Amitabh Saxena

Amitabh has 18 years hands-on experience in fintech and product innovation in over 25 countries.

As Head of Product for the firm, he has led projects with public sector (e.g., International Monetary Fund, United Nations, GSMA) and private sector (e.g., Vodafone M-Pesa, Mastercard) clients alike.  He has also provided training on innovation methodologies (e.g., IFC, DAI) and has written thought-leadership reports on electronic payments (e.g., World Economic Forum, USAID).

Before founding Digital Disruptions, he worked in innovation units for multiple organizations.  He was previously Vice-President for Mastercard’s Emerging Products team, where he was responsible for Mobile Money in Latin America, from strategy and business development to product design and implementation.  Prior to that , he started and led the Alternative Channels practice area for Accion International, consulting on mobile banking, prepaid cards, and banking agents to its global network of financial institutions, based out of the firm’s Colombia and Washington, DC offices. Amitabh also worked for the GSMA’s Mobile Money team in London and for Jamii Bora Bank in Nairobi, Kenya. He started his career as a Product Manager in the Product Innovation Center at Capital One, launching over a dozen products for the Fortune 150 bank. He has spoken at several mobile payment conferences over the years and has been quoted in the American Banker, the Washington Post, and The Guardian.

Amitabh is fluent in English, French, and Spanish and holds an MBA from INSEAD (France/Singapore) and a Bachelor’s of Mechanical Engineering from McGill University from his native Montreal, Canada. He previously served as Adjunct Faculty at the University of Maryland’s Smith School of Business, where he taught an MBA course on New Product Development for 5 years, and currently teaches Design Thinking and Lean Start-Up classes at the University’s Academy for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.