Microfinance club of UK

Shankar Arora, Citigroup MF Team

Shankar Arora is a member of Citi 's London based global microfinance team. He has played an active role in the scaling up of Microfinance as a business, with Citi businesses across Citi's geographic footprint. This includes providing program and transactional risk management, and analytical support to help Citi businesses across geographies partner with, bank and fund the Microfinance sector. His sector contribution includes support for the roll out of the Microfinance Banana Skins Survey and co-authoring a paper on Basel II and its implications on the Microfinance sector.

Shankar joined the London Microfinance team in 2005 after having completed a full time MBA at Manchester Business School, where he majored in finance, covering Financial Institutions and markets, and an internship in the Corporate and Investment Bank at Citi during his MBA program. He has an emerging markets background having worked for ING in India, following a degree in Economics and Accounting . 

Sukhwinder Arora, Oxford Policy Management

Sukhwinder Arora works as Principal Consultant, Financial and Private Sector Development at Oxford Policy Management, UK (www.opml.co.uk). Sukhwinder has promoted microfinance and livelihoods for the poor for over two decades now. As a member of the DFID Financial Sector Team (2003-06), he was involved in developing policies and programmes seeking to improve access to finance. As DFID India adviser (1996-2003), he was involved in the design and oversight of national microfinance programmes.

Darline Augustine, London School of Economics

Darline Augustine is a Ph.D. Candidate at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Darline's research explores whether a link can be made between managerial and staff characteristics and social and financial performance in the microfinance sector. Her research spans the global microfinance sector with particularised studies of the Chinese microfinance marketplace. She is also a member of the steering committees of Women Advancing Microfinance of New York (WAM-NYC) and a member of the Microfinance Club of New York and 85 Broads.

Jenna Eastlake, Banking on Change

Jenna is Partnership Manager for ‘Banking on Change’, a unique partnership with CARE, Plan and Barclays working together on developing savings-led, community based microfinance in 11 countries currently across Africa, Asia and South America.  Before this she worked for over 7 years at Barclays and was Senior Financial Inclusion Manager responsible for the global strategy and development of Barclays work promoting financial inclusion, with specific accountability over the UK and work on access to banking and affordable credit.  Jenna worked on creating a more global view of financial exclusion issues as she believed there is was significant learning and knowledge that could be shared across both developed and developing countries.

As well sitting on the Steering Committee of the UK Microfinance Club, Jenna also supports the development of credit unions in London and has been volunteering for a number of years with her local credit union, supporting its start up and development.   

Malcolm Harper

Malcolm Harper was Professor of Enterprise Development at Cranfield School of Management, UK, until 1995, and since then has worked mainly in India. He was Chairman of Basix Finance (1996-2006), and is Chairman of M-CRIL, the microfinance credit rating agency.

Monica Maini, Associate, Clifford Chance LLP

Monica Maini is an associate in the Financial Institutions and Markets Practice at Clifford Chance LLP in London. Monica advises many of the world's leading financial institutions on the implications of financial services regulation and law, funds, and retail structured products. Miss Maini has advised on the listing of ETFs on the London Stock Exchange under the new Chapter 16 Listing Rules. Recently, she has been engaged in assignments in the Middle East, including listing an ETF in the Middle Eastern markets. She has previously worked as a summer intern at JPMorgan Chase and a graduate business analyst at JPMorgan Asset Management. Monica is a member of the Clfford Chance India Group and has assisted in writing an article on Basel II and its effects on Microfinance. She is also an active member of the Clifford Chance Women's Network.Monica is appointed as Secretary of the Microfinance Club UK.

 Sarah Mohaupt, London School of Economics

Sarah is a PhD student at the London School of Economics (LSE). She was an intern at the “Institute for Motivating Self Employment” (IMSE) in Calcutta, India and has also worked with the UK “National Committee for the 2005 UN Year of Microcredit” in London. She has also been a volunteer with PlaNet Finance UK. In 2005/06, Sarah founded and chaired the Microfinance Society at the LSE. She holds a first prize at the student competition of German Development Agency (GTZ) for her project analysis of the “GTZ NABARD Linkage Banking Programme India”. She joint the Steering Group of the Microfinance Club UK in July 2005.

Andy Robb, Fund Their Future

Andy is committed to enhancing the range of services the Club can offer its members. He is involved in other projects that will assist the Club in reaching out to a broader audience and help members to take action including Microfinance Without Borders, a course on MF for financial professionals in London who wish to go on secondment with MFIs to assist in their development. He is also a director of Mobile Microfinance Limited, a not for profit consultancy involved in implementing mobile banking in MFIs in East Africa.

Dr. Phyllis SantaMaria, Microfinance without Borders

Phyllis’s involvement with international development started as a US Peace Corps Volunteer in Guatemala where she created ‘microfinance with threads’ in the form of the first Mayan women’s weaving group, still functioning decades later. After careers in education and interactive multimedia at the BBC, the EU and corporates, she has been Chief of Mission for PlaNet Finance UK, a NGO for capacity building of microfinance institutions, and consultant for designing MF capacity building programmes in India, Nepal, China, Ghana and Eastern Europe. Coordinator for the UK National Committee for 2005 UN Year of Microcredit, for which the UK was one of 13 countries out of 101 to win UN and CGAP awards of excellence. She serves on the Steering Group of the MF Club UK and is a Director of Microfinance without Borders, which offers training in capacity building for microfinance in the UK and abroad, and field work placements in MFIs.

Prateek Shrivastava, Monitise

Prateek Shrivastava is an expert in Wireless Banking and Microfinance. As Head of International Strategy at Monitise Group plc, a specialist in mobile banking and payment systems most famous for its mobile money networks in the United Kingdom and North America, he is heavily involved in developing and deploying technology that can be used to help improve the lives of the poor.

Originally from India, Prateek has worked in over 20 countries across all continents. He has over 15 years of experience in developing new products and delivery channels as well as creating  technology solutions to improve the overall efficiency of organisations.

Prior to joining Monitise, Prateek founded WiFinance Limited to focus on microfinance and wireless banking solutions. As a consultant, he worked for ABSA in South Africa to improve the customer adoption of mobile banking products and in his most recent project, he helped implement Barclays Bank's Micro Banking Strategy in Ghana. Prior to this he was Manager, Global E-Business Strategy with Swiss-based Schindler Corporation. Prior to Schindler, Prateek successfully built and sold two Australian based ventures that developed groupware solutions for multinational companies.

He holds an MBA in Microfinance and Mobile Banking from Henley Management College (UK), a BSc in Computing and MSc in Information Technology, both from the University of Western Sydney (Australia).

Xavier Lecacheur is treasurer of the MFClub UK

Anne Martin is the Administrator