In the Spotlight – Ophelia Ama Oni

In the spotlight this month is the Certified Digital Finance Practitioner (CDFP) graduate, Community of Practice (CoP) Facilitator and President of Digital Finance Practitioners Ghana, Ophelia Ama Oni. In our interview, we share with you Ophelia’s CDFP journey, how it impacted her career and her role in leading the formation of an association for digital finance professionals in Ghana.

Ophelia has 14 years of banking experience, starting out at the branch, moving to the e-banking unit (launching VISA cards, ezwich and MTN Mobile Money), then spending the last 7 years as part of the team driving the financial inclusion agenda of the bank. She played a pivotal role in developing products and services to serve the financially excluded and designing financial literacy programs to empower them.

 

At the time of leaving the bank, deposits had grown to GHS 100 million. When the unit was set up seven years ago, a lot of people did not think banking the financially excluded was a profitable business, but this proved them wrong. It took the support and collaboration of development partners to help us achieve our goals.

 

The CDFP certification helped Ophelia deliver in her role and also transition her career from banking into a new direction. She is now a Financial Inclusion Expert for Digital Disruptions and is also President of Digital Finance Professionals in Ghana, whose aim is to promote digital transformation and contribute to sustainable development in Ghana. Ophelia would like to see Ghana at the forefront of DFS in the world; despite being a small country, she believes Ghana has the right policies and the right people to make it happen.

Her advice to students: “Continue learning and be part of product innovation to ensure we design the right products for our target customers.”

 

By Sarah Corley
Former Divisional Director at Digital Frontiers
Digital Frontiers Institute Alum

 

Learn more about our Certified Digital Finance Practitioner programme.