Folasade Femi-Lawal

Folasade Femi-Lawal is the Country Manager and Area Business Head, West Africa at Mastercard. Based in Nigeria, Folasade is responsible for advancing the Mastercard brand presence in West Africa, overseeing performance and strategic direction, deploying innovative payment solutions, and partnering with local governments and market regulators to build a World Beyond Cash. 

Before joining Mastercard, Folasade held multiple roles in the finance and banking industry with her first role dating back to 1998, when she joined United Bank of Africa (UBA) as the Head of Loan Monitoring Unit — overseeing the bank’s loan portfolio and ensuring compliance with regulatory standards.   

This position was then followed by her role as Head of Card & Messaging Business at FirstBank, where she managed eleven million cards and coordinated the Card Products Strategy in the Bank and its subsidiaries in the United Kingdom, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Senegal, Gambia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea. 

Folasade is a seasoned Digital Transformation Senior Executive with 25 years of experience across diverse industries such as Financial Services, Management Consulting, Telecommunications, and Business Advisory Services. Alongside her varied experience, she is passionate about women empowerment and financial inclusion, with affiliations to key organisations such as the Women in Management, Business and Public Service (WimBiz) and the Women Entrepreneurs (AWE) initiative, launched by the U.S. Consulate General. 

She holds a B.Sc. in Accounting from Obafemi Awolowo University and an MBA in Information Management System from Texila American University, Guyana. She has received professional and executive education from the Pan-African University, Harvard Business School, London Business School, and Gershom Lehman Consulting (USA). She is also a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, the Chartered Institute of Taxation, and the Association of Enterprise Risk Managers. Additionally, she is a member of the Forbes Business Development Council and the Committee for Open Banking API Standard.