Senior Program Officer, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Category: Policy Makers &amp; Regulatory Experts (Government, Regulators, Policy Advisors, Compliance Professionals)
Rosita Najmi has been a financial inclusion and fintech specialist since 2001 and been advancing digital financial services for those who live under $2/day at the Bill &amp; Melinda Gates Foundation since 2015. She came to the foundation after tenures as a financial sector specialist at the World Bank, impact investor at the Omidyar Network, international development practitioner at leading NGOs, and as a social entrepreneur (co-founder and executive director of an iNGO in West Africa).
Rosita has investing, field research, publications, and operational experience from over 30 countries across Africa and East Asia and Pacific. Her contributions and collaborations span government, the private sector, civil society, and multilateral organizations and bodies, including the G7 and G20. Rosita was a Council on Foreign Relations Term Member and has been recognized for her leadership in women’s financial inclusion, regtech, social innovation, and tax policy and administration that leverages digital financial services and ID.
She serves on several boards and executive committees, including FinEquity, Data2X, the Better than Cash Alliance, and the Tahirih Justice Center. Rosita earned an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA with honors in Economics, Politics, and French from Wake Forest University.