Esther Dassanou joined the Mastercard Foundation in May of 2023 to lead the Foundation’s journey to accelerating access to dignified and fulfilling work for young women in Africa.

Prior to the Mastercard Foundation, Esther was the Manager of the Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA), an initiative of the African Development Bank to reduce the USD 42 billion access to finance gap for women-empowered businesses in Africa. Prior to joining AfDB, Esther led the International Finance Corporation’s (IFC) work on advancing women’s inclusion in the insurance sector as the head of the women’s insurance program. Esther worked with insurers across Africa and Asia to help insurers in de-risking female-owned SMEs and providing better coverage for women’s daily risk. Esther also led the mainstreaming of IFC’s women’s access to finance through the organization’s SME banking program. 

She has also managed the Secretariat of the Global Banking Alliance for Women now known as the Financial Alliance for Women, a consortium of financial institutions dedicated to promoting the growth of women-owned enterprises. Esther is the co-author of SheforShield: Insure Women to Better Protect All, a groundbreaking report articulating the business case for the insurance industry to address the needs of women as clients, employees, entrepreneurs and leaders. Esther was also a lead author of the G20 reports G20 – Access to Finance for Women MSMEs and Women-owned SMEs: A Business Opportunity for Financial Institutions, which for the first time measured the access to finance gap for female-owned SMEs in developing markets.