Dr. Folasade Femi-Lawal is the Country Manager and Area Business Head for West Africa at Mastercard, where she leads regional growth, payment innovation, and partnerships that expand access to digital financial systems across the region. Her work focuses on financial inclusion, reducing cash dependency, and building scalable, inclusive payment ecosystems in collaboration with governments and regulators.

With over 30 years of experience across consulting, banking, telecoms, and technology, she has held senior leadership roles at PwC, UBA, Airtel Nigeria, and First Bank of Nigeria. At FirstBank, she served as Pioneer Head of Digital Banking and Head of Cards & Messaging Business, managing over 12 million cards and driving large-scale digital transformation initiatives to expand access to financial services.

She is a strong advocate for financial inclusion and has led impactful partnerships with UNICEF and the Cherie Blair Foundation to support mobile payments for frontline workers and women entrepreneurs across Africa.

Her leadership has been recognised with several honors, including Outstanding Woman in Management (UNAN), Top 50 Women in Management Africa (WiMA), LinkedIn Payment Influencer of 2024 (EMEA), Fintech CEO of 2025 (African Global Economic Forum), and Fintech Trailblazer of the Year 2025.