Financial Sector Deepening Uganda appoints Executive Director

Having supported Financial Sector Deepening Uganda (FSDU) to recruit an Executive Director in 2017, Society re-ran this search in 2019 and appointed Rashmi Pillai, former FSDU Director of Programmes, following a competitive process. 

FSDU is an independent, not-for-profit company, and part of a network of nine financial inclusion organisations that work across Sub-Saharan Africa to support innovation, conduct research and help promote and improve policies, laws and regulations that foster an inclusive financial sector in service of the wider economy. 

After growth and development of recent years, FSDU is now poised to deliver on its refreshed strategy and programmes focussing on improving the business environment, access and usage of financial services, and infrastructure development in the country.

An international search was conducted for strategic leaders with the strong relationship management skills required to build FSDU’s influence and lead its technical team. We targeted individuals with broad experience of the financial sector, particularly within international development, and ideally within an African context.

The Board of FSDU expressed strong confidence in Rashmi, who had deputised for the former ED since she joined FSDU in 2018, proving herself to be an ambitious innovator. Previously, she was with the World Bank (CGAP) as Digital Financial Services Specialist and Country Lead for Uganda and Rwanda.