Antonia Esser

Antonia Esser

Senior Research Associate, Cenfri

Antonia Esser is a Senior Research Associate at Cenfri focusing on payments, remittances and technology applications for financial inclusion. She leads a string of research projects related to payment systems in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), especially around interoperability, value chain digitisation and Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). Antonia has done extensive research on the supply-side barriers to cross-border payments in SSA. She also recently authored a study on the risks and benefits of rolling out CBDC via mobile money, and regularly presents on these topics at national and regional conferences. She also forms part of the expert cohort at the African Union’s African Institute for Remittances (AIR) where she advises regulators across the continent on how to create conducive regulatory environments to enable a bigger flow of formal remittances into- and intra-Africa. Prior to working with Cenfri, Antonia spent four years in Limpopo, South Africa, as a research and development officer for South Africa’s largest pro-poor microfinance organisation, The Small Enterprise Foundation (SEF). Operating in the most rural and poorest areas of the country, she oversaw SEF’s financial education programme. She also led a pilot on the potential transformation from joint to individual liability. Antonia holds a Master’s in international trade, finance and development from the Barcelona Graduate School of Economics in Spain.

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