FINCA Microfinance Bank serves clients with responsible and affordable financial services, including savings accounts, business loans, group loans as well as education loans.
FINCA Microfinance Bank Board Members Team
Our Board of Directors brings a breadth of expertise and dedication to providing access to responsible financial services
Jeffrey Smith
Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer
Jeffrey Smith
Jeffrey Smith has nearly 45 years of experience in auditing, finance, accounting, risk management, internal control, regulatory compliance, human resources, technology, information security and business continuity. He has led many restructuring efforts, as well as, many global efforts implementing effective risk controls, fraud management and compliance monitoring systems.
Mr. Smith has worked in both the public and private sectors and has been an independent consultant and held global positions at Citibank and Ford Motor Company, and Rotary International.
Mr. Smith is a Certified Risk Professional and earned a Master of Business Administration from Wayne State University (Detroit, Michigan, USA) and a Bachelor of Business Administration from Eastern Michigan University (Ypsilanti, Michigan, USA).
Volker Renner
Board Member
Volker Renner
Volker Renner is a distinguished board member for FINCA Microfinance Bank Limited (“FINCA Tanzania”). He brings over 20 years of senior management and governance experience in microfinance across four continents. From 2004 to 2016 he served FINCA Impact Finance as Vice President for Credit and Savings, Global COO, and Regional Director for the FINCA Eurasia subsidiaries. Prior to joining FINCA, Volker held positions as CEO of ProCredit Bank (Ukraine), and was an advisor to banks in Russia and Ukraine. Volker has served as board chairman, board member, and member/chairman of Risk, Audit, HR and other committees in numerous microfinance institutions and banks. He is currently a board member in seven financial institutions of the FINCA Impact Finance network including Tanzania, Malawi, Georgia, Kosovo, Jordan, Afghanistan and Pakistan. He is also a board member in one non-financial institution in Germany.
Muhammad Siddique Ahmed
Board Member
Muhammad Siddique Ahmed
LUCAS WILKENS FLORES SOARES
Board Member of FINCA Microfinance Bank Limited
Lucas Wilkens Flores Soares
Lucas Wilkens Flores Soares has over 20 years of senior management and leadership experience in fintech, cyber security, and mobile technology across multiple continents. From 2012 to 2015, he held executive positions at Bima (Milvik), first as the Country Manager for Senegal and later as Vice-President for LATAM. Under Lucas’s guidance, Bima utilized mobile technology to provide insurance and health services to emerging consumers. Between 2015 and 2019, Lucas served as the Regional Director for EMEA at Hearsay Social, a Sequoia Capital-backed firm, harnessing predictive analytics to optimize marketing and customer relationships for insurance and banks. At Wandera, later acquired by Jamf, Lucas worked with clients like Santander, McKinsey, Ferrari and Schindler, and advocated for unified cloud security to safeguard enterprise data. With prior executive positions at British Telecom and Telecom Italia, Lucas now pioneers fintech solutions as the Vice-President of Finance & Operations at Helio Pay.
MARY MABITI
Board Member of FINCA Microfinance Bank Limited
Mary Mabiti
Mary Mabiti has senior management experience in Risk & Compliance Management, Finance, Banking and other sectors acquired over 20 years. Currently she is the Finance Manager for Ophir Energy in Tanzania. Previously she worked with Stanbic Bank Tanzania Ltd as the Head of Internal Audit and Deloitte & Touché, Tanzania in the assurance and advisory services department.
Currently she is serving as Deputy Chairperson of Tanzania Association of Women Certified Accountant (TAWCA) governing council.
Mary holds MBA from the Eastern and Southern Africa Management Institute (ESAMI) and CPA from the National Board of Accountants and Auditors (NBAA), Tanzania.
VUSAL VERDIYEV
Senior Executive
Vusal Verdiyev
Vusal Verdiyev is an accomplished Senior Executive with over twenty years of executive experience leading banking institutions in emerging markets. Between 2008-2021 Vusal Verdiyev served as a Chief Executive Officer of FINCA Bank Georgia, a subsidiary institution of FINCA Impact Finance. Mr. Verdiyev brings strong expertise in MSME banking, with a proven track record in leading some of the most complex initiatives, such as banking transformation, digitization and business model transformation, third-party partnerships and innovative product offerings, operational efficiency, and optimizations. Mr. Verdiyev has previously served and continues to serve as a Board of Directors member, Chair of the Risk Committee, Chair of the Appointments and Remuneration Committee, member of the Audit Committee, member of the Strategic Initiatives Committee in regulated commercial banks and MFIs in Africa region, Caucasus, Central Asia, and Russia
FINCA Microfinance Bank Management Team
Our management team brings vast experience, professional skills and expertise from various industry backgrounds
Edward Talawa
Chief Executive Officer
Edward Talawa
Edward is the Chief Executive Officer (“CEO”) of FINCA Tanzania, responsible for the development and execution of business strategy and oversight of day-to-day operations of the institution.
