Agathamarie John

Agathamarie John is a seasoned market systems development professional with over 13 years of experience in driving financial inclusion initiatives across Tanzania, Sierra Leone, Kenya, and Mozambique. Her expertise spans both strategic and regulatory facilitation within the digital financial services sector, coupled with hands-on experience in financial product development. Agathamarie has a deep understanding of the challenges faced by small businesses and has worked extensively with women and youth, particularly in Tanzania’s light manufacturing sectors.

Prior her current role, Agathamarie has managed various programmes and held different managing positions. Her journey in market systems development began with a significant five-year tenure at FSDT Tanzania, where she managed a portfolio valued at USD 11 million, focusing on digital financial services investments. During this period, she played a pivotal role in key projects, including the First National Financial Inclusion Framework with GIS Mapping of Financial Services and the DFS Interoperability Scheme Project. These initiatives were instrumental in advancing financial inclusion across the country.

For the past seven years, Agathamarie has continued to excel as an independent consultant, leading projects aimed at expanding digital financial services for women and youth in Tanzania. Notably, she served as the Tanzania Supply Side Technical Lead for the Mastercard Foundation’s Savings at the Frontier program, a portfolio of USD 4 million in funded institutions. Additionally, she was the Technical Lead for the DMAC project, funded by FSD Africa, which focused on enhancing the capacity of financial service providers to utilize data in developing innovative financial solutions for underserved communities.

In her role as Senior Project Manager at Innovation Poverty Action, Agathamarie has been instrumental in generating critical insights into the cost drivers of digital financial services in Tanzania. Her work involved strategic engagement with policymakers and private sector stakeholders to ensure that research outputs effectively influence the market landscape. Agathamarie is deeply passionate about fostering a human-centric, inclusive, and affordable financial sector in Tanzania, with a vision to support the growth of the country’s digital and green economy through evidence-based thought leadership and strategic partnerships.