Bezant ChongoFinancial Inclusion Expert

Bezant CHONGO has fifteen years of experience in inclusive finance market. He has spent the last ten years with Positive Planet International as a consultant working on a broad range of technical assistance projects fulfilling different roles on teams ranging from lead consultant to project manager.

Bezant has extensive working with diverse range of financial institutions including banks and MFIs and mobile network operators (MNO) across Africa in financial inclusion. In recent years he has also supported banks and MNOs in developing and rolling out digital financial services responsibly. Bezant brings experience from social performance management having supported institutions to implement the Universal Standards of Social Performance Measurement (USSPM) in the inclusive finance sector. Under a project to support 12 different financial service providers in Africa to implement social performance standards, he worked with banks and MFIs in Zambia, Tanzania and Uganda.

Bezant has also worked with regulators across four African countries through a regulatory study on microfinance regulations in Tanzania, Namibia and Zambia. In 2018, Bezant lead a team of senior executives from the South African banking and microfinance sector on immersive study tour to Ghana, Tanzania and Brazil. An integral component of the programme was to study the different success stories and best practise or rolling out responsible finance and integration of SPM by financial service providers in the different markets.

Qualifications

Master in Microfinance – University of Bergamo, Italy

Bachelor of Business Administration – Copperbelt University, Zambia

Diploma in Banking and Finance – Zambia Institute of Bankers