Antonia Esser

Antonia has been doing payments and remittances research at Cenfri since joining in 2016. Her main research areas are payments in sub-Saharan Africa, the role of technology in insurance and remittance provision as well as understanding the implications of digital fiat currency for financial inclusion more recently. She has authored a seven-part series on the supply-side barriers to remittances on the continent which gave her deep insights into the payment systems in the region and the gaps that exist. As an associate she provides technical assistance to policy makers, industry bodies, the donor community as well as the private sector around regulation, sustainable business cases and most importantly, how to understand the consumer in emerging markets better. She has also been part of financial sector diagnostics in the DRC and Madagascar and is currently planning pilots in the for-purpose remittances and value chain digitisation space.