ensuring that innovation, technology, and financial services contribute to greater inclusion and opportunity.
As Managing Director of the Center for Financial Inclusion (CFI), Mayada led pioneering research on topics including algorithmic bias and women’s financial inclusion. During her tenure, she helped elevate Financial Inclusion Week and the Responsible Finance Forum into leading global industry events and oversaw the integration of MIX, including the Inclusive Fintech 50 competition and dataset.
Prior to CFI, Mayada spent more than a decade at CGAP, where she founded FinEquity, a thriving global community of practice dedicated to women’s financial empowerment. She also led influential initiatives focused on donor and investor good practices and strengthening the evidence base for financial inclusion. She also served as Board Chair of MIX and Chair of the Advisory Group for the Mastercard Centre for Inclusive Growth’s Strive Community program.
Today, Mayada continues to contribute to the advancement of inclusive finance through her advisory and governance roles, including consulting with the Arab Monetary Fund on the Arab Inclusive Instant Payment Systems Facility and serving as a board director at AFR in Rwanda.
“We are thrilled to welcome Mayada to the AllianceDFA Board,” said Sarah Corley, CEO of AllianceDFA. “Her deep expertise, global perspective, and unwavering commitment to advancing inclusive finance will be invaluable as we continue to support fintech associations and collaborate for financial systems transformation. Mayada’s experience in research, convening, and community-building aligns strongly with our mission and vision for the future.”
Speaking about her appointment, Mayada said: “I am honoured to join the AllianceDFA Board at such an exciting time for the organisation as it reaches its five-year milestone and begins to look ahead for the next five years. I look forward to working with fellow board members and the AllianceDFA team to strengthen fintech ecosystems, promote collaboration, and advance inclusive digital financial services globally.”
As AllianceDFA continues to grow its global network and deepen its impact, Mayada’s insight, leadership, and passion for inclusion will be a tremendous asset. We are excited to work alongside her and look forward to the contributions she will make in helping shape the next chapter of AllianceDFA’s journey.
Please join us in welcoming Mayada to the AllianceDFA community.