Arnaud de Lavalette 2019 Speaker

Senior Project Manager

ADA

Biography

Arnaud de Lavalette is currently leading the Digital Finance Initiative at ADA, helping African MFI digitalize their operations.
He is a seasoned expert in microfinance and SME funding with over 10 years of experience in this domain in Asia (Nepal, India and Philippines), West Africa and Latin America (Mexico).

In the SME domain, Arnaud has worked in Nepal where he conducted surveys for the IFC and supported SME entrepreneurs with the European Commission. In India he designed an investment vehicle (equity fund) which aimed at supporting Indian social SMEs.
In the microfinance sector – beside many technical assistance missions around the world, he managed the turnaround and sold MicroCred Mexico, and more recently was CEO of mBank Philippines, a greenfield banking project financed by international investors (FMO, Finnfund, MBH) and Smart the leading telecom company in the Philippines.

Currently, he works with ADA on a new digital finance project, helping African MFI digitalize their operations, i.e. integrate the mobile services as communication and distribution channels and migrate MIS into the cloud. As of now, half a dozen institutions are accompanied in their change process.

Prior to joining the development sector Arnaud gained a bright experience in both finance and new technologies. He started his career as an auditor with Arthur Andersen (3 years), evolved as a controller and finance analyst (3 years) and founded a web agency he has managed for 7 years.