ITFA Emerging Leader Competition 2022 – SHORTLIST ANNOUCEMENT

The ITFA Emerging Leaders Committee and the ITFA Board are delighted to announce that the 2022 ITFA Emerging Trade Financier Award was a resounding success.

We received eight submissions from a diverse group of Emerging Leaders, including both existing industry practitioners and students alike, evidencing once again the impressive work ITFA is doing in spreading the trade finance word in academia is attracting evermore talent into our industry.

It was undoubtedly a difficult choice for all seven judges (Sean Edwards, Silja Calac, Simon Cook, Katie Gates, Pouya Jafari, Izabela Czepirska, and Andre Casterman) who gathered to select the best two projects this morning.

After much discussion, it was decided that the following would make the shortlist:

• Parth-Mahesh Damani  (Bayes Business School) – ‘Improving UK’s Balance of Payments by Increasing Trade Finance opportunities for SME businesses’
• Harsha Metha (Barclays) – ‘Importance of the 2 ‘E’s in Trade Finance ECA & ESG’

The authors of the shortlisted projects will now present their work and be subject to the scrutiny of our members during the forthcoming ITFA Annual Conference taking place in Porto between 6 and 8 September. As an initial reward for their efforts, ITFA has decided to reward Parth-Mahesh and Harsha with a free ticket for the conference and we very much look forward to their active participation and engagement during the event.

The two shortlisted projects will be presented by their authors in a pitch to conference participants during the ITFA AGM (scheduled for 8 September prior to the Conference Gala Dinner) and the winner will subsequently be determined through an online voting process. The big announcement will then be made during the subsequent Gala Dinner.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who contributed to this initiative, to the six projects that did not make it through to the shortlist – your efforts did not go unnoticed and your merit for taking part in the competition is already a significant personal victory for all.

A special mention goes to:

• Kareem Abdel-Rahman – ‘Egypt’s Trade Map’: Kareem provided an insightful dive into Egypt’s trends in trade over the past four years.
• Amritakripa MiniMenon – ‘E-Invoices and National SCF’: Amritakripa provided an impressive proposal to e-invoicing. At just 13 years old, Amritakripa’s work reaffirms our excitement and confidence in the future of our industry.

Thank you again to all who participated.

We look forward to seeing you in Porto. If you have not yet registered, please do as soon as possible as this will undoubtedly be THE trade finance event of the year.