Sitara Merchant 2024 Speaker

Chief Executive Officer

SCBF

Biography

Sitara Merchant is the CEO at SCBF, a public private platform that leverages public and private sector resources (funding and expertise) to enable inclusive finance to improve the quality of life of low-income populations in particular women. SCBF achieves this be providing funding and patient capital to mid-stage start-ups, with a tried and tested business models in the inclusive finance space, that are innovative and have the potential to achieve high levels of impact. Sitara is a multicultural professional with over 30 years of experience and a longstanding career. The first 15 years of her career were in the private sector in various roles from marketing for a cosmetic company to strategy consulting and founding her own company in Canada. She has been working, for 18 years, in international development across Asia, Africa, the Middle East and North America, including over 9 years in the inclusive finance sector.

Sitara is a strong advocate of bringing together private and public sector resources to solving the challenges of inclusive finance for low-income populations.