Salah Goss appointed Mastercard’s Labs for Financial Inclusion lead in Kenya
Mastercard has today announced the appointment of Salah Goss as Head of the Mastercard Labs for Financial Inclusion to be based in Nairobi, Kenya. Salah has been with Mastercard for four years, and previously served as Vice President, Global Products and Solutions.
In her previous role, Salah Goss was focused on creating partnerships with the development community, NGOs and governments to design payments, data and financial solutions that fostered financial inclusion, and addressed wider economic development challenges. She therefore brings extensive experience in financial inclusion specializing in mobile enabled solutions, agent banking and community-managed microfinance.
In her new role, Salah Goss will oversee the development of digital solutions that positively impact low income households in Africa, and other developing markets. She will also be driving the scale of innovative solutions across Africa and other emerging markets, in order to develop practical and cost-effective financial tools that expand access to vital services and help build stable futures for low-income communities.
According to Michael Elliott, the previous Head of the Mastercard Lab for Financial Inclusion, who has now taken up a global position as Senior Vice President, Financial Inclusion Portfolio, Products and Innovation (PI), Mastercard “Bringing in a proven leader like Salah will help us continue to work with entrepreneurs from Africa and the developing world to create local products rooted in Mastercard’s global know-how,”
Salah Goss previously worked at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation where she focused on innovative business models for mobile-enabled financial products. Prior to the Gates Foundation, she worked in Africa as a financial analyst at Sanabel Microfinance Network of Arab Countries in Cairo, Egypt and then help lead the establishment of the West Africa regional office of the Soros Open Society Foundation based in Dakar, Senegal.
About Mastercard Labs for Financial Inclusion.
Mastercard Labs for Financial Inclusion is one of a global series of Mastercard Innovation Hubs, and is the technology company’s first lab focused on financial inclusion. The Lab opened its doors in 2015 and is part of a partnership with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The Kenyan-based technology hub is committed to empowering 100 million Africans previously excluded from formal financial sector by 2020, through the use of public-private partnerships, and the innovation of locally relevant technology solutions that are underpinned by a deep understanding of the unique challenges and opportunities that exist in Africa.
