Mr. Benedikt Wahler is a German chartered banker, investment professional and strategy consultant working in banking and finance since 1998. Since 2010, he has led more than 50 projects on inclusive and digital finance. His particular areas of expertise are the strategy and operations of gender-intelligent finance for retail and SME banking . He has led innovative market research, segmentation, business case and gender data interventions as well as the design and piloting of women’s market and women MSME offers.
Since 2022, Benedikt has led the research and implementation of inclusive finance for young entrepreneurs in 17 markets and with 8 financial institutions as a novel focus for development finance. His work on inclusive and digital finance covered more than 40 markets in Africa, Latin America, Europe and Asia. In addition to supporting banks, microfinance institutions, fintechs, payment providers and insurers, Benedikt also advised central banks and regulators in emerging markets.
Before building up the inclusive finance practice at Consumer Centrix Inclusive Business (CCX) since 2014, Mr Wahler helped establish and grow the presence in Sub-Saharan Africa of Europe’s leading strategy consultancy Roland Berger. He previously worked at a leading European commercial bank and in investment management. Mr Wahler has also co-founded on a volunteer basis 2 award winning African entrepreneurship initiatives (Startup Lions Gmbh and Ampion), and served on the boards of Europe’s pioneer in e-Commerce software and an award-winning Swiss alternative investment fund.
Mr. Wahler holds a M.A. in International Relations and Economics from Johns Hopkins SAIS in Washington, DC and Bologna, and a Diploma (MBA-equivalent) in Banking & Finance from Frankfurt School of Finance & Management. He also studied in Buenos Aires, Argentina and at Stanford University.