Edward has vast experience in the banking industry, in commercial banks and microfinance institutions locally and internationally, spanning over 26 years. He started his career in 1992 as a computer systems business analyst and programmer at ICL Tanzania software house. He later on worked for major banks in Tanzania as head of IT at the National Bank of Commerce (“NBC”), National Microfinance Bank (“NMB”), before joining FINCA International, Inc. Edward served as Director of Information Services for FINCA Africa based in Kampala Uganda. He later joined Accion where he was supported Akiba Commercial Bank Tanzania to work as General Manager ICT. He held the role at Accion from 2012 until 2016. In 2017, he returned to FINCA International, Inc. as Board Member of FINCA Tanzania. In 2019 he transitioned to become interim CEO for FINCA Tanzania to spearhead its transformational changes.
Edward is native to the United Republic of Tanzania and is bilingual in English and Swahili. He earned an MBA in diploma management from the Henley Business School UK.
FELICIAN LEONCE GIRAMBO
Chief Commercial Officer
FELICIAN LEONCE GIRAMBO
Felician brings with him vast experience in both credit risk and business banking. In the last 10 years, he has worked in several banks across different roles including Head of Credit, Personal and Business Banking at Stanbic Bank Tanzania Limited, Commercial Director at Akiba Commercial Bank, Head of Financial Inclusion at Letshego Bank Tanzania, Chief Credit Officer at DCB Commercial Bank Plc Tanzania, Senior Credit Officer at NMB Bank and Credit Analyst at CRDB Bank Plc.
Felician holds a MSc in finance from the University of Strathclyde, a post graduate diploma in financial management from Maastricht School of Management in the Netherlands, and a BCom in finance from the University of Dar es salaam.
Felician has also attended several international trainings including a training on enterprise risk management from SIDA in Stockholm, Sweden as well as a leadership training in inclusive finance from the Harvard Business School in Boston, Massachusetts USA.
Beatus Malawa
Head Of Legal, Compliance And Company Secretary
Beatus Malawa
Beatus Malawa is an advocate of the High Court of Tanzania with over 7 years of experience advising general corporate entities in the areas of banking and finance, general corporate and commercial law, and litigation.
Beatus is the Head of Legal, Compliance and Company Secretary of FINCA Tanzania, as well as serves as a member of the Management Board charged with overseeing FINCA Tanzania’s legal operations and corporate governance. He acts as Secretary to the Board of Directors and respective Board Committee of FINCA Tanzania.
Prior to joining FINCA Tanzania, Beatus worked in a law firm where he started as a Legal Officer with AccessBank Tanzania Limited and grew to Senior Legal Officer. He then joined FINCA Tanzania as Senior Legal Counsel and later became Head of Legal, Compliance, and Company Secretary.
Beatus Malawa holds a bachelor’s degree in laws from Tumaini University, at Iringa. He also earned a postgraduate degree in law from the Law School of Tanzania.
Joseph Linus Mrawa
Chief Financial Officer
Joseph Linus Mrawa
As Chief Financial Officer, Joseph will be in-charge of Finance and Administration department in FINCA Microfinance Bank, designated to manage all finance, accounting and administration activities in FINCA Tanzania and supervises finance and administration staff. He will ensure that the finance and administration activities of FINCA Tanzania supports FINCA Tanzania in pursuing its mission with a minimum of risk and a maximum of efficiency. As a member of the Management Team/Board, He shares responsibility for the overall performance and activities of FINCA Tanzania, and participates in making decisions on material issues.
Joseph is joining FINCA with over twelve years’ experience in the Audit, Banking and finance sectors. He started his finance and Audit career in PwC Tanzania as Senior Associate in 2010 – 2012 then worked with Exim Bank as Senior Finance Manager from 2013 to 2017 and 2018 to 2020 before moving to Absa Bank in 2020 as Financial Controller. Joseph is joining FINCA Tanzania from Absa Bank where his last position was Head of Business Performance & Analytics
Joseph holds a Masters of Finance and Investment from University of Edinburgh, Scotland, CPA (T) & ACCA, and Bcom(Hons) in Accounting from University of Dar es salaam. He has attended various professional trainings in Accounting and Finance and executive Coaching.
FINCA Microfinance Holding Company Global Leadership
The FMH leadership team manages a global organization of more than 12,000 employees