Safiye Ozuygun Sahin

Independent Consultant Banking, Financial Inclusion, Microfinance

‘Champion for Women Award Winner’ by Women in Banking & Finance UK

Safiye is from Turkey.

Safiye is a senior international banker with vast experience across many banking functions geographies and client segments. Over the last 20 years at Citi she worked as a Senior Investment Banker both in Turkey and in London covering several FTSE 100 multinational corporates and underwriting complex financing transactions. She helped corporate clients to manage their investments and financing needs globally.

She worked as the Regional Head for Citi’s Internal Audit and Risk Management Group and was responsible from Europe Middle East and Africa consisting 52 countries. She was one of the Citibankers who has been selected as Senior Credit Officer globally.

In order to pursue her life-long ambition and commitment for women’s economic empowerment, Safiye joined Citi Microfinance in 2009 as a Global Business Director. She has since worked to address issues of access to finance for micro entrepreneurs focusing on building scalable solutions and bringing the capabilities of Citi’s businesses to microfinance institutions, banks and corporate clients that work with unbanked and underserved low income communities. Citi Microfinance provided funding to 40 microfinance institutions with outreach to almost 1 million micro-entrepreneurs in 22 countries, approximately 91% of whom are women.

In 2014, she has been given ‘Champion for Women Award’ by Women in Banking and Finance UK Network (WIBF) in recognition for her contribution to women in the workplace and women economic empowerment globally.

She has also co-founded Women Advancing Microfinance UK Platform bringing together microfinance and financial inclusion female advocates.

She sits on the board of non-profit Foundation for the Support of Women’s Work (Kadin Emegini Degerlendirme Vakfi) and Maya Microfinance Institution which is the first microfinance institution in Turkey.

She is also Senior Advisory Board Member at British Chamber of Commerce Turkey.

She has MSc degree in Banking and Finance from Nottingham University and BA in Economics from Bogazici University in Istanbul. She has dual nationality; British and Turkish and lives in Turkey and works as an independent consultant on global projects around financial inclusion, microfinance, banking and risk management.

Safiye Ozuygun Sahin's mentee is Swati Mehta