Sabine Mensah | Regional Digital Hub, Manager - West & Central Africa Region
UNCDF

Sabine is a bilingual English-French Digital Financial Inclusion advocate with 5 years United Nations development agency journey and 17-years private sector business development experience in remittances, digital payments and mobile money across Africa, the United States and Canada. Sabine started her career as a loan officer at Ecobank Burkina Faso and moved on to remittances in 1998. Over a span of 16 years with the Western Union company in Africa, US and Canada, she built a solid expertise in agent network management, remittance product design, go-to-market and customer activation strategies for scale. In 2013, Sabine relocated to Kenya and transitioned to Digital Financial Services (DFS) consulting with the Anthemis Group and MicroSave focusing on financial inclusion through alternative delivery channels and mobile financial services. In that capacity, she engaged with leading Mobile Network Operators, regional banks and microfinance institutions across Africa on Digital Financial Services (DFS) projects ranging from feasibility studies, consumer research, regulatory framework assessment, agent network strategy to cross border mobile remittances, mobile payments and micro lending / savings product design. Sabine joined UNCDF in July 2015 as a Technical Specialist in Digital Finance. Since then, Sabine has been working with regulators, governments, service providers and donors to accelerate the development of inclusive DFS ecosystems in West and Central Africa for the financial and economic inclusion of low income, women, youth and rural households in target markets. To date, Sabine leads UNCDF regional digital innovation hub for West and Central Africa driving the development of inclusive digital economies that leave no one behind. Sabine is also the global workstream lead on UNCDF’s open digital infrastructure agenda. Sabine hold a Master in Business Administration MBA from Central Michigan University in the US, a Bachelor in Finance from Institut Franco Americain de Management in France and a Certificate in Digital Money from The Fletcher School – Tufts University in the US.