After nearly fifteen years in the banking sector, Hadiatou Diallo Barry founded Akiba Finance in 2019, a digital microfinance institution focused on women and youth in Guinea. Akiba Finance is one of the country’s first fully digital microfinance providers, created following her extensive career across several pan-African banks.

A graduate of ICN Business School in France with a Master’s degree in International Trade (2002), she held key leadership roles at UBA, EcoBank and NSIA Banque. She served as Head of Treasury Sales at EcoBank from 2008 to 2009, Head of Corporate and Retail Banking at UBA Group from 2009 to 2012, and CEO of NSIA Banque from 2013 to 2016—experience that strengthened her expertise in financial inclusion and support for women, micro and small businesses.

Realizing that traditional banking products were ill-suited to vulnerable groups, she left NSIA Banque in 2019 to create Akiba Finance, aiming to promote gender equality and empower underserved populations through accessible financial solutions.