ITFA Emerging Trade Financier Award 2021 – shortlist announcement

The ITFA Emerging Leaders Committee and the ITFA Board are delighted to announce that the 2021 ITFA Emerging Trade Financier Award was a resounding success. We received nine submissions from a diverse group of Emerging Leaders, including both existing industry practitioners and students, therefore evidencing once again that the work that ITFA is doing spreading the trade finance word in academia is attracting more talent to our industry.
 
It was undoubtedly a difficult choice for all six judges (Sean Edwards, Silja Calac, Johanna Wissing, Duarte Pedreira, Pouya Jafari and Izabela Czepirska) who gathered to select the best three projects, and after much discussion it was decided that the following would make the shortlist:
 

• Charlie O’Mulloy (Bayes Business School) – Trade Finance Distribution 101: A case study of bank risk distribution and analysis of key market players
• Daryna Strogal (EBRD) – Can SMEs benefit from digital solutions in Trade Finance?
• Georgina Stevens (JP Morgan) – ESG Educate

 
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 Bristol between 4 and 6 October. As an initial reward for their efforts, ITFA has decided to reward Charlie, Daryna and Georgina with a free ticket for the conference and we very much look forward to their active participation and engagement during the event.
 
As it happened in Budapest in 2019, the three shortlisted projects will be presented by their authors in a pitch to conference participants during the ITFA AGM (scheduled for 5 October 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, with a very special mention 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.
 
We look forward to seeing you in Bristol. If you have not yet registered, please do as soon as possible as this will undoubtedly be an historical comeback for THE trade finance event of the year.